WARSAW, Poland — Former UMBC basketball standout Brandon Horvath began his pro career in France in 2022, moved on to Belgium the next year and this season is playing with the Bamberg club in Germany.

But he has endured a nomadic hoop existence longer than that. “Five teams in five years,” notes Horvath, 25, standing outside his team’s dressing room after a recent Euro Cup game here.

He is correct, of course. After finishing his four-year career in 2021 at UMBC — where he was part of the memorable upset over Virginia in the NCAA Tournament as a freshman — Horvath followed former Retrievers coach Ryan Odom to Utah State.

As a graduate student for the Aggies, he was a third-team All-Mountain West selection and was one of only two players to appear and start in each of 34 games for Utah State in 2021-22. He averaged 13.9 points per contest and was third on the team in assists at 2.7 per outing.

That move out west for the Southern High graduate was made easier by Odom, who is now the coach at VCU in Richmond.

“We ran the same system as we did at UMBC,” Horvath said.“Brandon’s a tough matchup,” Odom told a Utah paper about Horvath after a game there. “But what you didn’t see tonight was his ability to stretch the floor. And to his credit, he didn’t just shoot 3s against a team that was smaller than him. There was a clear focus of, OK, let’s score around the rim and put pressure on them.”

That season at Utah State certainly padded his resume for a chance to earn a living overseas.

“I love it. I especially love new things,” Horvath said after a convincing win in Warsaw over Legia. “There are ups and downs like everything. But overall, I have had a great experience so far. It has been great being in different countries. It is my first time in Europe and my first time in Poland.

“I try to get out as much as I can. My wife is a big traveler too. We have been to Paris, Amsterdam, lived in Brussels, obviously, which was cool. Warsaw, today, this is my first time in Poland. Munich, Germany, all over Belgium. I have been to Lisbon, Portugal.”

His parents came to France and had also planned to see him in Belgium — but ran into a hitch.

“They came to France, and they wanted to come last year but my mom got to the airport and didn’t realize her passport [wasn’t valid]. She missed last year and hopes to come here this year. We played the day after Christmas and the day after New Year’s,” Horvath said.

Like most Americans in top leagues in Europe, Horvath is provided the free use of an apartment and car.

Pay can vary from country to country and even from club to club within a certain country. Top American players in Poland, according to a source with direct knowledge, can clear about $150,000 per season with very little expenses. The German league is considered several steps up from Poland — and so is the pay for NCAA Division I imports.

“I have had no complaints off the court — no issues with money; that is a rumor that goes around,” Horvath said. “In Germany and France, they have great [government] bodies that take care of you.”

His team flew from Frankfurt to Warsaw the day before the game and then flew back to Germany the day after the game.

Horvath is not alone; several former Retrievers have kept their hoop dreams alive overseas. KJ Jackson is playing in Hungary after stops in Romania, Finland and France; Syzmon Wojcik, a native of Warsaw, is playing with a team in Poland; London native Daniel Akin is with a team in Italy, which has one of the best leagues in Europe; Kevin Maura has had a long overseas career and is now in Spain; and Ben Curran is with a team in Malta. On the women’s side, UMBC product Eryn Fisher has played several seasons in Australia; Ashia McCalla played in North Macedonia; and Kiara Bell signed with a team in Germany, according to eurobasket.com.

Bamberg spent a Wednesday night at a hotel in downtown Warsaw, then flew back to Germany the day after the game recently. A few days before, Bamberg faced famed Alba Berlin in domestic league play.

The city of about 79,000 is in south-central Germany. Many American military were stationed there after World War II. Bamberg is the birthplace of Josh Shipp, who played college hoops at UCLA before a pro career in Germany and Turkey.

“Our fans at Bamberg are awesome,” Horvath said. “We played Alba and the atmosphere was awesome. France is very good, but it was kind of up and down. The atmosphere was very good. You start fresh.

“I look at it as I was freshman again my first [pro] year. I started in the second division in France. Last year I was in the first division in Belgium and now I am in the first division in Germany. Germany is a great league — I want to keep pushing for better competition and higher level of play.”

Other Americans this season for Baskets of Bamberg include Kyle Lofton, who ended his college career at Florida; Ronaldo Segu, a former standout at Buffalo; Macio Teague, who played at Baylor; and Ibrahim Watson-Boye, who starred at Dayton.

In the recent contest in Warsaw, Horvath passed the ball to a teammate who fired up a shot. A lithe 6-foot-10 forward, Horvath then sprinted from the left wing and posted himself just under the right side of the basket, where he grabbed a rebound and put in an easy layup for his German club Bamberg in a Euro Cup contest on a cold Wednesday night. Horvath is a key post man off the bench for Bamberg.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the basketball court, a group of 15 die-hard Legia of Warsaw fans led a chorus of cheers throughout the game, including one person who continually banged on drums and two others unfurled large flags of the legendary Polish club.

Horvath earned first-team all-state honors at Southern from the Maryland Basketball Coaches Association and was a first-team All-County pick by the Capital Gazette. The West River product was a second-team selection as a junior by the Capital Gazette, was a member of the honor roll every year of high school and competed in track and field.

Horvath, after a year of prep school in Connecticut, appeared in 113 games with 54 starts at UMBC and averaged 13.1 points and 8.7 rebounds per contest in 2020-21. He was a first-team player in the America East Conference and scored 986 points for UMBC. He graduated with a degree in economics and pursued a master’s degree in applied business at Utah State. That helped pave the way to Europe and a career as a pro hoopster.

“I love learning everything where I have been at,” he said. “You are in a place you have never been before. You have to adjust with the players — you don’t know who will be on your team the whole season.”

Editor’s note: David Driver, a longtime Maryland journalist, is the author of “Hoop Dreams in Europe: American Basketball Players Building Careers Overseas.” He is the former sports editor of papers in Baltimore and Laurel and Harrisonburg, Virginia, and now lives in Poland. He has interviewed American basketball players in 16 countries and can be reached at daytondavid.com and davidsdriver@aol.com