Euro 2026
Why 2025-26 could be The Year of The Euro in college basketball
I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but the U.S. dollar has lost nearly 15% of its value against the Euro in the last six months. I’m not an economist, thankfully, but I imagine they attribute this to something like falling confidence in the stability of the American system, for whatever reason that might be occurring.
Coincidentally, college basketball has lost about 15% of its player pool for the upcoming season. For the last four seasons, hoopers who risked playing during the COVID-wacky 2020-2021 season took advantage of an extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA, a phenomenon that shifted the average age in college basketball and rewrote the record books, asterisks abound. With traditional freshmen from that season now matriculated, college basketball returns to having just four years of players from which to choose. That leaves significant roster holes, and forces teams to get a little creative.
Just a few seasons ago, the introduction of NIL prompted dominant big men with uncertain NBA futures to make the 2022-2023 season The Year of The Big Man. Last year, a star-studded freshman class headlined by generational prospect Cooper Flagg exceeded all expectations to style 2024-2025 The Year of The Freshman. With a shrunken player pool, a final year of the Wild West NIL environment, and the U.S. Dollar facing an uncertain future after Jerome Powell’s term as Federal Reserve Chair ends, 2025-2026 is shaping up to be The Year of The Euro.
Once thought impossible, the rules around importing young European prospects on professional clubs became just hazy enough two seasons ago for teams to start trying their hand. In theory, as long as the player has only received reimbursement for expenses from their clubs, they retain NCAA eligibility. In an era where seven figure valuations are being thrown around college basketball like candy, even this distinction feels a little silly to enforce. Currently, the general “vibe” seems to be that anyone of “college age” is fair game, but might receive just one or two years of college eligibility as the NCAA desperately tries to keep some semblance of the sport’s traditional character without getting decimated in court again.
Somewhere around 60-70 international players of roughly college age will join the ranks of high major squads this season, just about one for every team in NCAA Tournament contention. Of course, with the haze surrounding foreign recruiting, each team has portrayed their signings as game-changers, star acquisitions that will change the trajectory of their season. European recruits are the ultimate black box, an unknown quantity that can become anything by virtue of their foreign names, uncontextualized stats, and the recent explosion of European superstars at the NBA level. If every fanbase is right about their own European player, college basketball will be awash in new superstars and traditional recruiting as we’ve known it will be forever altered.
But will that really be the case? Nick Kalinowski, a stats guy who cut his teeth scouting prospects for NBA drafts, doesn’t quite see it so. In fact, his algorithm only places around 25 young players in Europe right now as likely starters at the high major level, and under half of these players are committed to a college basketball program for next season. The vast majority of European players entering college basketball this season are long shots, home run swings by programs desperate not to miss the boat before tighter enforcement of NIL sails the opportunity away. Three seasons ago, UCLA kicked off the European recruiting craze by importing some five European players to their roster as they looked to reload after the departure of a Final Four core. While some have developed into serviceable players since, UCLA bore the brunt of their transition to college basketball with a 16-17 season and their worst KenPom finish of the Mick Cronin era. Should many of the top European prospects repeat this fate, 2025-26 might be The Year of The Euro for all the wrong reasons.
Transatlantic Ascents
It's no secret that the ACC has underperformed in recent years. As the conference looks to shake the ivory off of a crumbling tower, they’ve turned to Europe in the hope of signing ready-made European stars to jump the line back into college basketball prowess.
The most promising cases are the tandem found at Virginia, where head coach Ryan Odom looks to jumpstart the post-Tony Bennett era with a pair of skilled big men perfect for the inside-out offensive approach that led Odom to defeat the very same Virginia Cavaliers in the first ever 16-over-1 upset in the NCAA Tournament. Johann Grünloh was first to sign, a stocky, 19-year-old kid who has been a prodigious rebounder and rim protector despite limited minutes in the German first division. Grünloh resembles an exciting but raw interior prospect of domestic origin, a perfect fit for a rebuilding program hoping to build a superstar for the future.
