Evaluating international basketball prospects entering NCAA college basketball requires understanding how their overseas stats translate to the U.S. game. Different global leagues vary widely in competition level, so raw numbers alone don’t tell the full story. This article provides a league-by-league translation, comparing major international leagues to NCAA conferences on a custom strength-of-schedule scale. This framework helps coaches, scouts, and fans better interpret incoming players’ performances and project their college impact. What is very helpful is we have player efficiency rating for most leagues and can give rough translation to how we think they shake out compared to returning NCAA players.
While digging into the German BBL, I started by scanning for familiar names—and the first that jumped out was Carson Edwards. He’s not a big, but he’s a notable benchmark: a 27-year-old guard in his prime, averaging 14.9 points per game with a 16 PER. This is a guy who once dropped 24 a night at Purdue, and he might be an even more polished player now. So when someone like Bobi Klintman or Thierry Darlan (insert Fru’s full name) is putting up 12.4 PPG with a 23.1 PER, it stands out. No, the translation isn’t one-to-one—but it’s a meaningful data point about the talent level in that league. I recognized plenty of other names too: DJ Horne, Darrius McGhee, Tra Holder, Isaiah Cozart, Osun Osunniyi, Demajeo Wiggins, Chuba Ohams, Malik Osborne—guys who were real college standouts and are now pros in their mid-20s. Seeing Fru and the prospect headed to Washington thrive in that context? It’s impressive.
