by Alex Schwartz

The La Salle Explorers rounded out their class of 2010 early Friday evening, adding another player to their backcourt of the future. Cole Stefan, a 6'3 shooting guard from Minnetonka (MN) faxed in his NLI to the Atlantic-10 school around 5:00pm, becoming the fourth member of John Giannini's recruiting class. He joins 6'1 PG Tyreek Duren of Neumann-Goretti (PA), 6'3 PG Sam Mills of Cardinal Gibbons (FL), and 6'10 C Matt Lopez of Washington Township (NJ).

Marquise Watts, Cole Stefan's AAU coach with Net Gain Hoops, discussed the North Star state standout's decision. "La Salle was the only official visit he took, but he had been dealing with Boston College, East Carolina, Tulane, and Boise State," said Watts of Stefan's finalists. He went on to add that Stefan's official trip to La Salle came on the weekend of April 30th.

"I would say they'd seen him play in the high school playoffs in March," said Watts of when La Salle got involved. "That's kind of when they started to inquire and figure out what was going on."

Asked how Stefan decided on La Salle, Watts replied, "From what he told me in conversation, I think it was just the tradition of the Big Five and the A-10, and he really liked Philly, probably more than he thought he would, being a Midwest kid. Then the second thing, probably the more important, was that he liked Coach G and his staff . . . and how they were gonna use him. It was a really good fit."

"He's flat out, he's one of the best shooters I've ever coached. He can flat out shoot it. When I say he has range, he has range," said Watts of the strongest point of Stefan's game. As for his primary weakness, Watts remarked, "I just think his efficiency off the bounce. In high school you can come off a ball screen or be a lot looser, he's got to be tighter off the bounce. If he continues in college, I think he can be more of a shooting combo, play some point guard. He's got to work [on his game] off the bounce."

Watts, who said he has "been coaching Cole since he was 12," described the newest Explorer off the court. "[He is] laid back, very chill, a homebody, just laid back. He's a laid back kid. Still, in everything he does he's a competitor, but he's very, very laid back."

Considering how late it is, Watts thinks this may make things easier for Stefan as he finishes up high school. "I think he's just had an extensive [recruitment]. He's been getting Division I offers since he was a sophomore from mid-majors to high-majors, taking unofficial visits. So to find a home, a fit, . . . I think it was a big relief. To say, 'ya know, I graduate in two weeks.' He can finish up his baseball season, hopefully win a state title, and then go from there," Watts said.

"I think this year he was at 23, 22.5 [points per game] and like five rebounds, four assists, something like that. He ended up going over 1,000 points," Watts said of Stefan's senior year stats. He added, "They won states two years ago, when he was a sophomore, so he had limited minutes. So he basically scored 400 points each of the past two years. He ended up with like 1,114."

As for the Minnetonka season as a whole, Watts explained that it did not go quite as expected. "They had a lot of [things going on]. The coach got replaced in the middle of the year," he said. "They got to the sectional finals of state and they ended up losing to the eventual state champion. Their final record was probably 15-12 or 14-11, maybe a little more than that. They were preseason second or third in the state, but a lot of things went on."

"I think he's kind of a hybrid. [He is kind of like] the man that shot it at Notre Dame, Kyle McAlarney. He's got range, shoots it, not super quick, but Cole's probably a better athlete, he's a deceptive athlete. Then the guy that played at Florida, Lee Humphrey, he's a mixture of those two," said Watts of who he would compare Stefan's game to. "He's got crazy range, I mean on the break, I have been coaching him and he's got the green light to do it. It would be nothing to see him pull-up from 28, 30 [feet], and it looks as good as he's pulling up from 20."

"I think it's a good situation for those guys, I'm  happy for La Salle [and I am] happy for Cole. It's always good for a kid when they figure out where they wanna go," said Watts before getting off the phone.

Note- photo of Stefan is from http://www.rivals.com/