As NIL has exponentially grown in the college basketball world, we’re starting to see an influx of international recruits come overseas and play in the NCAA. The Wisconsin Badgers have seen that firsthand, with Austin Rapp, Hayden Jones, and now Owen Foxwell and Jackson Ball all a part of the program.
They’re not the only team that has dipped into the international pool. Several of college basketball’s top players are coming from overseas, with teams valuing the experience that those recruits possess.
In the offseason now, there seem to be two big ways to acquire top-tier talent: the transfer portal and international recruits.
Wisconsin has delved into its international connections to land some of its own players, with Foxwell being the latest addition. Needing a point guard, the Badgers went after the Australian native who has seen success in the NBL, and were able to flip him from the LSU Tigers.
Wisconsin also went after several players in the transfer portal, landing guard Trey Autry, wing Eian Elmer, and forward Victory Onuetu to round out the team for the 2026-27 season. When it comes to the offseason, a big component of landing these recruits is the negotiations that go on. And, interestingly enough, there’s a bit of a difference when it comes to negotiating with agents in the transfer portal versus the agents for the overseas pool of recruits.
“Yeah. I mean, it’s obviously no secret there’s been an influx in college basketball,” Badgers general manager Marc VandeWettering said on The Butchie’s Den last week. “And I think there’s probably a few reasons for that. I think what you talked about there is correct. It is straight business with them (the international recruits looking to play college basketball). Like there’s no bells and whistles. There’s no rolling off the red carpet, you know, with visits or anything like that. Like they want to know what their number is for next year, and if they’re good with it, they’re going to sign it. A lot of these internationals commit sight unseen sometimes without even talking to the coaches. Like that’s a reality of how quickly and how businesslike that they approach this, and that’s just different.
“There’s multiple ways to build a roster, and each one of how you go about it is different. There’s no right way. It’s just how they need to have their skids greased, so to say, to make sure that they’re ready to go. But I also think it’s no secret, like, the amount of capital and money that’s in college basketball, you know, arguably we’re the second or third highest league in the world behind the NBA as far as money that’s being invested into these rosters. And that’s in any business person or any athlete, you know, wants to be a part of that, and I think, obviously with like the 5 for 5 thing coming, like that’ll give us a lot of clarity on eligibility and what seasons people would have and would clear a lot of that up, which would help.
“I think that right now it’s really confusing for a lot of fans as they watch. They’re like, man, this kid’s 20, 21, 22 years old, you know, like, how does he have eligibility? Well, this will help clear it up. Once you turn 19 or you graduate high school, your clock starts, your 5 years, you know, whatever that is. And if you want to sign a 22-year-old and they have them for 1 or 2 years, that’s your prerogative. But, you know, if you want to have an 18, 19-year-old that you’re going to have for 4 to 5 years, like, that’s your prerogative as well. It just clears it up so that everybody can not be making promises like, I’ll get you 3 seasons. Well, that’s not possible. So it makes it really definitive for everyone, which I think would help fans in that capacity. But yeah, the internationals are just very, very business. They want to make sure that they know how they’re getting taken care of. And that means, you know, what their financial package is, what their housing looks like, how far away do they live from the gym? All those different things. It’s just very business of how they go about it. And, you know, obviously the American ones get there eventually. But the Europeans are there pretty much from the first conversations.”
A big discussion currently is the age factor, as several teams are getting players who have played professionally for years (look at Owen Foxwell for the Badgers). So, we’ll see how the NCAA continues to enforce things, but there has been a huge influx of international talent in college basketball over the past few years, and it’s interesting to see how those negotiations go compared to the transfer portal.
