Make way for the Euro Invasion: Why more international stars are choosing college basketball over the pros

CHICAGO — Vlad Goldin is a trailblazer, of sorts. The Michigan big man, a Voronezh, Russia native, left his home country almost six years ago to come to the United States to chase his hoop dreams. He didn’t see his parents, Marina and Alexandra, for nearly five years while he jetted from Putnam to Lubbock to Boca Raton to Ann Arbor. 

The allure of college basketball’s bright lights drew Goldin to the United States, but he also believed it was his best chance to parlay that into an opportunity to play in the NBA. That bet proved wise. After a dominant senior season at Michigan, Goldin earned a spot in the 2025 NBA Draft Combine. His professional career is already firmly underway, but it will shift into overdrive in under six weeks when Goldin finds out which NBA franchise he’s suiting up for.

Posted up alone at a table 10 feet to Goldin’s right sits Neoklis Avdalas. The Greek wing, who turned 19-years-old in February, offers a bit of a reminder of Goldin’s past and a glimpse at how much things are changing.

Avdalas played well in multiple scrimmages this week in front of NBA decision-makers, but the 6-foot-8 wing is not a lock to get drafted. He’s already taken visits to Baylor and Virginia Tech as he prepares to pivot to college basketball if he doesn’t get a guaranteed contract. Avdalas is not alone. There are a whopping 34 international prospects currently committed to high-major teams, and Avdalas is one of numerous big-name transfer portal free agents who could be needle-moving additions for a college basketball team in the coming weeks. 

There’s a real possibility that the final number of international players at the high-major ranks soars past 40 next season. And that’s not counting mid-major programs, like St. Bonaventure, who has become an attractive destination, too.

“I think it’s great for the sport to mix American athleticism with European minds,” said Florida star Walter Clayton Jr.

The Balkan Brothers

In a way, Illinois is the face of the new era of international recruiting that Gonzaga used to dominate. Lithuanian star Kasparas Jakucionis was one of the best freshmen guards in the country this past season at Illinois. Instead of wading into the transfer portal market last spring, Illinois targeted Croatian center Tomislav Ivisic out of the Adriatic League to fill its massive frontcourt void. That turned out to be one of the best return-on-investment moves of the entire 2024 roster-building cycle. No Big Ten big man made more 3s than Ivisic (55). Illinois gets him for a second season and he’s also firmly on 2026 NBA Draft radars now.

Win, win, win.

Illinois coach Brad Underwood has ramped it up into overdrive this spring. Illinois landed Serbian point guard Mihailo Petrovic and Montenegrin forward David Mirkovic from the international market this spring. Arkansas transfer Zvonimir Ivisic transferred to Illinois to play with Tomislav, his twin brother. Oh, and that international flair is another big reason why Cal transfer Andrej Stojakovic opted to pick the Illini over North Carolina. Andrej’s father, Peja, is one of the best Serbian hoopers in NBA history. 

Illinois trotting out a Petrovic-Stojakovic-Mirkovic-Ivisic-Ivisic lineup is not likely, mostly due to perimeter defensive questions, but it’s not impossible, either, to the chagrin of copy editors everywhere. 

“It’s pretty cool to see that Illinois has started recruiting more and more Europeans,” Jakucionis told CBS Sports. “Before me, before Tomislav, it wasn’t a lot of European guys going over to Illinois. That was a bit of a risky decision for me, but I’m really happy I made that choice. They trusted me. I trusted them. Now, you can see their trust in European players.”

Balkan Brad, indeed.

Underwood’s merry band of Balkan Brothers has become a real talking point in college basketball circles, even at the NBA Draft Combine. Auburn All-American Johni Broome joined Goldin in bringing up Illinois’ roster build unprompted. They’re both fascinated by how a European-heavy roster will fare in the Big Ten.

