2017 Recruiting

Salkehactie? Now there’s a name. Welcome Austin.

The quality of the recruits appears promising. I would be more confident of that assessment if we knew of other D1 programs who offered any of the three. Were the potential of the three sufficient that other programs went so far as to extend an offer?

Thanks to our coach for expanding the roster . . .and thanks for the info.

There is this summation of Austin's basketball achievements and abilities. Austin will crash the boards, something the Pilots will need.

http://jucoreport.com/jucowatch-69-austin-stone-usc-salkehatchie/

I know what you are all thinking and no I will not drive out to Allendale to watch him.

wrv wrote:I would be more confident of that assessment if we knew of other D1 programs who offered any of the three.

Walker - Central Connecticut State
Stone - No other known offers
Fahrensohn - No other known offers
名前不明 - No other known offers

Seems like we should find some other metric to judge this recruiting class by!

Coach 'em up!

Let's add a little perspective....

JoJo Walker has until recently spent his entire life in Puerto Rico.  When TP saw him play in California, he immediately identified him as the guy he wanted to hand the PG keys to upon Alec's graduation. After the rest of the coaching staff saw him play, they too agreed he'd be the perfect fit and he was invited for a visit.  When he was made on offer to join the team, he apparently initially declined the offer, saying he had 4 more visits to make, but after spending another day with the team and coaches....he committed!

Taki Fahrensohn has not played outside NZ except some in Australia, so was not really known to US coaches, but he and Coach Johnson (who was coaching in Australia at the time) had known one another from as far back as Taki's time in elementary school.  The general feeling was that if Taki's team made a tour of the US he would get high major interest.

UP's apparent recruit from Mali/Japan has not played outside those countries, and was totally off the radar of college coaches, but he suddenly popped up through a contact of the coaching staff.  Best I can tell, he was contemplating playing professionally and had not even considered playing college ball until UP came along.  Some are saying he's got high major potential, and I know of at least one ACC school that was ready to recruit him until his apparent commitment to UP.

Stone cold Austin Stone has been getting a lot of looks due to his physical and basketball development since high school, but I know nothing of his recruiting by other schools.

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:I know what you are all thinking and no I will not drive out to Allendale to watch him.

Probably just as well, as you'd probably want to invite him out for a beer and that would break all the recruiting rules.  

Actually, they play all their home games in Walterboro....and as I recall from my 4 years in South Carolina, that's only about 90 minutes away.  If you want something closer, on January 18 they play in Denmark, NC, and that's only about 60 minutes away, or on February 1 they play in Rock Hill, about 70 minutes away.  

Hey, we need a personal scouting report on the big guy.

A scouting report in January seems much more useful anyways...

Stone Cold Austin Stone? I suppose we could use some Austin 3:16 "I just whipped your a$$".

up7587 wrote:Stone Cold Austin Stone?  I suppose we could use some Austin 3:16 "I just whipped your a$$".

Haha, I bet you have the T-shirt!!

OK, it's the last day of the early signing period....will we see an official announcement that Stone and our man from Mali/Japan will in fact be Pilots this coming summer?

From what I've seen of the two, they will be wonderful opposites but also great teammates.  Stone the burly big man who can muscle the ball up and in, and the man from Japan, with his natty "hipster" looking Harry Potter glasses, skinny pants and bow tie who can out leap anyone on the team....

DoubleDipper wrote:OK, it's the last day of the early signing period....will we see an official announcement that Stone and our man from Mali/Japan will in fact be Pilots this coming summer?

It's official, welcome Tahirou Diabate and Austin Stone....press release coming soon!

In evaluating recruits, there are other metrics. Let's hope these comments prove accurate as Pilot fortunes depend on it.

"We are thrilled to be able to close out this early signing period with a lot of incoming talent," Porter said. "JoJo and Taki give us two quality guards, and now we have a pair of bigs that will come in and really solidify our interior presence. Tahirou and Austin both are high-major talents that we have been able to identify and recruit to The Bluff. They are both under-the-radar recruits and will be quality additions to our roster."

DoubleDipper wrote:.....you might recall that JoJo Walker was the first recruit to commit.

JoJo had a signing ceremony at St. Joe's today:

JoJo Walker wrote:  “I just want to say thank you for the support. Thank you to my mom for taking care of me for four years, my teammates, coach Mott, I thank you all. Hopefully, I’ll do good at Portland. Lastly, I want to thank God for all he’s blessed me with.”    

Not sure the Santa Maria Times knows the origin of UP's mascot in this article titled "Walker to take flight with Pilots," and the writer confuses last season with the 2014-15 season, but it gives UP fans a good background on Alec's heir apparent.

http://santamariatimes.com/sports/high-school/walker-to-take-flight-with-pilots/article_a84c494e-1262-52d6-a24e-079f6f844876.html

DoubleDipper wrote:Taki Fahrensohn has not played outside NZ except some in Australia, so was not really known to US coaches.

Wrong!!

Taki Fahrensohn wrote:  “All four coaches at U.P. have seen me play in person at some point, my recruitment was a real team effort on their part. They first saw me play in LA, then later in Las Vegas with the Harbor U.S. tour team. They then flew in to watch me at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Nationals in Palmerston North.”  

