How new NCAA eligibility rules could impact Gonzaga’s Izan Almansa

For over 20 years, Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs have heavily relied on international stars to build top-tier college basketball rosters – a trend that has caught up to the rest of the sport in recent years.

And with the explosion in NIL opportunity for European players, it’s no surprise programs like Illinois, Arizona, and others have been leveraging connections overseas to remain competitive while the transfer portal ravages rosters each offseason.

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Gonzaga – often through current Arizona head coach and former Zag assistant Tommy Lloyd – built connections all over Europe, Canada, and Asia, landing tremendously talented players like Ronny Turiaf, Kevin Pangos, Domantas Sabonis, Filip Petrusev, Killian Tillie, Elias Harris, and Kelly Olynyk, which has been a key part of this program’s success under coach Few.

However, the ‘wild wild west’ era of college basketball has allowed teams to seemingly sign anyone, regardless of age or previous playing experience, which has created a chaotic environment. The most notable example is what has happened at LSU, which recently agreed to deals with former St. John’s guard and G-Leaguer RJ Luis, 25-year-old former 2020 NBA draft pick Yam Madar, 2025 NBA draft pick Saliou Niang, and 23-year-old EuroLeague pros Marcio Santos and Brice Dessert.

The NCAA is trying to put its foot down on this issue, with new guidelines sent out to teams earlier this month that intend to heavily limit the number of international players that can come stateside in college athletics.

According to Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated, this guidance states that prospects who entered “an agreement with, competed on, or received compensation from a team that participates in a league with a minimum compensation that exceeds actual and necessary expenses will not have their eligibility reinstated.”

Actual and necessary expenses are the key phrase here, and as is typical with NCAA guidelines, it is very vague. Sweeney obtained a statement by an NCAA…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/ncaa-eligibility-rules-could-impact-201522298.html

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Publish date : 2026-05-27 20:15:00

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