Sacred Heart Pioneers,
14-18 (8-10 NEC), Lost 1st Round of NEC Tournament
Key Players Lost: Stan
Dulaire, 21 mpg, 4.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.0 apg
Incoming Recruits:
Tevin Falzon, Newton North High/Winchendon School (MA)
Cole Walton, Bellevue High
(WA)
De’Aires Tate, Martin Luther King High (GA)
With good reason, Dave Bike and the Sacred Heart (SHU) coaching
staff made it a priority to recruit frontcourt depth for the 2012-13
season. The Pioneers struggled to score
inside and defend the paint, especially when junior Justin Swidowski missed time
due to injury or foul trouble, thereby forcing co-captain Nick Greenbacker and the
now graduated Stan Dulaire to play extended minutes. As a result, Bike felt the need
to use all three of SHU’s available scholarships on skilled big men that should
bolster their front line and bench in the short-term and improve the long-term outlook
of their inside play.
Leading the group is early commitment Tevin Falzon, who at
6-foot-7 has an opportunity to make an impact right away in the Northeast
Conference. Heading into his senior
season at Newton North High, Falzon reportedly drew the interest of a few
Division I schools, which included Robert Morris and Quinnipiac. Unfortunately for Falzon, a broken wrist in
the preseason plummeted his stock, so much so that Falzon didn’t have a single
Division I offer to mull after the season.
Despite this, SHU assistant coach Johnny Kidd saw enough in Falzon’s
comeback from the wrist injury to offer him an early scholarship this past summer. The gamble paid off. Since signing his National Letter of Intent with
SHU, Falzon had an excellent post-graduate season at Winchendon School, impressing
many with his improved conditioning and explosiveness. Now with a season of post-graduate under his
belt, Falzon has made it clear he’s ready to compete at the college level.
Falzon profiles as a versatile big man who’s comfortable
both on the perimeter and in the paint, which fits well into SHU’s perimeter
oriented offense. His ability to stretch
the defense – by using his range to pull post defenders out of the paint –
gives him an opportunity to play right away, specifically as Swidowski’s
back-up. In this role, he should provide
scoring off the bench and could be part of a very respectable four man rotation
in the frontcourt including Swidowki, Greenbacker, and junior transfer power
forward Mostafa Abdel Latif. At the very
least, Falzon’s insertion into this rotation should push Louis Montes back to
his more natural position, small forward.
Size can be difficult to acquire in the NEC, yet SHU was
able to sign 6-foot-11 center Cole Walton from Bellevue High in Washington State. Walton has solid athleticism, good hands, and
decent range as a big, but as is the case for most lanky high school seniors,
Walton will need to bulk up considerably and improve his offensive arsenal to
compete in the low block with the likes of NEC up-and-coming big men Jalen
Cannon and Ousmane Drame.
Because of this, Walton probably translates as the biggest project of
the recruiting trio, albeit a project with very good upside. If the SHU coaching staff can transform a
skinny and less athletic 7-foot-0 Liam Potter into a near double-double machine
his senior season, then perhaps Walton can realize his potential much earlier
into his Sacred Heart tenure. Given the
glut of big men on Bike’s roster, it certainly makes sense to redshirt Walton
this upcoming season and have him ready for the 2013-14 campaign, when
Swidowski, Greenbacker, and seldom used Femi Akinpetide are off the roster. After all, Walton hasn’t even turned 18 yet
and an extra year to allow the freshman to physically mature surely couldn’t
hurt.
The final piece of the recruiting puzzle was completed last
Tuesday, with SHU acquiring the services of 6-foot-6 power forward De’Aires
Tate. Tate had verbally committed to SWAC doormat Grambling back in the February, yet he most likely reneged
on his commitment when head coach Bobby Washington was dismissed after a 4-24
season. Grambling's loss is Sacred
Heart’s gain. The Pioneer coaching staff
describes Tate as an athletic, yet undersized, high-energy rebounder (or as Jay
Bilas would say, “this kid has a nice motor”) who could contribute on the glass
and the defensive end of the floor right away.
Other than this grainy Youtube video however, there is hardly any
information out there on Tate, so for now, we’ll have to take the coaching
staff’s word that this was a recruiting coop.
Only time will determine if Tate’s ceiling is closer to Stan Dulaire, or
in a dream scenario for the red and white, Joey Henley.
All in all, the Pioneers addressed their urgent need for big
men of the future. They signed three players
who each possess unique talents and should compliment each other well in the years
to come. With four players scheduled to
graduate after next season, including the greatest Pioneer of them all Shane
Gibson, SHU will have four more scholarships to offer with the focus shifting
to finding a top of the line wing playmaker.
For now though, this incoming class will add some much needed depth to
SHU’s front line, and with any luck, could help catapult the Pioneers into the
upper echelon of the NEC for the 2012-13 season.
Ryan Peters covers Sacred Heart Basketball and the Northeast Conference on Pioneer Pride and Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter here.
Ryan Peters covers Sacred Heart Basketball and the Northeast Conference on Pioneer Pride and Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter here.
