Russian basketball player Vladislav Goldin became one of the stars of the current season of the American National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) , leading the previously unsuccessful University of Florida team to the semi-finals of the tournament. Sports tells how the Nalchik-born center takes America by storm.
The system of North American sports is arranged in such a way that the student leagues in terms of intensity of struggle and surroundings are sometimes incomparable even with professionals, and by no means in favor of the latter. Judge for yourself — NCAA basketball players, the vast majority of whom will live a normal life after college, play in American football arenas (their capacity is five times higher than basketball ones — and they are overcrowded at the NCAA), their coaches' salaries are sometimes higher than in the NBA, and their playoff matches are officially known as «March Madness». And not just like that, because the audience naturally goes crazy on them.
Teams from the country's top universities usually make their way there, but this year, the Florida Atlantic made it to the semi-finals for the first time in its history. They didn't make it to the final tonight, losing to a solid San Diego State system (71:72) in the last seconds, but it's still a historic success for Florida.
You won't see their name on the NBA's top recruiting list. But the Atlantic have a strong team system and an unusual star in American sports in the person of 21-year-old Russian center Vladislav Goldin, who has been talked about by leading US experts this season, including NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley.
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Vladislav was born in Nalchik, at first he was engaged in wrestling and did not even think about basketball. Only at the age of 15 did he realize that with a height of more than two meters, it was more reasonable to mess around with the ball than with opponents on the ground. On this score, however, in North America there is a capacious popular expression — «it is impossible to teach to be tall.» It suits Goldin in the best way. Technique can be installed even in adulthood, with outstanding dimensions, one can only be born.
After some time, Vladislav moved to Moscow, where scouts from CSKA laid eyes on him. Adaptation was not easy, he did not receive regular game practice — and despite the fact that he was regularly called to the Russian junior team. Then he moved to America, and in the 2020/21 season he received an invitation to the team of the University of Texas, but failed to gain a foothold there.After that, he decided to go to the inconspicuous from a basketball point of view, “Florida Atlantic”. As it turned out, this was one of the best decisions of his life. This season, sophomore Vladislav averaged 10.3 points and 6.6 rebounds — very good numbers for students. And after that, the final of four «March Madness» happened, where, by the way, it was Vlad who dragged Florida. In the quarterfinals against a strong Kansas State Wildcats team, Goldin made a double-double (14 points + 13 rebounds) and determined the outcome of the meeting.
Usually in basketball they try to lure the center into an arc, where by default he should not keep up with the opponent’s faster players, allowing them to make long-range hits, but this trick will not work consistently with Goldin. Already now he is able to trade for any opponent and interfere with him at any point of the court — it sounds simple, but in fact such players are rare even for the NBA.
The value of Goldin is also great in the selection. A high center of gravity sometimes prevents him from successfully placing his back, but anthropometry allows him to catch even the most difficult rebounds both on his own and on someone else's shields. Judging by the matches in the NCAA, he does not always hit the pace of the game. If you imagine Vladislav in the NBA right now, then he will have a hard time. However, with experience, this shortcoming may resolve itself.In the attacking plan, Vladislav, on the contrary, is quite typical. He is well trained in pick-and-roll — thanks to high-quality screens, he creates space for a partner, and decent mobility and good footwork for a seven-footer gives him the opportunity to break into the «paint». He has no problems with open shots from under the ring, and if there is a safety net on the way, Vlad can hustle in the post. The already mentioned high center of gravity does not always allow him to push through even smaller opponents, and this may become a problem in the future, but he compensates for the lack of athleticism with excellent hook throwing technique.
In old-school basketball, this would have been enough for the status of a strong star, in the modern NBA — hardly. At the moment, it seems that at a higher level Goldin will be defined in the attack by auxiliary functions, and in this role Vladislav is really good. Against San Diego, the Russian center set up 15 offensive screens and collected four offensive rebounds, more than anyone on either team. And this is in a match that objectively did not work out for him.
As a standard, dependent offensive center, Goldin needs a good point guard to reach his full potential. Basketball fans will remember what the already great passer Chris Paul did in the Clippers — even the archaic, offensive center DeAndre Jordan looked very impressive with him from head to toe. Something similar could happen to Vladislav if he manages to get into the NBA or, say, into a Euroleague-level team.True, on the way to this he will certainly have a number of obstacles. The most obvious of these lies in its physical features. Despite the fact that Goldin is quite mobile for a center, at the same time he has difficulties with lateral mobility, which is why he can simply be run around under the basket. In addition, athletic centers with a low center of gravity, who are not easy to push with their backs, will regularly give him a hard time on both sides of the floor. If you can still do something with this in attack, then practically nothing in defense.
Yes, and in the attack, however, it will not be easy, because Vladislav does not have an effective antidote to the above problems — a throw from medium and long distances. Unlike Timofey Mozgov, with whom Goldin is regularly compared due to a similar position, Vlad does not yet have even an average jump shot, let alone something more, and his average percentage of hits from the free throw line this season was about 60 % is not the worst indicator among centers, but far from the best. In the same match against San Diego, Goldin only made 1 of 5 shots from the line — even a couple of those hits would be enough to get through to the final.
In an adult career, unstable free throws will serve as a reason to put Vladislav on the bench at the end of the match with a close score, because opponents will constantly look for fouls on him. Probably, it is this component that Goldin should tighten in the first place. Practice shows that, if desired, everyone is capable of this — even centers, who are not taught to throw in principle. The same Deandre Jordan at a certain point in his career was able to turn a monstrous 30-40% from the line into 77, and one of the worst free-kick takers in basketball history, Andre Drummond, who hit less than 40% in the NBA for the first few years, went out in the 2020/21 season to acceptable 60.
This alone will significantly increase Vladislav's chances of getting into the basketball elite. Despite the vogue in recent years for centers capable of attacking from any distance, tall defensive players without a long shot can still get a job even in the NBA. Right now, the closest archetype to Goldin seems to be Clippers center Ivica Zubac, who not only was selected in the draft (albeit only in the second round — under the 32nd number), but also received a good contract for $ 33 million, and without learning how to hit from afar.
However, even if this does not happen, Vlad will still have the opportunity to build a career in Europe. There are all the prerequisites for the fact that it can become impressive. Not to mention the fact that in the adult Russian national team, after such a season in the NCAA, Goldin will be accepted with open arms. With the departure of Mozgov and the demarche of Joel Bolomboy, this position in the national team sank a lot. But it seems that those times are over.