The American Life: Playing Basketball for GWU Colonials

After winning the gold medal in European U22 Championship in Slovenia, I spent another season playing in Belarus and won second consecutive National Championship with the local team RTI Minsk becoming a top scorer and MVP of 1994-95 season. I was still a teenager - just under 19 years of age - when I got a call from George Washington University coaches and, barely speaking English, understood their interest in bringing my friend Andrei Krivonos and me over to the GWU Foggy Bottom campus in U.S. Capital.

My teammates and I never got paid for playing basketball in Belarus back in those days so we were able to safely transfer ourselves (and our college credits) into the entirely new environment - NCAA. To say that we were ready for the American adventure is an understatement; we were eager to prove to ourselves and to the rest of the world that we belonged! We were fully aware of difficulties ... and yet we totally embraced them.

My History: 1999 NBA Aspirations - GWU Hatchet Newspaper Article

Mescheriakov readies for future 

Zach Leibowitz

by Hatchet Sport Writer

Issue: 4/26/99 | Sports

Only a few GWU basketball players are remembered by every fan who has witnessed a Colonials game. Graduate student Yegor Mescheriakov is one of them.Standing at 6-9, Mescheriakov has dazzled fans with his intense slam dunks and dynamic all-around skills. In the last four years, Mescheriakov has helped give the GWU basketball program a higher profile. He hopes to continue representing GWU in the NBA.

“My time at GWU has been very positive, but it wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t supposed to be. It’s college,” Mescheriakov said. “I matured and developed myself here, and I’m grateful for this experience.”