The same cannot be said for his new teammate, Thijs de Ridder. At 22, de Ridder is nearly a finished product already butting up against the typical age ceiling of college basketball. The Belgian forms a mature stretch big who shot nearly 40% from three while protecting the rim for Bilbao in Spain’s top flight. If de Ridder turns out to be the player that Coach Odom and UVA fans think he is, the reaction from the rest of the sport could get ugly. Professional basketball players looking for a quick NIL payday are not what makes college basketball compelling.
Louisville also brings in a pair of European big men, although the Cards assembled such a stacked roster across the board that they might not even need their transatlantic tandem to contribute right away. 20 year old Greek center Evangelos Zougris has already grown into a 6’8, 265 pound rebounding monster, an excellent piece to pair with Louisville’s run n’ gun big men Kasean Pryor and J’Vonne Hadley. Sananda Fru fits more in their mold, as an athletic, 6’11 Berliner soaring for lobs, posters, and big time swats. It’s a testament to the depth and talent of the Louisville Cardinals this season that Zougris and Fru won’t be guaranteed starting spots as a formidable thunder and lightning pairing.
Big Tent
Despite the ACC’s endowment of Europeans, the highest ranked foreign recruit per Kalinowski’s list will be found in the far western reaches of the Big Ten. Hannes Steinbach, a German big man headed to Washington, has shot up the rankings after impressing in the FIBA U19 World Cup. Steinbach led Die Mannschaft to the gold medal match against the United States against his future Husky teammate JJ Mandaquit, with Steinbach posting 14 points and 16 rebounds in a dominant semifinal win over Slovenia. While I’m a battered Husky fan who frankly doesn’t love the tape on Hannes, it’s hard to believe that a player who averaged 17 points and 13 rebounds per game against his most formidable peers won’t amount to something as a freshman this season. He can’t be much worse than Great Osobor.
After hitting the jackpot on FC Barcelona youth star Kasparas Jakucionis last season, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood has gone all in on bringing the best and brightest from urban commie blocks to Urbana-Champaign. David Mirkovic, Mihailo Petrovic, Zvonimir Ivisic, Tomislav Ivisic, Andrej Stojakovic, Jason Jakstys, and Ben Humrichous will all suit up in orange and blue next season. The last three are guys from the States, but they fit the vibe of Underwood’s underground partisans well enough to earn their own leather jackets.
Second Generation
For all the hoopla about the incoming crop of European players, those who already spent a season dipping a toe into college basketball might end up being the real difference makers. Christian Anderson, a German in the mold of USMNT stars of the past such as Jermaine Jones and Timmy Chandler, starred in his freshman campaign at Texas Tech, and now prepares to take the reins of the offense full time after the departure of do-it-all forward Darrion Williams.
Dutch point forward Reink Mast led Nebrasketball to a historic finish two seasons ago alongside Japanese flamethrower Keisei Tominaga, but after an injury cost Mast the entirety of last season, the Huskers struggled through much of the campaign. Now, a healthy Mast will team up with Berke Buyuktuncel, a castaway from the failed UCLA experiment who became a useful piece for Nebraska down the stretch, as well as Ugnius Jarusevicius (pronunciation guide available for premium subscribers only) joining up from Central Michigan, where he scored over 16 points a night. Nebrasketball might just recapture that worldwide appeal.
Any conversation about international recruiting is incomplete without paying homage to the pioneers of the field in Moraga. Following four fantastic years of Augustas Marciulionis, Paulius Murauskas looks to evolve into the next alpha dog at Saint Mary’s after a freshman campaign with tons of promise was ultimately derailed by an ice cold shooting stretch to end the year. Murauskas will be joined by fellow Balt and fellow forward Mantas Juzenas, a raw, 18-year-old prospect that Randy Bennett will somehow have starting on a single digit NCAA Tournament team by March. Doubting Saint Mary’s and their fringe foreigners has become a fool’s errand.
With government contractors set to bring down the hammer on the free trade era of college basketball, this season is one last chance to get professional players under the wire and snag the missing piece to a championship team. The future of foreign imports is up in the air, and the Euro has suddenly become more important than ever.
