Sai Tummala -> Arizona St.-> Hawaii

[The Polish Rifle]

https://twitter.com/ArizonaPreps/status/311620162149302273

 

I didnt see this in this thread so I thought id throw it out there, one would assume this guy knows enough about high school and college basketball to understand the difference between UNL and UNO.....

[TheKamdyMan]

https://twitter.com/ArizonaPreps/status/311620162149302273

 

I didnt see this in this thread so I thought id throw it out there, one would assume this guy knows enough about high school and college basketball to understand the difference between UNL and UNO.....

 

Id venture to guess some people dont even know the difference since UNO is still new to D-1 and Nebraska hoops isnt exactly a household name either at this point.

[uneblinstu]

the guy that tweeted it out seems like he's been around enough that he'd be more than aware of the difference.  Now, if he got is info from the kid, and he didn't know the difference, that's possible.

[Norm Peterson]

It won't be a race between BYU and UNO.  If there's a Nebraska involved with a kid holding a BYU offer, it'd be us.  I'm pretty sure about that.

[TheKamdyMan]

It won't be a race between BYU and UNO.  If there's a Nebraska involved with a kid holding a BYU offer, it'd be us.  I'm pretty sure about that.

 

Brown, Penn, Binghamton, Drake, Stephen F Austin, Santa Clara

 

Those schools scream on the same level as UNO to me.  Yes BYU stands out of that group but the others do not to me.

[Norm Peterson]

No, very true.  Although they aren't all down as far on the list as UNO.  Binghamton is.  But, according to Kenpom, FWIW, BYU is in the 70s.  So is Stephen F. Austin.  Santa Clara is 89th.  Those are quite a ways up the list from UNO, coming in at #318.

 

AND, my guess is that he went under the radar a bit because:  a) he's a freshman and not the traditional 2nd year juco; and the fact he's a former walk-on may weigh into what people think.

 

But if you go strictly by the film and the numbers he's put up on a national top 10 juco team, I'd say he looks like a good prospect.  But, hey, what do I know?

[Norm Peterson]

Apparently, a "b" with a close parenthesis like this ")" puts a smiley with sunglasses whether you meant one or not.  It can't just be a b with a closed parenthesis.  Glad the computer is smarter than I am and knows what I want. 

[hhcmatt]

Apparently, a "b" with a close parenthesis like this ")" puts a smiley with sunglasses whether you meant one or not.  It can't just be a b with a closed parenthesis.  Glad the computer is smarter than I am and knows what I want. 

 

If choose more reply options and uncheck "enable emoticons" you can totally pull off a

[Swan88]

Assuming we've actually offered this player, we'd be in pretty good company with BYU also reportedly offering him: (i) according to Rivals, BYU has two four-star recruits committed in the 2013 class and a four-star recruit committed for the 2014 class, and (ii) according to ESPN, BYU was in the final five schools on the Jabari Parker list (a 6'8" 220 lb. five-star who chose Duke). Additionally, ArizonaPreps reported around the turn of the year that this player "is also receiving strong interest from" Gonzaga and Utah.

[Norm Peterson]

Swan, you just look at him and you can tell this is a kid who can play.  And typically a guy's offers start to go up as you get closer to signing.  UNO isn't going to get in there against BYU at the end of the recruitment period.  That's not how these things work.

 

Y'know, sometimes a kid can pull good stats but it's smoke and mirrors when you see him play because you can tell he's not that good and must have padded his stats against really inferior competition.  I used to think that must have been the case with BJ Walker a few years back because from the very first open scrimmage he played in, I knew the kid was not going to live up to his hype.  He must have gotten a lot of putbacks because he clearly couldn't score against defense.

 

But you look at Sai's stats and then watch him play and you know he's a legit 40% 3 pt shooter.  He has terrific elevation and a nice high release on that jumper.  Another great looking lefty jumper, like Nick Fuller's.  Plus, Sai has a really nice lefty hook that appears to be effective out to at least 10 feet.  He has a variety of post moves to create space for himself in the low blocks.  And he's active.

 

And I continue to suspect that he's a bit of an unknown because you don't usually expect jucos to be coming out after their freshman year as this kid is doing.  Might look for his offers to continue to pick up.  I suspect if he was going to play another year of juco, he'd be pretty heavily recruited come November.

[Norm Peterson]

Here's another vid of highlights from one of his juco games.  Apparently, he posted the vid because the user name is him.  If it's him, he describes himself as 6'7" and 215#.  Looks like he can play with his back to the basket or facing up.

 

[Creighton Fan]

S

 

And I continue to suspect that he's a bit of an unknown because you don't usually expect jucos to be coming out after their freshman year as this kid is doing.  Might look for his offers to continue to pick up.  I suspect if he was going to play another year of juco, he'd be pretty heavily recruited come November.

I don't think it is all that rare.  I can think of several Creighton players over the years who were only at JUCO for one year (Cavel Witter and Johnnie Mathies come to mind).

 

In the case of this kid, it would appear as though he went to JUCO after leaving his college because he didn't want to have to sit a year (and/or may not have had any D1 scholarship options).  Sitting out another year after redshirting might leave one a touch rusty, so it sounds like he made a good decision.

 

Love the name.  Sort of a Duck Dynasty meets Taco Bell. 