After the US Harbor tour 11 Colleges contacted Fahrensohn to voice their interest.

DoubleDipper wrote:

DoubleDipper wrote:Taki Fahrensohn has not played outside NZ except some in Australia, so was not really known to US coaches.

Wrong!!  

Taki Fahrensohn wrote:  “All four coaches at U.P. have seen me play in person at some point, my recruitment was a real team effort on their part. They first saw me play in LA, then later in Las Vegas with the Harbor U.S. tour team. They then flew in to watch me at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Nationals in Palmerston North.”  

After the US Harbor tour 11 Colleges contacted Fahrensohn to voice their interest.

DD, thanks for correcting that other guy.  We need good information on this board, not half-a$$ed reporting like that other guy did.  

The other guy might have added the following from the same article:

“I later found out a lot of college coaches contact a lot of players and it’s important to know where you rank in their recruitment plan. Eventually, Menlo, Hawaii and Portland told me I was highly ranked, so I didn’t count the others.”

Speaking of metrics . . .

up7587 wrote:DD, thanks for correcting that other guy.  We need good information on this board, not half-a$$ed reporting like that other guy did.  

Haha, yeah if I corrected all the posts I should have, I'd probably have twice my current total...

More to come in that regard as I learn a little more about our 4 recent signees.....

wrv wrote:The other guy might have added the following from the same article:

How about a link? It's good standard practice to provide a link if you are quoting from someone else's work.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:How about a link? It's good standard practice to provide a link if you are quoting from someone else's work.

What, are you one of my professors?  

I get so much more (inside) information about UP sports on PilotNation because others do all the research (for free) so the rest of us can just sit back and enjoy while sipping coffee....or even during class on occasion.

It takes balls to criticize others for their research and contributions while others simply read and react.

I recently learned that many don't contribute or comment at all, they just read and enjoy, without criticizing the writer(s)!

StudentPilot wrote:I get so much more (inside) information about UP sports on PilotNation because others do all the research (for free) so the rest of us can just sit back and enjoy while sipping coffee....or even during class on occasion. It takes balls to criticize others for their research and contributions while others simply read and react.

I'm not sure if NoPo was overly harsh. It's certainly common to toss out a link if parts of the article are quoted, just to send some hits (and sometimes $$) the writer's way.

Here's the link to the Fahrensohn article - http://www.voxy.co.nz/sport/5/268604

Dean Murdoch wrote:
I'm not sure if NoPo was overly harsh. It's certainly common to toss out a link if parts of the article are quoted, just to send some hits (and sometimes $$) the writer's way.

Here's the link to the Fahrensohn article - http://www.voxy.co.nz/sport/5/268604

Maybe not harsh but damn presumptuous.

Our standards and norms are not for him to decide.

A quick search didn't turn up much info on UP's newest PF Tahirou Diabate, but there are a couple of videos.

This one at least shows his athleticism, ball handling, and a decent outside shot in practice!  As others have found, it's can be a completely different story when you are part of a team, and you're facing stiff competition.

Tahirou has scored a lot of points while playing against undersized competition....reportedly 100 in one game and at least 50 in some others....but it's pretty obvious he appears to have the length and athleticism to go against WCC opponents...once he adjusts to the competition.

I actually like the music more than the video:

This video is just an introduction of Tahirou to the local community....because he's an African playing at the local school in Nagaoka.

My Japanese is very, very rusty, and frankly Tahirou speaks with a such a thick accent it would be difficult for most to understand what he's saying anyway (the video shows subtitles when Tahirou is speaking, but I don't read Japanese).  

He said that he comes from Mali and that it's warm there, unlike Nagaoka which he finds very cold (this was recorded in January) and he doesn't like the cold! However, he goes on to say the people are very nice in Nagaoka.

The team captain and the coach are interviewed and they pretty much say he's a good center...

When they cut back to Tahirou, he has a long stammer while he tries to come up with his next sentence before he says that the team captain is not very scary or intimidating in practice, but during the games he was surprised because the team captain's game face is very scary and intimidating!  

The last thing he says is that the team captain always cracks jokes with him before the coach arrives at practice.

Like I said, there's not much to hear here, but I like the video because it give an insight into his personality....something I was very impressed with during a quick introduction a week ago.

DoubleDipper wrote:
My Japanese is very, very rusty . . .  

Yeah . . .understood.

StudentPilot wrote:It takes balls to criticize others for their research and contributions while others simply read and react.

I recently learned that many don't contribute or comment at all, they just read and enjoy, without criticizing the writer(s)!

Wow, thin skin! Asking to know where a quote comes from is what you consider to be criticism? And because I suggested that folks cite the work of other authors, I should join the ranks of those who "don't contribute or comment at all"?

I was not "criticizing the writer(s)." I was asking to know who the writer is, and to be able to read her/his article! I was not "criticiz[ing] others for their research and contributions." I was asking for someone who hit copy-and-paste on another writer's "research and contributions" to at least let the rest of us know how we could read the full article.

I am very appreciative of the time and effort that PilotNation contributors spend tracking down hard-to-find information on our recruits. I love hearing these tidbits of news, speculation, and reporting about the future of the program. So much so, that I would like to read the articles and sources that they find.

On another note... Thanks to DD for the Japanese translation. Is that a PN first?