The new kid is well-spoken. Mannerly. Makes a great first impression.

His teammates love him already. His coach adores him. He's got fan favorite written all over his lanky 6-foot-9 body.

"It's been one of my goals to come to college and play," he said. In the age of the 18-year-old draft pick, isn't that sweet?

	Christin Drejer chose Florida over playing professionally in Europe or the NBA.

And they say the new kid can really play. Surprising athlete, with a jump shot straight out of some small-town gym -- and he has a flattop to match. He's the All-American boy.

Except he's Danish.

That small-town jumper? Honed not in some Hoosier backwater, but in Hallerup, Denmark. Same with the impeccable English, which he speaks better than a lot of homegrown kids his age.

Meet Florida guard Christian Drejer, the most discussed Dane since Hamlet and the most anticipated Christian to hit college basketball since Laettner. He's also the most hyped direct foreign import to college ball in quite a while.

If Yao Ming is the NBA's new poster boy for the global game, Drejer (pronounced "dryer") serves the same purpose in college. He shows that players truly can come from anywhere -- Denmark? What next, Turkish surfers invade Malibu? -- and that the United States is increasingly challenged to maintain its grip on the sport.

"(Foreign players) are getting the opportunity to develop their skills better there than we are here in the States," said Kentucky coach Tubby Smith, an assistant on the U.S. 2000 Olympic team that came within a rimmed-out jumper of losing to Lithuania. "NCAA rules keep us from working with our kids, while they're playing club ball, playing year-round."

The trickle that began with the likes of Uwe Blab, Detlef Schrempf, Christian Welp, Hakeem Olajuwon and others decades ago has become a flood. Importing overseas talent long ago ceased being a Don Quixote expedition for the likes of Dale Brown (anyone remember Cesar Portillo?). It is vital business today.

Today you get a school as diverse as Valparaiso and Hawaii arriving at the NCAA Tournament with their own foreign legions. Or St. Joseph's showing up with a Russian center sporting corn rows (not a good look, by the way). Or East Carolina entering the season with players from France, Argentina, Jamaica and Australia on the roster.

Today's college coaches had better know how to play the recruiting game abroad. It's no coincidence that Smith filled a staff vacancy last summer with Hawaii assistant Scott Rigot, who helped recruit a veritable United Nations roster in paradise, and also during his previous tenure at UAB. Nor should it come as a shock that Florida administrative assistant Tim Maloney has worked with the Mexican National Team, at camps in Turkey and this past year at clinics in China.

Coaches need to know the import-export guys who know the Sengalese kids. Or the guy in tight with the Slovenians. Or the one who knows the South Americans. You need to know which prep schools and private schools have the overseas pipelines, bringing in young talent for a crash course of academic and athletic orientation before sending them on.

If your Palm Pilot's phone directory only goes as far as the English language, it probably isn't going far enough.

But the hoops import business is constantly evolving. Time was, the Andrew Gazes, Nadav Henefelds and Dikembe Mutombos of the world needed college ball as a proving ground in the way to a professional career. Today, many of the world's best young players have cut out the middle man in the search for riches.

	International Impact
	Here's a look a some other international players who'll make an impact in the 2002-03 season:
	Jabahri Brown, Oklahoma via Virgin Islands Ian Crosswhite, Oregon via Australia Carl English, Hawaii via Canada Luis Flores, Manhattan via Puerto Rico Maris Laksa, Providence via Lithuania Erazem Lorbek, Michigan State via Slovenia Uche Nsonwu-Amadi, Wyoming via Nigeria Ugonna Onyekwe, Penn via England Kirk Penney, Wisconsin via New Zealand Haim Shimonovich, Hawaii via Israel Pape Sow, Cal-State Fullerton via Senegal Amit Tamir, California via Israel Ronny Turiaf, Gonzaga via France Donatas Zavackas, Pittsburgh via Lithuania

When German Dirk Nowitzki decided he didn't need Kentucky's Rick Pitino, or any other American college coach to get him to the NBA, you felt a shift. When Pau Gasol showed up from Spain sans collegiate and was named NBA Rookie of the Year, the trend was unmistakable. And then came the 2002 NBA draft and a record number of foreign draftees -- the majority of whom never played a minute of American college basketball. A trend became a movement.

Throw in the World Basketball Championships in Indianapolis, when America was flat punked at its own game, on its own turf, and foreign basketball has never been accorded so much respect.

Many hoops observers believed Drejer was going to be a member of that '02 NBA draft class, but he opted against putting his name in the draft. Drejer, who grew up watching Shaq play for the Magic and MJ and Scottie lead the Bulls, became an instant throwback to the 1990s.

His availability touched off a spirited recruiting battle -- and whether the turf is South Dakota or Scandanavia, there is no better recruiter today than Billy Donovan. But this was his first foreign experience.

"If they're all going to be like that, I probably won't do it again," Donovan said, ticking off a litany of hassles with NCAA amateurism rules and academic requirements.

"It's probably better with kids from Europe going directly to high school first, then going to college," Donovan said. "It's a challenging thing, with a lot of hoops you've got to jump through."

It's worth it now.

Matt Bonner was Drejer's host for his campus visit. His recollection: "He was a really great kid, really nice kid. Then Coach Maloney showed me game tape on him and I said 'Whoa! Why didn't you show me that before I met him?'"

Drejer was slowed at the start of organized practice by a torn hip flexor. He's back now, but his teammates had already seen enough in pickup games to know they landed something special.

"He's pretty athletic," point guard Brett Nelson said. "He can get up a little.

"He looks athletic when you look at him. It's not like he looks like a goof out there."

The question now is how Drejer responds to 12,000 screaming hooligans in the O'Connell Center. He was used to sharing a practice gym with team handball and volleyball squads, and let's just say that the passion for hoops isn't quite the same in Denmark as it is in America.

"Most of the games he played," Donovan said, "he was lucky to have 15-20 people watch him play."

The whole world will be watching Christian Drejer now. It's not just America's game anymore.

Pat Forde of the Louisville Courier-Journal is a regular contributor to ESPN.com