From Deseret News archives:
Foreign legion: BYU-Utah rosters loaded with foreigners
That's the most in the history of the long rivalry, but not surprising considering the trend in basketball over the past few years where an influx of foreign players have come to the United States.
Just look at the NBA, where foreigners have flooded the ranks over the past decade and now comprise 18 percent of its players. The Utah Jazz have four foreign players on their roster.
It has spilled over into the college ranks where teams in every conference of the country have foreign players on their rosters.
Of Utah's 12 scholarship players, six are from foreign countries, while BYU has four.
For the Utes, Luke Nevill and Stephen Weigh are both from Australia, Luka Drca and Misha Radojevic hail from Serbia, Kim Tillie is from France and Ricky Johns was born in Jamaica, even though he came to Utah from New York.
The Cougars' four players from outside America include two from Brazil, Fernando Malaman and Jonathan Tavernari; one from Serbia, Vuk Ivanovic; and one from from Alberta, Canada, Jimmy Balderson.
BYU was actually one of the first universities to make use of foreign players on its basketball teams.
It started back in the 1960s when Finland's Kari Liimo starred for Stan Watts' Cougars for three years, twice earning all-conference honors and finishing with more than 1,000 points. Timo Lampen, who played for the Cougars just one season, 1960-61, may have been the first foreign player in college basketball.
Next up was Kresimir Cosic, the legendary center from Yugoslavia, who played more like a guard with his fancy passing and moves. He made the Basketball Hall of Fame and had his jersey retired at BYU last year. After Cosic came Moni Sarkalahti in the early 1970s and Misho Ostarcevic in the mid-'70s.
One of the better players was Timo Saarelainen, the Finn who came on strong in his senior year to earn WAC player of the year honors in 1985. Most recently Brazilian Rafael Araujo made an impact for the Cougars as the MWC MVP in 2003-04.
The Utah basketball team has had a handful of foreign players over the years, few of which were significant players.
In the mid-1980s, Lynn Archibald recruited a guard from Yugoslavia, Luka Pavicevic, and a forward from Holland named Paul VanMaren, neither of whom made much of an impact.
Coach Rick Majerus was enthralled with Ma Jian, who wanted to become the first Chinese player to make the NBA. But after starting for most of the 1993-94 season, Ma hardly played his second year at Utah.
