By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU senior deputy athletic director Heath Schroyer shed some old light on basketball coach Will Wade’s overseas-dominated roster that has several eligibility questions going into next season during a radio show appearance on Thursday.
Schroyer appeared on Matt Moscona’s “After Further Review” on 104.5 FM in Baton Rouge.
Problem was he thought he was shedding new light by explaining how overseas players are widespread in college basketball. He accurately mentioned that Illinois and Arizona, which each made the Final Four this past season, had several former overseas pro players on their rosters. He also said there were 106 players in college basketball across the country last season age 24 or older and 257 age 24 or older.
Schroyer was a head men’s college basketball coach at Portland State, Wyoming, Tennessee-Martin and McNeese State from 2001-21 before becoming McNeese State’s athletic director. But what he was talking about was not news. College basketball has been highly populated with overseas players for decades, including former pro players from overseas.
Heck, former LSU coach Matt McMahon had a former professional player from the Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Israel, team in the Israel Premier League last season in freshman guard Ron Zipper, who turned 23 last January.
But what Schroyer did not discuss was the fact that new NCAA guidelines announced as of last month are saying that players who have “entered an agreement with, competed on or received compensation from a team that participates in a league with minimum compensation that exceeds actual and necessary expenses” would not have college eligibility. He also didn’t discuss the new maximum age rules also in the works.
Maybe he and Wade are just banking on the NCAA not enforcing any new rules or getting sued and losing if they do, which is not a bad strategy because of the sorry state of college athletics at the moment.
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On Wade’s 11-man roster at the moment, five are overseas professional players with four of those ages 22 through 25.
-Signee Brice Dessert … 6-11 center, Andalou Efes pro team in Istanbul, Turkey, who is from Pontoise, France, and is 23.
-Commitment Yam Madar … 6-3 guard, Hapoel pro team in Tel Aviv, Israel, who is from Beit Dugan, Israel, and is 25.
-Commitment Saliou Niang … 6-6 forward, Virtus pro team in Bologna, Italy, who is from Dakar, Senegal, West Africa, and is 22.
-Commitment Marcio Santos … 6-8 center, Maccabi pro team in Tel Aviv, Israel, who is from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and is 23.
-Commitment Michael Ruzic, 7-0 center, Jonventut club pro team in Catalonia, Spain, who is from Besancon, France, and is 19.
Wade also has guard/forward signee RJ Luis (6-7, 215), a former St. John’s star player who signed in 2025 as an NBA free agent with Utah and later with Boston after a trade. Luis never played in any regular season NBA games, which is LSU’s argument for his eligibility. But he did sign, which may be all that matters.
LSU hired Schroyer as deputy athletic director from the AD job at McNeese State last March just before LSU hired Wade from North Carolina State. The timing of those two hires was not a coincidence.
Schroyer was part of the package Wade wanted from LSU before he accepted the LSU job, according to multiple Tiger Rag sources. Schroyer was athletic director at McNeese State from 2021-26 and hired Wade to McNeese State in 2023. That was a year after LSU fired Wade from his first term as LSU’s coach from 2017-22 because of a slew of major recruiting violations.
“I feel very confident about it, and I know coach does,” Schroyer said on 104.5 FM when asked about questions around Wade’s roster. “Obviously, it’s LSU and it’s Will Wade, but here’s the interesting thing. Last year, there were 106 players in college basketball that were 25 years or older, 106. Two hundred fifty-seven were 24 or older. If you look at what Illinois did last year, I think they had six guys that played overseas at a high level, you know, European basketball over there. Went to the Final Four. Arizona, as well, had a few.”
Schroyer seems to think recent local and national criticism of Wade’s roster is more about Wade’s questionable reputation from his numerous, proven NCAA violations at LSU and his one-year stay at North Carolina State. The criticism is actually mostly about his current roster.
“You’re going to take the heat,” Schroyer said. “You’re going to take the arrows, because you’re LSU and you’re Will. So, I think there’s a narrative out there that probably needs to get told.”
A new narrative will be told if the NCAA enforces its new guidelines that will hit LSU and other schools recruiting overseas pro players and players who have signed with NBA teams whether they played or not.
“Here’s the other thing people need to understand, too,” Schroyer said. “When Will and the staff and LSU were over recruiting young men, they weren’t recruiting against themselves, right? There were there were other schools out there that were recruiting the same kids.”
The problem is more than half of Wade’s roster at the moment has eligibility questions, not just a player here and there, which is the case with most other rosters entering the 2026-27 season at the moment.
Just in case the NCAA does start ruling former overseas pro players ineligible around the country and puts an age limit on players before the 2026-27 season, Wade would be wise to sign some more American made amateur players fast.
LSU NEW PLAYERS FROM COLLEGE TEAMS WHO HAVE NOT PLAYED ON OR SIGNED WITH PRO TEAMS
-Abdir Bashir Jr. Guard, 6-7, 175, Sr., Kansas State Transfer, Burnsville, Minnesota, native, Age 21.
-Mouhamaed Dioubate, Forward, 6-7, 220, Sr., Kentucky Transfer, Queens, New York, native, Age 22.
-Ahmad Hudson, Forward, 6-6, 239, Fr., Ruston High, Ruston native, Age 17.
-Austin Nunez, Guard, 6-2, 185, Sr., Texas-San Antonio Transfer, San Antonio, native, Age 23.
-Divine Ugochukwu, Guard, 6-3, 195, Jr., Michigan State transfer, Sugar Land, Texas, native, Age 20.
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