Noah Fries & Ben Deihl | sports editor & staff writer

Tucked away in its own isolated region of Pittsburgh, Duquesne seems like an isolated university to the unassuming eye. Sitting atop a hill on Bluff Street, it would be easy for the Dukes to keep to themselves. But for Head Coach Dan Burt and his women’s basketball team, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Duquesne recruited players from five different countries this season, spanning four continents. The Dukes are just one team finding success in a larger trend, as international student-athletes in Division I women’s basketball have skyrocketed from 262 in 2009-19 to 950 in 2024-25, according to the NCAA.

Burt’s 2026 team has eight of its 13 players on the roster with hometowns outside the United States. A proportion of this magnitude is rarely found in today’s college basketball world — only two other A10 programs (Davidson with 10, Fordham with nine) have more international players — yet, the Bluff continues to buck that trend.

“I am the most prolific international recruiter in Division I basketball,” Burt said. “Now that Jose Fernandez left South Florida and is the Dallas Wings coach, we have been the biggest, most prolific destination in Division I over the last 20 years.”

Seven international countries are represented on the roster. Senegal leads the way with two players, while Canada, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Serbia and Spain all have representation as well.

All five members of the 2026 recruiting class came from outside the U.S.: Amaya Robinson from Ajax, Ontario; Bakhaw Seye from Dakar, Senegal; Dieymarie Diouf from Casamance, Senegal; Dalma Grets from Dunaharaszti, Hungary; and Ayala Oren from Ness Ziona, Israel.

Robinson, a 5-foot-6 guard, competed in the Women’s National Provincial Association (WNPA) in Canada for Royal Crown School, a program that had 13 DI players on her team. She also won the Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association (OSBA) title in 2025-26, going undefeated.

Seye, standing at 6-foot-4 as a guard, played at Sports for Education and Economic Development Academy, the first basketball student-athlete academy in Africa. She won three championships during her tenure and was named MVP and team captain for SEED as well.

Diouf, a 6-foot-6 center, also played at SEED Academy for several seasons. Her aunt, Astou Ndiaye-Diatta, played in the WNBA for four different teams over eight seasons.

Grets, a 5-foot-10 guard, was a two-time All-Star in Hungary. She played for the U18 Hungarian National Team in 2023-24 and 2024-25, as well as the U16 team that won bronze in 2022.

Oren, standing at 5-foot-6, was a guard for the Israel U18, U19 and U20 National Teams and played for Ben Gurion High School in the Israeli Youth First League. She claimed Player of the Year Honors and Cup Finals MVP during her time at Ben Gurion.

The upperclassmen feature senior University of Pittsburgh transfer Carla Viegas from Malaga, Spain; senior Dunja Zecevic from Belgrade, Serbia; and junior Maja Rohkohl from Hannover, Germany.

Viegas, a 5-foot-9 sharpshooting guard, comes to the Bluff after averaging 8.6 points per game last season for Pitt. Her eight three-pointers made against Miami in December set a program record for threes in a game.

Zecevic, a 6-foot-2 guard/forward, returns to the Dukes after appearing in 29 of the 31 games played last season. She tallied a career-high 19 points on 9-of-15 shooting in the victory over West Liberty in November, adding 10 rebounds for the first double-double of her career as well.

Rohkohl, standing at 6-foot-4, appeared in all 31 games (seven starts) for Duquesne last season after transferring from Gardner-Webb.

With these international players coming to the U.S. to continue their basketball careers, there is a learning curve to the American game not often realized. Not only is the game itself played differently domestically, there is also a language barrier at play as well.

“It was hard at first,” Oren said. “It’s leaving my life that I know, my family and my friends. Basketball here is really different — actually, everything here is different.”

“Basketball is way different,” Viegas added. “It’s a lot more physical here. When I first got here, my English wasn’t good, so it was really hard to communicate. But I’m getting used to it now.”

International players usually have an edge on domestic ones, according to Burt. Typically, players from different countries will compete on a professional level, as their sports are structured around the professional clubs — like an 11-year-old soccer phenom playing for Real Madrid’s La Fábrica, their youth pipeline.

Without large colleges or governing bodies like the NCAA, international players are immediately geared toward a professional career, with their training running concurrently with their everyday lives and school.

“An international player, they’ve typically played professional basketball since they were 14 or 15 years old, and they’re not competing against kids that played two or three other sports. They train twice a day and play one game [a week],” Burt said.

With a team composed primarily of international athletes, Burt has a unique opportunity to not only teach his team about the complexities of different societies, but even teach the greater college basketball world.

“I’ve always styled myself as the Anthony Bourdain of women’s college basketball,” Burt said. “[Bourdain] made us understand that we should not be scared of different cultures.”

But for Burt, international recruiting has always been a point of emphasis. The impact of international players goes beyond the court. He realizes the opportunity playing collegiate basketball can create, and he hopes his players will continue to affect the world in positive ways after their careers on the Bluff.

“We love bringing unique, diverse cultures to Duquesne to make not only our campus more diverse, but it also gives more depth to us from a character standpoint,” Burt said. “But it also does so for the entire city. A lot of these kids that come here as international students have stayed and become American citizens, and they have made our country and city a better place to live.”

Even with the diverse talent Burt has at his disposal for the 2026 season, the Dukes are facing an uphill battle. Following a 12-19 season where the team finished 4-14 in conference play, the Dukes are facing what many would call a rebuild.

Duquesne also lost its top scorer, Alexis Bordas, to West Virginia in the transfer portal. In preseason polls, the Dukes were picked to finish 12th of 14 in the A10, with only Fordham and Loyola Chicago behind them.

But Burt and his fresh, unproven team aren’t concerned with preseason rankings.

“I’ve been here 20 years, and we’ve only been picked this low one other time. That was my first year when I was an assistant here,” Burt said. “We did not have a good year last year. The preseason rankings are like belly buttons and opinions. Everyone’s got one, and it doesn’t really matter.”

Noah Fries can be reached at friesn@duq.edu

Ben Deihl can be reached at deihlb1@duq.edu