NCAAbbs

Two things:

1. For a guy who seems to have done very well in high school, I only found him on rivals shortly after him being signed.

2. He has no rating all, stars or even articles that I can see.

This guy struck me as quiet a talent, but just watching this over the last couple of months has me wandering, thoughts?

I put virtually no stock into the recruiting services, at least at the mid-major level. There are thousands of D1 prospects in high school as well as the juco ranks. It's impossible to cover the entire landscape of high school and juco basketball. Plus, I think the stars rating system is a little arbitrary. I once asked coach Baucom (VMI, Tusculum, W.Carolina) about these recruiting services and he told me that it's hard to evaluate all the talent that's out there. Remember, Kevin Martin, 1st round pick of the Sacramento Kings, he was recruited by Buffalo and W.Carolina.

Just look at our program over the last 5 or 6 years. Arguably our most highly touted recruit was Knuckles. He was a 3-star recruit according to Rivals. I couldn't check any further than 2002, but I would guess that neither Wadood or Fields would have had any stars. Timmy Smith had 0 stars. Aaron Scott was a 3-star recruit and he finished his career at a NAIA school. A.J. Jackson had no stars and he was far better than Scott. Dequan Twilley was also a 3-star recruit. Petras Balocka was a two-star and he couldn't hit a layup. Kevin Tiggs had no stars and he was the national juco player of year. I cite all of these examples only to show that I just don't think it means that much what rivals says at our level.

I have been critical of Bartow in terms of his coaching and some of his decisions with his players, but I do think he's an exceptional evaluator of talent.

Sites like Rivals and Scout are almost completely dependent on camps, and AAU tournments for player assessment. If someone is isn`t big on those things, and isn`t just a super talent odds are they are going to fly under the radar. The kid averaged 22 points, 6.3 assists and 6.1 rebounds in a tough league, is a finalist for 5A “Mr. Basketball and was the 5A Player of the Year, tore up the post season allstar circuit(named MVP in 2), and was being pursued by Butler, Air Force, and USF.

Nope I`m not worried at all

Very nice example's guys, I appreciate the feedback. I've been a long time Bucs fan, and I really want to see us do well. This kid has me excited, but we'll see what happens. Most importantly we have to get some bigs, that just has to happen.

Thanks for the response's, nice example's.

Adam Sollazzo is highly underrated and came in under the radar for a couple of reasons. One, he lost his front teeth last summer in a collision and missed the whole summer of AAU. Two, he played under a very good player his junior year who got all of the attention, and Adam was more of a passer than scorer. Three, he is very unselfish. He also plays in the Tampa area, which is for good or bad, a football area that doesn't draw much attention for basketball. This year's class and next year's is the best in several years in Tampa. I can tell you that Adam is much better than any of you know. I am his high school coach, and his basketball IQ is very high as well as his ability to score and pass. I believe he will improve greatly in his years at ETSU because he finally stopped growing and can put on some muscle. He grew a foot since the end of his freshman year. We also played a passing, team oriented offense, which kept his point totals even lower. He was never contained offensively - he never had a game where he was shut down. You will be surprised how good he is and wonder how you were lucky enough to get him, and he is very happy to be attending ETSU. I was his high school coach, and I will surely miss him - a once in a lifetime player.

Thank you, coach, for that excellent report. If he is all you say, then he will come into a good situation where he should get plenty of quality minutes right away. Keep us posted if you have anything more to relate. I think, based on some 'buzz' around here, that hopes are quite high for him. Did you by any chance know, or see play, Tiras Wade (also from Tampa) in high school? He was sort of a G/F (6'6") who had great passing and scoring ability. He played here two years, and was forced(?) by the then coach to leave the team, and then he transfered to S.W. La, where he led the Rajun' Cajuns to the NCAAs there. The point of my question, obviously, is if you could make a comparison.

Coach I have a question for you. Do you think Adam is strong enough defensively to guard the small quick guards in the league? I ask this because he is just so tall for a PG.

Can't speak of his coach, but it works both ways. Sollazzo may have trouble with the smaller/quicker guards, but they are going have a lot of trouble guarding him on the other end. We took the same payoff with Swader this past season, yeah he gave up a lot of bulk to the bigger guys he was guarding, but they also couldn`t handle his quickness and outside shot on the other end. If push comes to serve we can always put CP on the PG and let Sollazzo check the other teams 2 guard(heck he still should tower over most teams 2 guard anyway).

