Cal Poly Basketball Announces Letters of Intent

Cal Poly released a statement on Wednesday announcing letters of intent for three guards — two of whom are from Texas.With three seniors on this year’s roster (Drake U’u, Chris O’Brien, and Dylan Royer), coach Joe Callero has three players coming in with perimeter skills.

My favorite part of writing this was watching the YouTube highlight videos of each of these guys, especially when it came to the music. Two of them have upbeat hip-hop tracks and one is, well, a little more mellow.

Markel Leonard, a point guard from Salesian High School in Hercules, CA seems quick, instinctive, and shifty.

The Leonard video with the sweet music track:

The “silent” video (might be the exact same thing without the sweet beats):

Ridge Shipley, another small guard from Hebron High School in Carrollton, TX, seems to have and also quickness to get around defenders and get his own shot. Highlights also show court vision and a LOT of confidence with the ball in his hand. Another sweet track in the video…

OK, I have to admit it. This last video is my favorite of the three. Taylor Sutlive from Churchill High School in San Antonio, TX is a lanky wing player with no conscience. He shoots from everywhere. His highlight video shows him cruising at-times, just waiting for an open shot somewhere inside half-court. He has longish hair probably adds to my perception of a mellow, laid-back bomber.

Sutlive’s video exhibits the ultimate “you better get out on that guy!” guy. Despite that, he also shows that he can get up and throw down on occasion and also showcases a developed pull-up game. He shows he’s a guard who can rebound and makes some really nice “look-ahead” passes to teammates. The slowed-down music still has all the rhythm that it’s clear Sutlive has in his shot.

Here’s an older version of Sutlive set to an Eminem track. Looks like he grew a lot going into his junior season.

It looks like Sutlive went to a pretty fun high school too. In this video, basically the whole high school participates in a one-shot lip-dub. Sutlive makes a 10-second appearance at the 7:50 mark.

Without seeing these guys in-person, it’s really hard to know what kind of players they’ll be at Cal Poly. Joe Callero has a few recruiting outposts now (Illinois and Texas) and seems to have a plan for the program in his fourth year — losing three perimeter players after this year and recruiting three more.

Cal Poly’s first home game of the season is tonight at 7PM vs. Northern Colorado at Mott Gym.

UPDATE

The women’s team announced four letters of intent on Thursday — all from front-court players.

Hannah Gilbert (Morro Bay High School) and Mary Kate Evans (Atascadero High School) highlight the incoming group for coach Faith Mimnaugh. Neither have videos on YouTube, but both are at least six feet tall, which is a nice thing to have in the Big West.

Sarah Lipton from Woodbridge High School in Irvine is also over six feet tall, standing at 6’1”. As a high school player, she shoots almost 40 percent from 3-point range and should also fit into Mimnaugh’s run-and-gun offensive system.

Lipton has a pair of youtube videos. They showcase a pretty well-developed offensive game:

Rachel Koehler is a recruit from Billings, Montana (Billings Senior High School). Koehler is a forward who Mimnaugh described as “explosive and physical.” No YouTube video for Koehler either.