Maik-Kalev Kotsar (born 22 December 1996) is an Estonian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for

Saski Baskonia Club Deportivo Saski-Baskonia, S.A.D., commonly known as Saski Baskonia (), also known as Cazoo Baskonia for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball team that is based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the ...

of the Spanish

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

and the EuroLeague. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for

South Carolina Gamecocks The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I. The University of South Carolina uses "Gamecocks" as its official nickname and mascot. While the men's teams were traditionally known as the Fighti ...

. Kotsar also has played for the

Estonia men's national basketball team The Estonia men's national basketball team ( et, Eesti korvpallikoondis) represents Estonia in international basketball matches. They are controlled by the Estonian Basketball Association. The team competed in their first international tourname ...

as well as the

Estonia men's national 3x3 team The Estonia men's national 3x3 team is the 3x3 basketball team representing Estonia in international men's competitions, organized and run by the Estonian Basketball Association. Competitive record Olympic Games World Cup Europe Cup Europ ...

. Listed at and , he plays the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

position.

College career

On 7 March 2016, Kotsar committed to play for the

. In his freshman year, Kotsar saw action in all 37 games with 33 starts, averaging 5.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game as South Carolina advanced to its first-ever Final Four, losing 73–77 to Gonzaga. Kotsar earned second-team All- SEC honors after averaging 11.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.1 blocks per game during his senior season.

Maik Kotsar attended the University of South Carolina's

Darla Moore School of Business The Darla Moore School of Business is the official business school of the University of South Carolina. Founded in 1919, the Moore School is located in Columbia, South Carolina and currently enrolls over 5,500 undergraduate and 800 graduate stu ...

. He majored in

Finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

and minored in

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. By the time of his graduation he had been named to the President's List, was on the Athletics Director's Honor Roll and had been named to the SEC Honor Roll all four years, and was named to the NABC (

National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, head men's basketball coach at the University o ...

) Honors Court. Possibly his most notable academic achievement came his senior year when he was named University of South Carolina's Male Scholar Athlete of the Year. This award is given each year to one graduating senior with exceptional and outstanding academic achievement.

Professional career

On August 16, 2020, Kotsar signed with the

Hamburg Towers Hamburg Towers, for sponsorship reasons named Veolia Towers Hamburg, is a professional basketball team, based in Hamburg, Germany. The Towers are currently playing in the Basketball Bundesliga, after promoting from the ProA in 2019. Founded in 2 ...

of the

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the highest level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 18 teams. A BBL season ...

. In both seasons with the Hamburg side, he averaged 14.2 points per game in Bundesliga play. On July 25, 2022, he put pen to paper on a deal with

of the Spanish

. Kotsar recorded 21 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 block in his EuroLeague debut in Baskonia's 81–71 victory over

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. With the PIR of 31, he became the MVP of the first round. His second MVP of the round came from a 93–87 vicory over

ALBA Berlin Alba Berlin is a German professional basketball club that is based in Berlin, Germany. The club was founded in 1991, and is today the largest German national basketball club by membership figures. Alba Berlin hosts its home games at the Mercedes ...

on 28 March 2023 recording 23 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks and a PIR of 40.

National team career

Kotsar made his debut for the Estonian national team on 29 June 2018, in a

2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 18th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams. The tournament was hosted in China and was rescheduled from 2018 to 2019, becoming the first since 1967 FIBA World Ch ...

qualifier against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, scoring 8 points in a 65–74 away defeat.

3x3

Kotsar's 3x3 career started in the U18 division in 2013 with the Sprite Streetball 2013 Tallinn tournament where he advanced to the U18 Estonia Finals and eventually the 2013 FIBA 3x3 World Championships on September 26, 2013. Kotsar continued to compete 3x3 through 2014 and 2015. His FIBA 3x3 career returned from hiatus in 2018 Ghetto Basket Pro Camp in Riga on May 10 of that year. His team would advance all the way to the

FIBA 3x3 World Cup The FIBA 3x3 World Cup is a 3x3 basketball tournament for national teams organized by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). The debut of the tournament then named as the FIBA 3x3 World Championship was held in August 2012 in Athens, Gree ...

tournament. Kotsar's Estonia Men's 3x3 team would be defeated by the Poland national 3x3 team who would themselves go on to win 3rd place in the entire tournament after being eliminated in the semifinals. The Estonian 3x3 Men's Team's run came to an end at the preliminary stage pools at 3rd place of the

2018 FIBA 3x3 World Cup – Men's tournament The 2018 FIBA 3x3 World Cup was held in Bocaue in the Manila region, Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Fili ...

and they took home 9th place.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;", Cazoo Baskonia , 34 , , 28 , , 20.25 , , .658 , , – , , 0.575 , , 4.3 , , 1.4 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 9.3 , , 13.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;", Cazoo Baskonia , 22 , , 15 , , 18.47 , , .513 , , – , , 0.794 , , 3.5 , , 1.3 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 6.1 , , 8.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , , 56 , , 43 , , 19.46 , , .618 , , – , , 0.636 , , 4.0 , , 1.4 , , 0.8 , , 0.4 , , 8.1 , , 11.3

EuroCup

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 16 , , 6 , , 26.5 , , .604 , , – , , .667 , , 6.6 , , 1.4 , , 1.2 , , 0.2 , , 13.4 , , 17.2

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, 37 , , 33 , , 23.9 , , .490 , , – , , .396 , , 4.8 , , .7 , , .7 , , .4 , , 5.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 26.5 , , .426 , , .222 , , .566 , , 4.8 , , 1.4 , , .9 , , .5 , , 8.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 24 , , 23.4 , , .438 , , .500 , , .443 , , 4.7 , , .9 , , 1.0 , , .9 , , 6.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , 30.5 , , .497 , , .000 , , .690 , , 6.3 , , 2.3 , , 1.5 , , 1.1 , , 11.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 131 , , 121 , , 26.0 , , .464 , , .265 , , .541 , , 5.1 , , 1.3 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , 7.8

References

External links

*
South Carolina Gamecocks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotsar, Maik 1996 births Living people Centers (basketball) Estonian expatriate basketball people in the United States Estonian men's basketball players Hamburg Towers players Korvpalli Meistriliiga players Power forwards South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball players Basketball players from Tallinn Estonian expatriate basketball people in Germany Estonian expatriate basketball people in Spain