Illinois did not just magically become the kingpin of international recruiting. Illinois assistants Orlando Antigua and Geoff Alexander have racked up serious frequent-flyer miles to make inroads in the global market. Alexander scouted Jakucionis for three years before he suited up in the orange and blue. Antigua had ties to the Ivisic family for years, dating back to when he helped Kentucky land Zvonimir ahead of the 2023-24 campaign. 

“It’s been a lot of work, a lot of miles, a lot of stamps on the passport,” Alexander told Illini Inquirer last November. “Just being over there in front of them, being at every event that we’re allowed to and then some more … I treat it like its own AAU circuit, like the EYBL. Just like we evaluate the 16s and 17s and watch them. I think you got to do the same over there.”

Money talks

The money boom in college basketball is behind all of this. Some college teams can pay up to 10 times what European clubs offer. In the early days, international products like Goldin (and Purdue’s Zach Edey) had to finagle ways to legally earn money off Name, Image and Likeness. Having the correct visa was vital and often hard to get.

With pay-for-play here to stay, the top talents from the international scene are flocking to the United States to cash in and follow the blueprint set by Jakucionis, Ivisic, Goldin and BYU’s Egor Demin.

It’s also offered college basketball programs another avenue to build a roster that’s not quite as costly. In the salary-cap age, every dollar matters and some teams have found international recruiting to be a way to thread the needle and tap into a market inefficiency. The A-tier names in the portal, high school ranks and international frontier are commanding serious dough, but there is no discount in the middle class of the transfer portal where a rock-solid, 3-and-D role player can also command over seven figures.

With international recruiting skyrocketing, the money will certainly go up, but most in college basketball circles still believe that it’s still third in the pecking order, cost-wise, for now.

💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰 The transfer portal 

💰💰💰💰💰Traditional high school/prep recruiting

💰💰💰💰 International

💰 Junior College

💰 Division II, III, NAIA

‘The stock rises’

A Frenchman has been the No. 1 overall pick in back-to-back NBA Drafts (Victor Wembanyama and Zaccharie Risacher). That is going to change next month when the Dallas Mavericks select Duke‘s Cooper Flagg, barring something cataclysmic. Jakucionis, Demin and Duke big man Khaman Maluach are expected to be the highest-drafted international products in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Twelve months ago in early 2025 lookaheads, that was not the case. Dazzling French point guard Nolan Traore and Spain wing Hugo Gonzalez were regarded as top-10 picks for the 2025 NBA Draft, ahead of Jakucionis and Demin.

Jakucionis took a bit of a risk leaving an opportunity with Real Madrid to play at Illinois, but he’s seemingly jumped Traore in the pecking order. 

BYU paid a hefty buyout (and another steep NIL agreement on top of that) to get Demin, a Russian prodigy, to leave Real Madrid for Provo. 

Gonzalez was another BYU target, but he chose to stay at Real Madrid, where he’s struggled to get real playing time for one of the top Euro League clubs. Maybe the flip-flop would have happened regardless, but it’s clear that college basketball helped both Demin and Jakucionis cement themselves as lottery-pick-caliber guards, while the lack of consistent playing time has certainly hurt Gonzalez’s stock.

The top international talents have taken notice of the recent trends.

“The stock rises,” Avdalas says. “Everybody is here in the U.S. can see you play and watch you. It would be a great step for me if I can’t make it (to the NBA) right now. It’s a new thing for Europeans. I looked around and I was like, ‘I want to do it too.’ All the guys from college can make it to the NBA.”

Leaving home is hard and not for everybody. Even with an up-and-down year, Traore is going to be a first-round pick. Maybe he’s not a top-5 pick anymore, but the 6-foot-5 point guard’s appeal and talent are so obvious. Choosing to stay close to family in France instead of playing for Gonzaga, Duke or Alabama was not an egregious decision by any means. Seven-foot-3 Australian center Rocco Zikarsky chose to play for the NBL’s Brisbane Bullets instead of the college route. He’s a candidate to go in the second round.