[TheKamdyMan]

Assuming we've actually offered this player, we'd be in pretty good company with BYU also reportedly offering him: (i) according to Rivals, BYU has two four-star recruits committed in the 2013 class and a four-star recruit committed for the 2014 class, and (ii) according to ESPN, BYU was in the final five schools on the Jabari Parker list (a 6'8" 220 lb. five-star who chose Duke). Additionally, ArizonaPreps reported around the turn of the year that this player "is also receiving strong interest from" Gonzaga and Utah.

 

There's a reason they are getting those 4 stars and why they were in it for Jabari its called religion.  Also look at those 3 highly ranked players.  All 3 are from Utah and all play for the SAME high school that is about 15 minutes from Provo.  One of those players' father and brother (still on the team) also played at BYU.

[Concrete]

Assuming we've actually offered this player, we'd be in pretty good company with BYU also reportedly offering him: (i) according to Rivals, BYU has two four-star recruits committed in the 2013 class and a four-star recruit committed for the 2014 class, and (ii) according to ESPN, BYU was in the final five schools on the Jabari Parker list (a 6'8" 220 lb. five-star who chose Duke). Additionally, ArizonaPreps reported around the turn of the year that this player "is also receiving strong interest from" Gonzaga and Utah.

 

There's a reason they are getting those 4 stars and why they were in it for Jabari its called religion.  Also look at those 3 highly ranked players.  All 3 are from Utah and all play for the SAME high school that is about 15 minutes from Provo.  One of those players' father and brother (still on the team) also played at BYU.

I think that feeds into his point.  BYU, while not Duke, Kentucky, UNC, etc., has a huge leg up on a talented pool of players and can afford to be picky with who they recruit.  Basically, if BYU's coach thinks that this guy was worth going after, then Sai must be doing something right.

[Norm Peterson]

I was wondering what Sai's background is with his BYU offer.  There are some places where the Mormon religion seems to have a strong foothold.  I wanna say Samoa is one of them.  Is Sai Samoan? 

[Swan88]

I was wondering what Sai's background is with his BYU offer.  There are some places where the Mormon religion seems to have a strong foothold.  I wanna say Samoa is one of them.  Is Sai Samoan? 

 

My understanding (hopefully, this isn't way off) is that Sai's sister plays basketball for Harvard University (smarts must run in the family).  Here is a blurb about the sister from her high school days:

"Shipla Tummala of St. Mary's (Phoenix, Ariz.), . . . was born in Phoenix, but her parents are Hindus from Andhra Pradesh in South India."

[FredsSlacks]

Would Kent be able to handle having a Sai and Tai?

[Silverbacked1]

Doc won't have.

[Rome4Lyfe]

Frankly I dont give a hoot what offers this kid has or doesn't have, he can spot up for the three, dunk and has a little touch hook for down low.  Looks like he can run the court and has very good athleticism!  Sign him up.  We need more of these types of players on the team!!!  You can never have too many 6'7" players that can hit a three or drop down to the post and hit a baby hook!!

[Silverbacked1]

And if he went to Michigan he already is an adidas kid.

[Norm Peterson]

Frankly I dont give a hoot what offers this kid has or doesn't have, he can spot up for the three, dunk and has a little touch hook for down low.  Looks like he can run the court and has very good athleticism!  Sign him up.  We need more of these types of players on the team!!!  You can never have too many 6'7" players that can hit a three or drop down to the post and hit a baby hook!!

That's kinda my thoughts as well.  We have guys on the roster whom I've never seen do those things as well as I've seen this guy do them on tape.  And so we don't want him because no one else saw fit to offer him?  This is like sneaking an under-the-radar kid.  The kind of recruit we've always said we needed to find.

[HuskerPower #nato73]

Frankly I dont give a hoot what offers this kid has or doesn't have, he can spot up for the three, dunk and has a little touch hook for down low.  Looks like he can run the court and has very good athleticism!  Sign him up.  We need more of these types of players on the team!!!  You can never have too many 6'7" players that can hit a three or drop down to the post and hit a baby hook!!

That's kinda my thoughts as well.  We have guys on the roster whom I've never seen do those things as well as I've seen this guy do them on tape.  And so we don't want him because no one else saw fit to offer him?  This is like sneaking an under-the-radar kid.  The kind of recruit we've always said we needed to find.

Dylan Talley was a Binghamton transfer.  What if we would have had the equivalent talent of 6-8 Dylan Talley's spread through out the roster at various positions?  We would be not great but better.  Diamonds in the rough, evaluation and coaching are going to be important here.  Unless we would rather steal another BCS school's Shang Ping.

[TheKamdyMan]

looks like his Juco won today in the first round and you can watch the game live on the internet tomorrow when they play at 8pm central time. 

 

http://njcaa.org/sports_nationalChampionship.cfm?category=National%20Championship&sid=4&divid=1&slid=2

[Norm Peterson]

Thanks for the info Kamdy.  Hey, is your recruiting contact telling you anything about this kid?

[TheKamdyMan]

Thanks for the info Kamdy.  Hey, is your recruiting contact telling you anything about this kid?

 

my guy knows the prep schools in the northeast.  I wish I knew more on this kid.  Who knows he could be the next Stanley Jean Baptiste that comes out of nowhere as a freshman at a juco and nobody had heard of him and hes been a contributor for the football squad.