Basketball recruit might be 7-foot when he gets to La Salle

Red Land High basketball coach Scott Slayton was just told his senior big man Steve Zack measures out at 6-11 1/2. When Slayton puts together his roster, Zack, he said, will be listed at 7 feet.

Zack is still listed at 6-10 on most recruiting websites. But he is still growing, both in size and, according to his coach, in game. Slayton said Zack had a terrific summer playing on the AAU circuit in New Jersey, West Virginia and Florida. So Zack chose to end the recruiting when school began this week. He liked La Salle best so he made an oral commitment to John Giannini's program. He will arrive at 20th and Olney next summer.

"He had a phenomenal summer," Slayton said. "He really gained a lot of interest. There were 16 schools that had made formal offers."

Zack looked at several Patriot League (Bucknell, Holy Cross) and Ivy League (Penn, Cornell, Princeton) schools. He also was very interested in George Mason, although it had not made a formal offer.

"He is a legitimate, big post presence," Slayton said. "He's very athletic . . . He's not a kid that can only have his back to the basket. He's very strong."

Red Land, located just south of Harrisburg, was very good last season, but had the misfortune of getting eventual AAAA champion Plymouth Whitemarsh in the first round of the states. PW ran off 20 consecutive points in the first quarter.

"We were in the game right until the official threw the ball up for the jump," Slayton said, laughing. "Once [Zack] caught up to the speed of the game, he was fine. We were all shellshocked at the start."

Zack liked everything about La Salle, so he chose not to wait to take any more visits.

"I really liked the coaches there," Zack said. "Coach Giannini made out a whole plan, and I think that if I want to play past college, that would be my best place to go."