By Juan Cobos Hernandez
It is becoming a tradition, and every March Eurohopes brings you the complete list of u22 European prospects in the NCAA tournament. We have only included players who have represented their European country of origin at the international level, or that are eligible to play for that country*. It looks like even if the number of prospects moving overseas to play college basketball is growing every year, this trend will not be reflected at the NCAA tournament. Please, find below the list:
Filip Cvjeticanin (’93). 6’9’’ Small forward from Croatia. Sophomore at Florida Gulf Coast. Stats: 3.9p, 2.3r.
Alex Murphy (’93). 6’8’’ Small forward from Finland. RS Freshman at Duke. Stats: 2.3p, 1.1r.
Matej Buovac (’93). 6’7’’ Small forward from Croatia. Freshman at New Mexico State. Stats: 1.4p, 54,5%FG.
Remi Barry (‘91). 6’7’’ Small forward from France. Sophomore at New Mexico State. Stats: 4p, 2.5r.
Przemek Karnowski (’93). 7’0’’Center from Poland. Freshman at Gonzaga. Stats: 5.5p, 2.6r.
Tomasz Gielo (’93). 6’7’’ Power forward from Poland. Sophomore at Liberty. Stats: 7.3p, 4.3r.
Will Yeguete (’91). 6’7’’ Small/Power forward from France. Junior at Florida. Stats: 5.4p, 5.8r.
Mislav Brzoja (’94). 6’4’’ Shooting guard from Croatia. Freshman at Villanova. Stats: 0.4r, 0.2a.
Amedeo Della Valle (’93). 6’5’’ Shooting guard from Italy. Freshman at Ohio State. Stats: 2.6p, 1.5r.
Ali Mackay (‘91). 6’11’’ Power forward from United Kingdon. Sophomore at Davidson. Stats: 0.4p, 0.5r.
Chris Czerapowicz (’91). 6’7’’ Shooting guard from Sweden. Junior at Davidson. Stats: 9.2p, 5.1r.
Teddy Okereafor (’92). 6’3’’ Point guard from United Kingdom. Sophomore at Virginia Commonwealth. Stats: 1.3p, 1.6a.
Vukasin Vujovic (’93). 6’9’’ Power forward from Serbia. Freshman at Boise State. Stats: 1.2p, 0.4r.
Kevin Kaspar (’92). 6’0’’ Point Guard from Turkey. Sophomore at Western Kentucky. Stats: 5.5p, 2.3r.
Aleksejs Rostov (’92). 6’10’’ Center from Latvia. Freshman at Western Kentucky. Stats: 4.7p, 2.7r.
Jonas Stalyga (’91). 6’8’’ Small Forward from Lithuania. Sophomore at Akron. Stats: 2.3p, 45.5%FG.
We cannot expect great performances from these young European prospects, although Swedish Chris Czerapowicz is a nice contributor for Davidson, and Przemek Karnowski, from Poland, Finnish-American Alex Murphy from Duke, Italian Amedeo Della Valle and French Will Yeguete are expected to enjoy long runs in the tournament. Karnowski could have his moment during the madness, and Yeguete, if recovers his best shape, will be a crucial member for a contending Florida team.
Sharpshooter Filip Cvjeticanin, from Croatia, could be a surprise if he gets all fired up during his 1st round game. Western Kentucky’s duo Kevin Kaspar and Aleksejs Rostov will also enjoy nice playing time and are keys for his school to advance into the 2nd round (last 32). Furthermore, the following players are members of teams that have qualified to the tournament but will not see action as they are currently redshirting:
Duje Dukan (’91). 6’8’’ Small forward from Croatia. Junior at Wisconsin.
Eric Katenda (’92). 6’9’’Power forward from France. Sophomore at Notre Dame.
Adria Gasol (’93). 6’10’’ Center from Spain. Freshman at UCLA.
Edmunds Dukulis (’92). 6’9’’ Power forward from Latvia. Freshman at Boise State.
Dimitrije Cabarkapa (’93). 6’10’’ Power forward from Serbia. Freshman at James Madison.
As always, there are over 22 year old Europeans in the tournament with German NT player Elias Harris as one of the leaders in a #1 seed Gonzaga team. All in all, this recap shows how difficult is for a European to shine sometimes in the college system, even after having enjoyed stardom in the FIBA championships and having played high school in the USA (like Della Valle or Brzoja).
*For instance, Stefan Jankovic (’93), a freshman in the Missouri Tigers men’s basketball team, was born in Serbia, but grew up in Canada. He was a member of the Canada u19 NT that played the World Championship in Latvia in 2011.