“I’m a homebody,” Zikarsky told CBS Sports. “I watched the NBL growing up. When that became an option for me, it crept into my mind that I would love to play for a team that I watched growing up. I got to play with Aron Baynes who was one of my idols growing up. That was really special. But the money now is insane at college. The college market is getting blown out. That can set people up for a long time. I think it’s great that internationals are making their way over. Although my preference was the NBL, other guys have other preferences. I think it’s a really positive step for basketball overall.”

But Australians like Florida’s Alex Condon and ex-Kansas wing Johnny Furphy have showcased what’s possible at the college ranks. 

That left an imprint on coveted Australian shooting guard Ben Henshall, who was also a strong performer at the NBA Draft Combine. Henshall noted that he’s “locked in” on trying to get drafted, but if he chooses the college route, title contenders like Texas Tech and Florida are hot in pursuit.

“Being in the states, there’s a lot more scouts around,” Henshall says. “I don’t feel like a lot of these guys got to see me in Australia. The money is crazy right now, but it has a lot to do with more exposure here.”

Who’s actually good and who’s next?

The consensus is that college basketball has become the second-best league in the world, behind the NBA, so it’s natural that college basketball roster-building has started to emulate the NBA’s scour-the-globe approach.

Henshall and Avdalas are serious high-major targets, but Italian wing Dame Sarr may be the best free agent on the board right now, right next to the biggest names in the transfer portal like Darrion Williams, PJ Haggerty, Boogie Fland, Jamir Watkins or RJ Luis. Kansas was in pole position for the sleek, 6-foot-8 stud, but when Duke commit Cedric Coward started blowing up at the NBA Draft Combine, coach Jon Scheyer pivoted to make Sarr a massive priority.

Sarr has not made a decision yet, but he’s going to be at a blue blood next year for a reason.

Montenegrin wing Luka Bogavac, who will turn 22 in September, is another major name to know. He could be a significant needle-moving addition for wing-needy teams late in the process. Mario Saint-Supery is a Spanish point guard who is firmly entrenched with Gonzaga. Virginia has its sights set on Thijs De Ridder, a 22-year-old Belgian stud, who could team up with German product Johann Grünloh to give new Cavaliers coach Ryan Odom one of the best frontcourts in the ACC next season.

Those are just the new names to stack on top of a group of international products that will have a serious imprint on college basketball next season. 

• If Illinois wants to be one of the Big Ten’s best, Mirkovic and Petrovic need to be trusty rotation players, at minimum. 
• Washington has loaded up in the portal, headlined by USC transfer Wesley Yates III and East Tennessee State stud Quimari Peterson, but German 19-year-old forward Hannes Steinbach will have a major say in whether Danny Sprinkle’s group competes for an at-large bid in Year 2. 
• Louisville has its sights set on a special 2025-26. It can’t happen without 6-foot-11 big man Sananda Fru being an impact player. The German star will turn 22 in August, so he’s no typical freshman.

“(Fru) is different,” said Penn State big man Yanic Konan Niederhauser, who grew up in Switzerland and played in Germany in 2021-22 before coming over to the U.S. to hoop at Northern Illinois. “I really like his game. I think he’s going to be a big problem for the NCAA.”

None of this is ending any time soon. International clubs, especially in Europe, are scrambling to figure out ways to keep talent close to home, but money talks. The NCAA is scrambling to figure out eligibility red tape. Tomislav Ivisic was ruled a sophomore when he got cleared last summer. Illinois is not expecting Petrovic, who just turned 22, to have four years of eligibility. Fru will very likely not be ruled as a freshman with four years of eligibility. 

In a way, dozens of international imports are closer to transfer portal additions than traditional freshmen. 

🏀 5 international hoopers you need to know

Goldin must only laugh at the new reality. He certainly was not the first European player to leave home to play college basketball, but the ecosystem that Goldin entered and the college basketball sphere that he is exiting couldn’t be farther apart.

“It’s beautiful,” Goldin says. “It’s exploring basketball. There are different styles of basketball. Illinois is going to have such a different style this year because they have like so many international guys. I think it just makes it better. You can turn on a game and see something you haven’t seen before. I’m all for it. I love it.”