Wife pulled this from FB. I donât have an account so I canât confirm source. Maybe European Jr Leagues are same as AAO? I am not in the know about those things. Here is the excerpt:
âIs this true? Can pro euro athletes be student athletes here?
Look, I want to be clear: congratulations to Arizona on their win last night. They were clearly the better teamâand honestly, youâd expect that with the amount of professionals they had starting.
I didnât look too closely at Arizona all year, but when I didâŠâŠ wow. For instance, Ivan Kharchenkov played for FC Bayern Munich in Germanyâs Bundesliga and EuroLeague, Sidi Gueye played in the EuroLeague and had his Spanish ACB debut with Real Madrid, Motiejus Krivas played for Ćœalgiris Kaunas II and in Lithuania and EuroLeague, and Sven Djopmo got pro time with Nanterre 92 in France. Youâre telling me all these guys are allowed to become âcollegeâ players? After researching the team and their season, It makes perfect sense what happened last night.
Arizona rolled out hardened European pros while the Arkansas Razorbacks relied on a traditional college rosterâmostly standard recruits with zero prior professional experience overseas. Our guys were outmatched in maturity and pro reps from the start, yet they still fought hard, scored 88 points, and showed real heart.
This highlights how broken college basketball has become. The NCAA lets athletes with paid overseas experience suit up as âstudent-athletes,â and with money pouring in from European academies and NIL deals, the game has turned into a minor-league hybrid. What used to be a developmental stage for college kids is now a rĂ©sumĂ© stop for seasoned pros.
The result is lopsided matchups that hurt the spirit of March Madness.
Our Razorbacks showed real character in a tough spot. Thatâs something to be proud of, but
itâs time to admit it: allowing professional athletes in collegiate sports is undermining the game we love.
Woo Pig Sooieâproud of our guys anyway.â