7-footer Kaleb Tarczewski finishes KU visit
Kaleb Tarczewski, a 7-foot, 220-pound senior-to-be out of St. Mark’s High in Southborough, Mass., completed a two-day, unofficial basketball recruiting visit to Kansas University on Friday.
“It was really good, I really like it there,” Tarczewski, Rivals.com’s No. 11-rated player in the Class of 2012, told ESPN.com, noting he has been on KU’s campus four times.
“This trip was really for my mom. She hadn’t been there yet and I wanted her to see it,” added Tarczewski, who will visit North Carolina on Monday and Tuesday and Arizona on June 20-21.
“Right now those three (schools) are the ones that embody what I’m looking for,” Tarczewski added to ESPN. “It’s not necessarily closed to other schools, but those are the three that I’m looking at right now.”
In the past, he also has listed UConn, Duke, Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia, Florida, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, USC and Boston College.
Here’s what ESPN.com has to say about Tarczewski:
“He is a true center with great size. He runs the floor extremely well and has good mobility for a 7-footer. He has become an explosive and powerful finisher with both hands around the basket and his good hands allow him to catch tough passes and turn them into baskets. He has a good left shoulder hook with a high release and is gradually developing his right shoulder as well. He is a excellent area rebounder especially on the offensive end and is also a decent on ball shot blocker.
“He is also a big man who takes to coaching and has shown great improvement over the course of his career as a result. There may not be another big man that has improved more in the last 18 months than Tarczewski.”
On the flip side, ESPN writes, “Defensively, a player of his size and mobility should be able to improve his shot-blocking presence. Tarczewski also has a bit of a temper that can be both a blessing and a curse. When he harnesses it he is dominant, but when it gets the better of him, he can get taken out of the game mentally.”