Tollefsen intrigued by what UA offers
Tim Derksen, Arizona’s 2012 basketball Player of the Year, is in the middle of an intriguing recruiting weekend.
A senior-to-be at San Francisco, Derksen is playing host to Sahuaro’s 6-foot 7-inch Nate Renfro, who is in an ongoing recruiting weekend with the Dons. And Derksen, who led Amphi to the 2012 state championship, is keeping watch on his ex-USF teammate and close friend Mark Tollefsen, who is on a recruiting weekend in Tucson.
Renfro is expected to choose between USF and Cal-Fullerton. Tollefsen, who is about to earn a degree in advertising at USF, is college basketball’s version of a free agent; he is visiting Arizona this weekend. San Diego State and UCLA are also interested.
Tollefsen is a 6-9 “stretch four,” much like Grant Jerrett was at Arizona in 2013. The difference is that Tollefsen is older and has three years of college experience; he scored 21 and 18 points in late-season games against Gonzaga. His USF coach, Rex Walters, tried to keep Tollefsen for a final year by telling him he could be the best player in the West Coast Conference.
“Mark is a great kid, with a great character, so in that regard Sean Miller would be getting a good fit,” said Pat Derksen, Tim’s father, the former head basketball coach at Amphitheater High School. “Mark is super athletic, runs the floor very well. But he’s also slight of build and not a back-to-the-basket player.”
Tollefsen had an effective shooting percentage of 60.3 percent this year, according to KenPom.com. How good is that? The ony two UA opponents better were Gonzaga’s Przemek Karnowski, 62.2; and Xavier’s Matt Stainbrook, 61.5. It’s a better mark than any Arizona player.
One reason Tollefsen is intrigued by Arizona is that UA coaches told him that of 120 practices last season, all but 19 were watched by at least one NBA scout.
Tollefsen is Exhibit A of how important age is in college basketball. When he left Sam Ramon Valley High School near San Francisco in 2010, he was a “no star” rating. The recruiting services didn’t even give him a 1-star ranking. But he went from 6-7, 175 pounds to 6-9, 200, and redshirted a season at USF after turning down offers from Denver and San Jose State.
Now he’s on a tour of McKale Center, a team of four- and five-star players, that averages 14,500 per home game as opposed to USF’s 1,856.
