Melting Pot: Three Final Four Team Rosters Populated By Legal Foreigners

At least they're not illegal aliens taking American positions/jobs. At any rate, defending NCAA champion Connecticut has three foreigners on its roster. North Carolina State and Purdue also have foreign representation.

College basketball has taken on an increasingly international flavor with an average of more than 400 foreign athletes annually competing for NCAA Division I men's teams over the last 19 seasons. An all-time high of eight different foreign nations outside North America were represented at the 2017 Final Four as the search for talent knows no borders.

You've heard of a trade deficit. How about the trade surplus at the national semifinals? All but three 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. All four 2021 Final Four squads were in this category, including multiple regulars for Baylor and Gonzaga. But 2022 emerged barren.

"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 list of Final Four regulars in the last 30 tourneys coming from more than 40 different foreign nations (in reverse order):

2024 - Purdue C Will Berg (native of Sweden), North Carolina State C-F Mohamed Diarra (France) plus three Connecticut players - Samson Johnson (Togo), Apostolos Roumoglou (Greece) and Youssouf Singare (Mali).
2023 - Florida Atlantic C Vladislav Goldin (Russia) and Miami C Norchad Omier (Nicaragua).
2022 - None
2021 - Gonzaga G Joel Ayayi (France), Gonzaga C Oumar Ballo (Mali), UCLA F-C Kenneth Nwuba (Nigeria), Houston F J'wan Roberts (Virgin Islands), Baylor F Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua (Cameroon) and Baylor F Flo Thamba (Congo).
2019 - Virginia F-C Mamadi Diakite (Guinea, Africa), Texas Tech G-F Brandone Francis (Dominican Republic), Texas Tech G Davide Moretti (Italy) and Virginia C Jack Salt (New Zealand).
2018 - Kansas C Udoka Azubuike (Nigeria), Kansas F-C Silvio DeSousa (Angola), Kansas G Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk (Ukraine), Loyola of Chicago G Bruno Skokna (Croatia) and Michigan C Moritz Wagner (Germany).
2017 - Oregon F-C Kavell Bigby-Williams (England), South Carolina F-C Khadim Gueye (Senegal), Gonzaga F Rui Hachimura (Japan), Gonzaga C Przemek Karnowski (Poland), South Carolina F-C Mak Kotsar (Estonia), South Carolina F Chris Silva (Gabon), Oregon F Roman Sorkin (Israel) and Gonzaga F-C Killian Tillie (France).
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) and Kansas C Alexander "Sasha" Kaun (Russia).
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).