Relocation trend: why Ermakov decided to develop his talent in the USA
Basketball player Ilya Ermakov will continue his career in the NCAA and enter St. Bonaventure University. This was reported to Izvestia by the player's representatives. This season, 17-year-old Ermakov made his debut for the national team and became a key player of CSKA-2. Ilya entered the symbolic top five of the 2024/25 Super League, averaging 12.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists. The next stage of his career will begin in the USA, where Egor Demin, Vladislav Goldin and Viktor Lakhin performed very successfully this year.
Equating to Edwards and Shay
Among our players, who are well known to Russian fans, David Vanterpool, an ex-Army player, and J.R. Bremer, who played in Triumph, Spartak Primorye, Nizhny Novgorod and Krasnye Krylia, studied at St. Bonaventure University. One of the legends of world basketball is the first number of the 1970 draft and a member of the NBA Hall of Fame, Bob Lanier.
In its entire history, the St. Bonaventure Bonnies basketball team has reached the NCAA Final Four once. And the last time she participated in "March Madness" was in 2021. At the end of the 2024/25 season, the team was listed at the top of the second hundred of the NCAA rankings. The Russian point guard is called upon to improve the team's performance in the new season, and he is quite capable of it.
Ilya has made a huge breakthrough this season. He became one of the best players in the Super League, where many experienced and decorated players play, and has already been invited to the national team. In the match against Libya, Ilya scored 10 points and helped Russia defeat the African national team. This was Ermakov's third match for the national team, as he played twice against Venezuela at a mini-tournament in Perm. Zoran Lukic, the coach of the team, praised the young player and expressed the hope that this experience would help him in the club tournament.
Ermakov gained even more confidence and gave a bright segment in the Super League. The point guard entered the top 10 most productive players of the regular season (12.2 points per game on average) and the top 10 in assists (4.4).
"CSKA—2 coach Anton Yudin played an important role in Ilya's progress," BDA representative Alexei Karvanen, who advises the player, told Izvestia.
— Last year, Zenit-2, led by Anton, also made up of young guys, was able to get into the top four in the Super League. For the first time in the history of pharmaceutical companies. Plus, the blue-white-blues showed very interesting basketball (much more interesting than in the current season). This season, CSKA-2 has repeated this path. Anton has a lot of knowledge and extensive experience working with young people, and he is not afraid to trust them. In my opinion, for Ermakov, this is the biggest element of luck that has happened in his career. He plays against men and improves a lot himself under the guidance of such a mentor.
CSKA was interested in keeping the player. Ilya would probably have joined the main team next season. But the player decided to follow in the footsteps of Egor Demin and go to the NCAA.
How do I feel about the comparison with Demin? Honestly, I don't like to praise myself," Ermakov said in an interview with Sport-Express. — If people think that, then it's their business. The main thing for me is to develop, unlock my potential and achieve the highest goals. My favorite player? I'm watching the game of Shay Gilges-Alexander and Anthony Edwards most closely. These are two players whose strengths I would like to have in my arsenal. The way Shay owns her body, the Edwards mentality. And, of course, their athleticism is impressive.
An artificially created situation
Alexey Karvanen, who once competed in this tournament himself, explained well why young players go to the NCAA.
— I assume that now, in general, young talented players (and Ilya is one of the top young basketball players in Europe) will have a trend towards moving to the NCAA, — the specialist continued. — The conditions of the game have changed a lot. When I left the USA in 1997, after graduating from university, the system was old and allowed me to work on player development. They took the guys and understood that they would stay with them for four seasons. And they'll be more ready for men's basketball on the way out. Then the trend changed dramatically. This was strongly influenced by the leaders and the head coach of Kentucky. When they took a player, they gave him 30 minutes of playing time, and he was drafted for what he should grow out of. And as a result, these people, even those who were selected in the first round, filled the G-league. They just couldn't prove themselves, they didn't have a set of skills that they could use to play men's basketball. Plus, not everyone coped with the challenge of making a lot of money and choosing the right environment. And now, since the NCAA has additional money, universities have taken up coaching staffs and, as a result, high-quality player training. Kevin Young has 10 coaches on his staff at BYU. At Egor [Demin's] individual training session He was assisted by six coaches.
Plus, financial opportunities for NCAA players have become much more profitable than in the G-League.
— People will think a million more times about whether they should be drafted if they are not sure that they will be selected in the first round, — Alexey Karvanen is sure. — Because it's better for him to stay at the university, where he gets decent money and the opportunity to further develop and play. We now have clients who, having decided to pursue a career in Europe, are not even getting close to the money they could earn in the NCAA. It's just because in the Old World it's a market, and in the NCAA it's a bit of an artificially created situation for young players who meet the tournament level and meet the age criteria.
Note that Demin put himself forward for the NBA draft after his first season in the NCAA. Ilya, who is a year younger than his colleague in the position, can safely develop his talent in the USA and at the same time earn good money.
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