The only major sport strictly of U.S. origin, basketball was invented by James Naismith (1861–1939) on or about December 1, 1891, at the International Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Training School (now Springfield College), Springfield, Massachusetts, where Naismith was an instructor in physical education.

The professional game first prospered largely in the Middle Atlantic and New England states. Trenton (New Jersey) and the New York Wanderers were the first great professional clubs, followed by the Buffalo (New York) Germans, who started out in 1895 as 14-year-old members of the Buffalo YMCA and, with occasional new members, continued for 44 years, winning 792 out of 878 games.

Founded by eight nations in 1932, we now bring together 215 National Basketball Federations from all over the world.

A non-profit making organisation, our mission is to develop and promote the game of basketball, uniting the wider basketball community, which counts more than 450 million players and fans.

The sport of Basketball is now second to soccer in worldwide popularity and the National Basketball Association (NBA) continues to play a major role in making this global growth a reality. A series of shrewd investments over the years, coupled with simplified branding and feeding the fan experience with cutting edge technology, suggests another growth spurt for the league is just a slam-dunk away.

The article examines the recruiting of basketball players from foreign countries by U.S. college basketball teams. Foreign players are becoming more numerous in college basketball as the quality of international play continues to improve. Gonzaga University and its forward Elias Harris from Germany are used as an example of this trend.

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