Ivan Kharchenkov's Journey to Arizona

Forward Ivan Kharchenkov has had quite the journey from Germany all the way to Tucson, where he is now on the Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team, vying for a spot on a stacked roster.

He is a part of a freshman class that has recently been ranked No.

2 on the composite rankings, according to 247 Sports .

Kharchenkov brings about seven years worth of experience from the Euro League, where he played for Bayern Munich since he was at the age of 12.

Kharchnkov hails from Moscow, Russia.

He and his family moved to Germany before he was one year old.

It's there where he soon found out about basketball.

Kharchenkov's passion for the sport began when he would join in with his father, who was a coach at the time, in basketball practices.

"We couldn't afford a babysitter, so I went with my pops to the practice facility," Kharchenkov said.

"He said, 'Hey, jump in, at least move a little bit,' I would say that was at six.

Then, like, eight, nine, I was just doing it without really thinking, Okay, I wanna, I wanna be somebody someday, it's just, I had nothing else to do, basically.

Then I think when I was two years after, I was going back and forth to Munich and back then I realized, like, okay, yeah, I wanna do this." After this, Kharchenkov soon found himself excelling at the sport.

He then began travelling to a larger city in Munich to hone his skills.

"When I was playing at this small town.

We said, 'Okay, if you want to reach something in basketball, you got to go to a bigger town so more people see you.' And then for years, I was going back and forth every day.

My parents were driving me so big thank you on them, for sure." The 6-foot-7, 217-pound forward only played seven minutes in 23 games on Bayern Munich.

Before that, he averaged 17.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists on the way to winning gold in the U18 FIBA basketball tournament for Germany, also earning all tournament honors.

It soon became apparent that in order to make it into the next level, he needed to improve his game, which can only be done with more playing time.

"I didn't play as much as I wanted to play," Kharchenkov said.

"I was a young player.

You always want to play a lot and in Europe, it's just kind of tough if your team is playing Euroleague to get some rotational minutes.

So, yeah, I was talking to my agent and I told him I want to play next year.

I cannot be two years without playing a big role.

And then he said, let's consider some colleges then we talked to some coaches, and we decided to go to Arizona." Head coach Tommy Lloyd has had a plethora of international talent come to his team and develop their skills in a high level program.

Since coming over from Gonzaga, Lloyd has coached the likes of Bennedict Mathurin, Christian Koloko, Kerr Kriisa and Azuolas Tubelis, just to name some.

This year, Kharcehnkov joins Sudan's Sidi Gueye , Australia's Antony Dell'Orso and Lithuania's Motiejus Krivas on a team with serious potential to make a deep run in the NCAA Men's Tournament.

Kharchenkov said that Lloyd's reputation for success with international players was an integral part in making his decision to play for Arizona.

"That was definitely one part," Kharchenkov said.

"If you see somebody that you know worked in the past, a lot of European players, and it worked out great.

It's definitely helpful, especially Ahmad, yeah, four years at Gonzaga with Tommy as head coach.

So he told me great things about him, and yeah, so I was convinced." What Kharchenkov brings to the team, in his words, is his "physicality" and "also my shooting" which is just what the Wildcats need in a Big 12 conference that prides itslef on being physical.

He added, "I'm going to develop it, and I'm already developing it.

Just got to, make some adjustments, and can't wait to show it off." Coming over from overseas does not come without its period of adjustment.

Kharchenokov's biggest hurdle to overcome off the court was "the heat, the weather.

Definitely not used to the air conditioner everywhere." On the court, "it's definitely a little quicker than in Europe, definitely more like play off your instincts.

" Kharchenkov continued, "In Europe, it's more like tactical, you know, bring up the ball, play to play, play, you know, play, whatever the coach says.

Yeah, I think I would say, for till now, it's the two most biggest differences." Kharchenkov admitted that he has a long way to go before solidifying himself as a top performer on the team, but while he is here as a freshman, he just wants to be the best version of himself as possible.

"My vision is, of course, to be the best player I can be," Kharchenkov said.

"I definitely have to improve a lot on my jumper still to be consistent.

I have to adjust a little bit to the game here.

I want to go far with this team, even though I'm a freshman and not there yet that long, but I want to definitely play a big role here." Follow us on social media for more stories on all things Arizona Wildcats.

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