Friday, April 24, 2009

JUCO backcourter signs with Idaho


(Landon Tatum photo credit to southtexashoops.com)

Point guard Landon Tatum of South Plains College in Texas has become an Idaho Vandal.

This is a curious signing -- not due to Tatum's qualifications or lack thereof -- but because senior Mac Hopson is going to be on the court and with the ball in his hands for 35 minutes a game.

Senior Steffan Johnson -- the Pacific transfer -- will also be handling the ball quite often in the backcourt as he was credited with 151 assists in his last season in Stockton.

So when does Tatum, who will be a junior, play?

Maybe the plan is to redshirt him unless an injury occurs.

Tatum played his prep ball in San Antonio. His height/weight seems to be 5-11, 170 but most writeups on him employ the term strong and physical in describing his style of play. He averaged 8.7 points per game and 5.8 assists a contest this past season at South Plains and was a First Team All Conference selection. Tatum passed for 181 assists and nabbed 46 steals.

1 comment:

Travis Mason-Bushman said...

I talked with Don Verlin about his increased depth for next year, and will have a more complete wrapup next week - but suffice to say that Hopson will not have to play 35 minutes a game in 2009-10.

Verlin's intentions are to run a much faster-paced, uptempo game plan. He couldn't do it this year only because his bench was so thin.