ryco1234 wrote:
QUOTE:
That's a ridiculous amount of Gators in Europe. Do other colleges have this much alumni overseas?
Chris forgot Adrian Moss and Walter Hodge.
It says "Adrian Moss" somewhere in
here and there's a picture
here.
It says "Walter Hodge" in
here.
With Moss, I count 5. I bet several schools have that many, especially many of the basketball powers- which we've sort of become.
If you're wondering why... I didn't necessarily want to go there, but discounting Moss (
dinosaur) and Taurean (too short), the other 3 guys can be explained as Walsh (white), Humphrey (white), and Calathes (white). We know from World Cup events/qualifiers and such that some European countries are much more (outwardly, anyway) racist than the US, so maybe Donovan's high number of white alums (probably higher than any consistently good team except Duke, Gonzaga, Vanderbilt, etc.) helps us place more guys over there?
Additonally, they do have limits as far as using american players, so it'd make sense they'd grab a guy their fans wouldn't hate because of the color of his skin (though likely hate because of his nationality).
On a more serious note, it's likely just because of the emphasis on skills like 3-point shooting and passing that Donovan values in recruiting over pure athleticism (which the NBA values more)- I think the skills he covets mean these guys can lead careers in professional basketball, but the less athletic ones get passed over by NBA teams. Which is a much better argument than the race thing above, but throwing "race" and "NBA" into the same article ought to stir things up on this board a little bit.
Finally, it doesn't hurt that Calathes gets to count as a Greek guy (and not aganist the American-born roster limit) because of a loophole similar to his inclusion in the Greek National team program. I also thought it was funny that Wikipedia has Christian Drejer as "retired". And one could bet Nimrod Tishman should have some form of European team to fall back on, unless he turns into a stud in the next 4 years.
