Watanabe is a very common Japanese last name and it looks like he has a Japanese first name as well. But, he went to high school over here. 2nd generation Japanese maybe? At any rate, the Japan connection is an added bonus for me. It would be cool if the coaches gave this guy a look.
Yeah. 100%. I keep thinking it would be wise for the Bobcats to invest here and there in international talent. See Duncan Brune.
I love the idea of adding a guy like Watanabe to our roster. I say open our doors to Japan for talent. Seriously.
Wantnabe would be eligible for NIL, as I understand it, but Brune is not. I like the idea of recruiting foreign talent that can't be snatched away by a better $ offer.
You do realize players like Brune and the Rourke’s still could get NIL money right? It’s a little different than for a U.S. citizen, but they do have NIL’s.
I've been working with a foreigner here on a student visa in another capacity (not athletic) and I'm familiar with the restrictions on student visa holders and the limits on their earnings. It is complex and there are some loopholes, but in general it would be very hard to legally give a student visa holder much NIL money. And, another poster said that schools would just give them money under the table. Now, that's a recipe for getting your whole program in serious trouble, but in today's world nothing would surprise me. I've made the analogy before that we may be returning to 19th Century college football where non-student "ringers" were paid by boosters to play for their college team, sometimes on a game-by-game basis. But, making illegal payments to foreign students is more than a non-enforceable NCAA regulation, it's a federal crime.
There are plenty of ways to get around this. You can pay basketball players to appear at a BBQ when playing in Jamaica tournament. You can wait until they return to their home country. I have heard a local university flew a couple players to Canada for a couple of hours. Heard a rumor that Zack Edey was adopted by a US family at age 23. The list goes on.
Yes, for now, there is a loophole related to earnings outside the USA, but that one may be closed in the future, and is not completely without potential danger now in that it hasn't been thoroughly litigated. For instance, such payments may not be legal if the government of that third country hasn't authorized the student to work. The only clearly legal way for this to be done is for the student athlete to return to his or her home country, but in some cases this may jeopardize the student's ability to return to the USA. Adoption for the purpose of evading these laws is questionable.
There is one interesting loophole for elite foreign athletes. If they are of the caliber where they play for their home country's team in international competition (say on an Olympic team) they may qualify for a rare P1-A visa, which does not have the restrictions of an F-1 visa.
My major point here is that it's very hard to legally pay the vast majority of foreign student athletes under NIL or direct revenue sharing. In the case of Brune, I don't think any other school would attempt it.
Last Edited: 11/6/2025 3:45:35 PM by OhioCatFan