Melting Pot: Bahamian Buddy Among Premier Foreigners in Final Four History
College basketball has taken on an increasingly international flavor with an average of more than 400 foreign athletes competing for NCAA Division I men's teams over the last 13 seasons. A classic example is Oklahoma's Buddy Hield, a product of the Bahamas who emerged as the first backcourt foreigner in NCAA history to become a two-time All-American.
You've heard of a trade deficit. How about the trade surplus at the national semifinals? All but two Final Four since 1993 had an international flavor with at least one player from outside North America in the regular rotation of a team reaching the national semifinals.
"If communism hadn't fallen, I would have had to make the most difficult decision in my life," said center George Zidek, the starting center for UCLA's 1995 national champion who once was yelped at by dogs and arrested during a riot in Prague. "I would have had to leave to play basketball and never come back to my country or my family. I don't know if I could have done that."
An old adage claimed that fans couldn't tell the players without a roster. Now, it's at the point where fans can't pronounce the names on rosters without taking a couple of Berlitz language courses. Following is a chronological look at Final Four foreigners in the last 24 years coming from 25 different nations (in reverse order):
2016 - Oklahoma G Buddy Hield (Bahamas)
2015 - None
2014 - Connecticut C Amida Brimah (Ghana), F Kentan Facey (Jamaica) and G-F Niels Giffey (Germany) and Florida F Will Yeguete (Ivory Coast)
2013 - Louisville C Gorgui Dieng (Senegal), Syracuse C Baye Moussa Keita (Senegal) and Wichita State C Ehimen Orukpe (Nigeria)
2012 - Kentucky C Eloy Vargas (Dominican Republic) and Louisville C Gorgui Dieng (Senegal)
2011 - Connecticut G-F Niels Giffey (Germany) and C Charles Okwandu (Nigeria) and Kentucky C Eloy Vargas (Dominican Republic)
2010 - West Virginia F Deniz Kilicli (Turkey)
2009 - Connecticut C Hasheem Thabeet (Tanzania) and Michigan State C Idong Ibok (Nigeria)
2008 - UCLA F-C Alfred Aboya (Cameroon), F Nikola Dragovic (Serbia) and F Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (Cameroon)
2007 - UCLA F-C Alfred Aboya (Cameroon) and F Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (Cameroon)
2006 - Florida G Walter Hodge (Puerto Rico), F-C Al Horford (Dominican Republic) and G David Huertas (Puerto Rico), Louisiana State F Magnum Rolle (Bahamas) and UCLA F-C Alfred Aboya (Cameroon) and F Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (Cameroon)
2005 - Louisville F-G Francisco Garcia (Dominican Republic), F-C Otis George (Dominica) and Juan Palacios (Columbia)
2004 - Duke F Luol Deng (Sudan) and Georgia Tech C Luke Schenscher (Australia)
2003 - Texas G Sydmill Harris (The Netherlands)
2002 - Oklahoma C Jabahri Brown (Virgin Islands) and C Jozsef Szendrei (Hungary)
2001 - None
2000 - Wisconsin G Kirk Penney (New Zealand)
1999 - Connecticut C Souleymane Wane (Senegal) and Ohio State G Boban Savovic (Yugoslavia)
1998 - Utah F Hanno Mottola (Finland) and North Carolina C Makhtar Ndiaye (Nigeria)
1997 - North Carolina F Ademola Okulaja (Germany) and C Serge Zwikker (Netherlands)
1996 - Syracuse G Marius Janulis (Lithuania) and Massachusetts G Edgar Padilla (Puerto Rico) and G Carmelo Travieso (Puerto Rico)
1995 - UCLA C George Zidek (Czechoslovakia), Arkansas G Davor Rimac (Yugoslavia) and North Carolina C Serge Zwikker (Netherlands)
1994 - Arkansas G Davor Rimac (Yugoslavia) and Florida F Martti Kuisma (Finland)
1993 - North Carolina G Henrik Rodl (Germany)