I had a long talk with JP and his Dad last evening and Duke called and offered this morning. Tokoto and his family are really sharp and Duke is in on this kid earlier than anyone before.
http://bluedevilnation.net/
He visited unc and met w/ roy williams the day before he came to Duke's elite camp. He enjoyed his unc visit very much but roy held off on an offer for the time being. Maybe Duke gains an advantage by offering before unc?
"I just got off the phone with coach K," Trimble (Tokoto's father) said. "He offered him. It was a great conversation."
"The trip went great," he added. "We all went and it was an honor. Coach K said us as a family would be a perfect fit for Duke. He thought JP's character and charisma and obviously his game were a perfect fit."
Tokoto also has offers from Kansas, Tennessee, Indiana, Marquette, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota.
I had a long talk with JP and his Dad last evening and Duke called and offered this morning. Tokoto and his family are really sharp and Duke is in on this kid earlier than anyone before.
http://bluedevilnation.net/
http://www.wissports.net/sports/hoop...123&id=1058128
Had this link from Tokoto's home state of Wisconsin in another thread, but I'll add it to this one, since he apparently really does have a Duke offer.
I had heard this might happen. Hope it works out for the best.
Wow. The staff must be really impressed by Tokoto to offer him so early.
Here's an interview and a few clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1oXdKYVecg
There's a reason for that...
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/accnow...hands-younguns
(The blog actually talks about MP3, but the agreement is what's relevant).
Maybe he can graduate real early?
As a heel, I'm glad Roy is sticking to the NABC guidelines, but I'm not sure it's a huge deal either way. Today's sophomores have been playing in national AAU tournaments for a few years, and they probably are more sophisticated about the recruiting process than sophs were in the '80s or '90s. But I catch your drift--with the Wall recruitment, the elite camp, and now this, Duke does seem to be making changes on the recruiting front.
this years game against wisconsin at madison, is going to be huge towards the recruiting of JP...lets hope we win and make a great impression on the young man.
I'm trying to place the origin of the name Tokoto. Is his father Japanese?
I think the concern is, where do you draw the line? If every school wants to be the first to offer a kid, then we're going to see offers made to younger and younger kids. So if a guideline is set then at least there's a boundary that gets made and everyone's on the same page.
Didn't Kentucky make an offer to an eighth grader?
His biological father is former GT star Brian Oliver. I believe the two are not close.
Brian Oliver from GT's lethal weapon 3 team
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Oliver
And i got beat to the punch...
Last edited by jesus_hurley; 08-26-2009 at 11:14 AM. Reason: adding comment
If I'm not mistaken, Taylor King committed to UCLA in 8th grade.
I agree that it this is a slippery slope scenario, but I'm not so sure it's any different than colleges encouraging 10th graders who do well on the PSAT to apply for their scholarship programs. I remember I got mail from Texas A&M practically every week from January of my sophomore year until the latest possible application deadline had passed in the spring of my senior year encouraging me to apply for one of their biggest scholarships, even though I repeatedly tried to take my self off the email list.
I know it can be argued that it is one thing to encourage kids to begin thinking about their college education at a younger age and quite another to get them commit to a school strictly for basketball as a sophomore. I also understand that there's a difference between encouraging a student to apply to a scholarship program that they couldn't even win until their senior year of HS and committing to attend a school as a soph . . . However, with recruits having a very limited time to use their five official visits and with financial considerations a serious concern for many recruits wishing to take a few UV earlier in their HS career, I don't have a problem with a coach letting a recruit know that there's a scholarship available for them early on so that recruit can be certain that their money will not be spent in vain if they want to take an UV before their senior year. I especially don't have a problem if coach K has gotten to talk to the recruit and the recruit's family.