A basketball decision

Stanford won a heated recruiting battle over Vanderbilt, Virginia, USC, and dozens of other programs, to secure the commitment of Florida forward Schuyler Rimmer. Rimmer made a verbal commitment to the Cardinal last week, and is expected to sign with Stanford today, the first day of the early signing period.

Cardinal Sports Report recently spoke with Rimmer's AAU coach, Reggie Tucker, to get the inside scoop on Rimmer as a player and his recruiting process.

Cardinal Sports Report: What kind of a player and person is Stanford getting in Schuyler Rimmer?

Reggie Tucker: He's a great kid on and off the court and it shows both in the classroom and on the basketball court. It goes hand in hand. He's a great student and it carries over. He's a kid that doesn't want to be good, he doesn't want to be average. He wants to be great at everything he does. It's been a blessing to be able to coach him, to watch him grow up and become the young man he is today. He's humble. He's a humble kid. With everything that's happened to him over the past years, all the accolades, all the 35 high-major offers that he's had, he never changed. And that's the good thing about the kid. He's been a blessing to coach and mentor, teach and been a joy to be around, him and his family.

Cardinal Sports Report: On the floor, how would you describe his style of play? What does he do well, what are his biggest assets?

RT: His biggest asset is that he's a tough kid. He has the post (abilities), he can step out and shoot. He's still working on his ball-handling. The thing about Schuyler is that he has a work ethic and he's always trying to add pieces to his game. He's a basketball player. Most kids work to be good at one thing. He wants to be great at every aspect of the game. Blocking, passing, rebounding. But his strong suit is rebounding. He doesn't take plays off, he plays hard and like I said, he wants to be great. Overall, I think it's just his work ethic. Stanford's getting a kid who's going to continue to get better. That's the type of kid that he is… he's going to help their program. There's no question… He's going to be successful. He would have been successful at any school we went to, to be honest. If he would have gone to Idaho State, I'm not trying to knock Idaho State, but he could have gone somewhere like that and still been successful. But I think Stanford's getting not only a good basketball player, they're getting a great kid who's going to represent Stanford in a positive way on and off the court.

How tall is Schuyler currently?

RT: Schuyler is definitely 6-foot-9. He might be 6-foot-10 now. A lot of coaches went down and watched him and were like, 'Man, Schuyler has gotten taller.' Last time we checked he was definitely 6-foot-9.

CSR: In terms of a future position, I know at Stanford the forward spots are at least somewhat interchangeable and that Schuyler has a nice outside shooting touch, but where do you think he's best suited to play?

RT: Right now he's best suited to play in the post, but like I said he can step out and shoot the 15, 17-footer. He's really worked on his ball-handling, really stretching the floor a lot more. He's not a good three-point shooter at this time…but he can step out and shoot the 15-to-17 footer consistently, really consistently. He's a good passer. He can play on the perimeter and run a two-man ball screen... He's a very versatile player. You can't just limit him to in the post because he does so much more.

CSR: Obviously like you said there were many high majors after Schuyler. What do you think Stanford did well in its recruitment of Schuyler to make him feel comfortable 3,000 miles away from home?

RT: I've talked to the coaching staff, to be honest with you, I don't know. Whatever they did, it worked. He went out to California, he visited twice. He went on an unofficial visit and of course he went on an official visit. To be honest with you, he made his decision on a basketball decision. It was a basketball decision. All of the schools that recruited him had great academics. He would have been successful at any of those schools academically, but it came down to a basketball decision. He loved the basketball staff at Stanford. He really felt like the basketball staff would provide the best opportunity to play after college, which is something that he wants to do. He wants to be a pro and he felt like the Stanford coaching staff gives him the best opportunity to become a pro. Like I said we always talk about getting better each and every year and he felt like at Stanford he would become a better basketball player and would get better each and every year. We talked every day, me and (another one of Schuyler's coaches) and we always broke down pros and cons of each program. At the end of the day it became a basketball decision. He really felt like Stanford was the place for him for the next four or five years.

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