“ Like a snowball rolling down a snow covered hill—it’s growing…”

!965- TEMPTATIONS

 www.on3.com. https://www.on3.com/teams/south-carolina-gamecocks/news/south-carolina-womens-basketball-international-players-like-alicia-tournebize-are-becoming-a-bigger-part-of-the-college-game

I posed this question to Chat/GPT. They cited difficulty, yet offered some “… very strong estimates.”

How many international college basketball players are on the current rosters of the final 16 men’s teams in the 2026 NCAA Division 1 tournament?

• There are about 60 internationals on the 16 teams combined.
• The higher their seeding the more internationals.
• Illinois has 5-7.
• There has been a sharp upturn over the recent years. There are currently about one thousand women and one thousand men (internationals ) on our D1 rosters.

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Some personal comments from an old tennis coach/”sports fan”

• College tennis players are better because the money has made college tennis a better option than the tradtional Challenger route.
• College tennis has become the “minor leagues” of Pro Tennis.
• 1970-NAIA tennis rosters changed to almost all foreign, almost overnight.
• Now all divisions of college tennis rosters, save D111, are the same .
• Scholarships are the only source of aid for American families.
• Fear of lawsuits has been a major concern.
• The age of Tennis and Basketball players is a major factor.

Cruel ? Our children ?

Recruiting gossip is no longer about “blue chip” or ” 5 Star “, 17/18 year American high schoolers. Recruiters have a bag of money to offer to “portals”. They are often 23 years old. Some have transferred 3-4 times. We are letting graduate students play. Some are “eligible” six or seven years after admission.

American Tennis families have suffered from this for years. Poor to rich.

Basketball has been a bedrock for mostly poor kids. Will international older players, often with backgrounds of professional play, join tennis in taking away our children’s opportunites ?

This has to be dealt with soon. And it affects many other sports than tennis and basketball.

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Comment

Unlike tennis, I have long thought college basketball needs a wake-up call from arrogant thinking that only Americans can play.  But ,like my thoughts on tennis, a maximum number on the roster (say 12) and only half are foreign, is my first thought solution.

Not sure Trump is the man to solve college sport’s quandaries.  His executive orders (I’ll bet he did not get one out in the week after the roundtable) are half baked and usually create more problems than they fix.  And attendees who have a vested interest (a fat paycheck) in part of the game have trouble seeing the big picture.

James Haslam

Are we really going to let some one person who doesn’t believe in the law, singularly write the rules ( i.e. laws )

for college athletics in America ?

https://chatgpt.com/c/69c57274-6338-83e8-b390-83e6a018d0ca

WDBS (What did Bob say?)

Gentlemen, he said
I don’t need your organization, I’ve shined your shoes
I’ve moved your mountains and marked your cards
But Eden is burning, either brace yourself for elimination
Or else your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards

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An’ here I sit so patiently
Waiting to find out what price
You have to pay to get out of
Going through all these things twice

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I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment I could be you
Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
You’d know what a drag it is to see you

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Mama, put my guns in the ground
I can’t shoot them anymore
That long black cloud is comin’ down
I feel I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door 

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But to live outside the law, you must be honest

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Lookout kid, they keep it all hid.

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Gates of Eden

Bob Dylan ‧ 1965

There are no kings inside the Gates of Eden