I agree. Plus, length in basketball compensates a great deal for any lack of speed. Swader could disrupt a guard from a couple of feet away. My guess is that Sollazzo will cause some serious matchup problems for opposing teams as well. You could conceivably play him like a post player on offense.

I was just talking about this with someone the other day, it would be suicidal for a team to try to play man to man defense against us now. All we'd have to do is spread the floor and post Sollazzo up against some little point guard, at the very least he should get to the line at will doing that.

Sollazzo did not play any man to man defense before I took over as coach. He was very weak playing it at first, but eventually grasped it because he has a great sense for the ball. He did struggle with the small quick guards, but I usually changed match ups and had him guard a 2 or 3 guard. They could not handle him. Not only can he post up smaller guards, but he has a great knack for getting to the basket - because he is so long and tall, he appears slower than he is, but he is very explosive when going to the basket. He had several dunks not only in the open court, but even in the half court offense. He is great at twisting his way through the defense and finds ways to score and can't be double teamed because he will find the open man all the way across the court. He will be able to guard people of equal stature well enough and score on any guard at any size. I also believe he will get much stronger and thicker - now we just have to figure out how to replace him next year - from his HS coach - also, I hope to find time to go see him play next year at ETSU - just found out that the mayor of Johnson City is a friend of a friend.

A point guard that can dunk; I like what I'm hearing!

By the way, where did James Anthony's brother transfer to? Did he go D1?

Thanks for all the info!

Sollazzo Named Tampa Tribune Basketball Player of the Year

By NICK WILLIAMS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 20, 2008

SEFFNER - As a kid, Armwood senior basketball star Adam Sollazzo dreamed of playing basketball for Duke University.

"That's every kid's dream," he said.

But Sollazzo never lost hope of the opportunity to someday play Division I basketball. Duke didn't come running like he'd planned, but the 6-foot-5 point guard decided to sign with Division I East Tennessee State shortly after the season.

Although Sollazzo was a good player last season as a junior (16 points, eight assists per game), he rocketed onto the recruiting scene as a senior, and amid a season that produced multiple MVP candidates (Sheldon Cooley, David Waller, Blake Allen) he proved to be the best all-around player in Hillsborough County.

"I flew under the radar," Sollazzo said.

In the toughest district in the county, Sollazzo averaged 21.7 points, six rebounds and 6.3 assists per game for the Hawks (15-11), who lost in the Class 5A-District 8 tournament semifinals to Brandon, which later advanced to the state final four. His talents earned him several honors, which included 5A and District 13 (Hillsborough County) Player of the Year, Tampa Bay Basketball Coaches Association Player of the Year, 2008 Western Conference Boys Basketball Federal Division Player of the Year and Florida Sports Writers Association 5A all-state honorable mention.

Perhaps what's more impressive, Sollazzo earned MVP honors at the Florida Athletic Coaches Association North vs. South Basketball All-Star Game, which featured the top players from Florida. He pulled off a triple-double with 16 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds. Two weeks later, he was named MVP of the Hillsborough vs. Pinellas County All-Star Game.

He finished his career with 1,061 points.

Those accomplishments show why Sollazzo is The Tribune's 2008 Hillsborough County Boys Basketball Athlete of the Year.

"I knew this year was my year," Sollazzo said. "Coach gave me the ball and let me play my game."

"He's very smart on the court," Armwood coach Jeff Pafunda said. "He's like a coach on the court. He makes all the players around him better."

In a win against Tampa Bay Tech during the regular season, he finished with a season-best 34 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

"He was not only taller than the guys that defended him, but he had a great knack to score in the lane," Pafunda said. "He made the defense focus on him. He has great vision. If I would have told him to get 20 assists, he probably could have."

BOYS BASKETBALL FIRST TEAM

Blake Allen, Brandon, Guard, Sr.

Sheldon Cooley, Plant, Guard, Jr.

Adam Sollazzo, Armwood, Guard, Sr.

Callum Townsend, Bloomingdale, Forward, Jr.

David Waller, Tampa Prep, Forward, Sr.

Coach of the Year: Mark Hermann, Brandon