International players at BYU

• The Cougars have had an international player on their varsity roster in 34 of the past 54 years.

• In the last five years, BYU has rostered five international players, including three on this season's team — Jimmy Balderson (Canada), Fernando Malaman (Brazil) and Vuk Ivanovic (Serbia & Montenegro).

• Brazilian Luiz de Toledo has signed a national letter of intent to play for BYU next season.

• Foreign players at BYU have received eight all-conference citations, two conference player of the year awards (Timo Saarelainen — 1985, Rafael Araujo — 2004) and three All-Americans (Kresimir Cosic — 1972 and 1973, Araujo — 2004).

• According to a book about basketball in Finland by Mikko Simon, BYU has the distinction of being the first NCAA Division I school to have an overseas player on its roster when Timo Lampen, a native of Lahti, Finland, took the court for the Cougars in 1961.

• BYU also boasts the first foreign All-American in Cosic, who will have his BYU jersey retired on March 4. The Zadar, Yugoslavia, native played on the Cougar varsity team from 1971-73 and earned six All-America citations and three first-team All-Western Athletic Conference awards. He is the only BYU player to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Cosic passed away in 1995.

• During the 2005 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, CBS Television analyst Billy Packer singled out Cosic during a discussion of the quality of international players now playing college basketball. Said Packer, "Kresimir Cosic, who played for BYU, was really the first great international player to play basketball in the United States."