Ten years ago, former Ole Miss assistant coach Sergio Rouco sat in the stands of the 2006 FIBA Under-16 European Championship in Spain. He watched a teenage Ricky Rubio, the eventual fifth overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft, dominate the competition. Rouco was the head basketball coach at Florida International at the time, scouting for future Panthers to join him in Miami. But he gazed around and noticed something about his surroundings.
“When Ricky Rubio was a 16-year-old, I went to the European Championships, and I was the only American coach there,” Rouco said.
While that may raise an eyebrow now, it wasn’t really anything that unusual at the time.