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Hungarian signs with national power before even playing a high school game
Because being the 6-foot-10 European kid with range isn’t enough of an edge.
Sagemont senior basketball player Gyorgy Goloman hasn’t even played a high school game. Yet he is guaranteed college basketball as he signed Wednesday to play at national power UCLA.
“I think he’s starting to grasp (how big of a deal UCLA is),” said Sagemont coach Adam Ross. “His visit out there certainly helped.”
Ross said Goloman wanted to play college basketball. He also wanted to get an education.
Goloman and his mother, who lives in Hungary, looked for a good American high school where athletics and academics were a priority, Ross said. The family chose Sagemont and got Goloman enrolled while he is currently living with a host family.
FROM UNKNOWN TO UCLA
Goloman enrolled at Sagemont and was noticed at a practice by UCLA coach Steve Alford and his staff.
Ross said Alford and his staff recruited Sagemont players even when they were at New Mexico. They were at Sagemont to scout junior guard Prince Ali when they saw Goloman in practice.
“They initially came to see Prince,” Ross said. “And then they fell in love with (Goloman.)”
Ross said UCLA did an in-home visit with Goloman and his host family. Then they offered Goloman a scholarship in September. The school flew both Goloman and his mother out to Los Angeles for his official visit in late October.
Goloman returned to South Florida and spoke with Ross about his experience at UCLA.
Ross said he explained to Goloman the role UCLA has played in the zenith that is college basketball.
When a program has a record 11 national championships, 12 title game appearances, 18 Final Four appearances and 54 straight winning seasons, it tends to create mystique.
Then Goloman understood why this was a big deal.
“When we first started talking about UCLA, he didn’t know the difference between UCLA and UC-Irvine,” Ross said. “He had no basis for comparison and we had to start with the history of UCLA and the current NBA players that went and played there. He started to understand it...it started to sink in this was a special place and a special opportunity.”
Goloman’s only offers were from Davidson, New Mexico and Portland, according to Rivals.com. Not even Ali, who has 14 offers, has received an offer from UCLA, according to Rivals.
Ross said Goloman went unnoticed because he wasn’t at the different AAU camps throughout the summer. Normally, that’s how college coaches are able to find the best talent available.
Goloman, he said, was playing with the Hungarian national team at the time of the AAU camps.
WHAT’S IN STORE FOR UCLA AND SAGEMONT
An Internet search showed Goloman also played for Kormend, a team in the Hungarian ‘A’ Division. He is listed in playing in 14 games but only had four games where he played five minutes or more. His best game was when he scored six points in 10 minutes on April 30.
“He is a very skilled, long, lanky post player,” Ross said. “He is certainly our best post passer we’ve had by far and we’ve had some really good players here. He can step out and shoot the ball and at 6-10, that is unique.”
Ross continued by saying Goloman runs well, has great hands and great feet. He said Goloman will need to add muscle to his 200-pound frame. That, Ross said, will allow him to be more effective in the post with his back to the basket.
Per Rivals, Goloman is one of two players to sign with UCLA. The other being 6-9 power forward Kevon Looney of Milwaukee. Looney, a five-star recruit, is the No. 13 player in the nation, according to Rivals.
Guard-heavy UCLA only has three true forwards on its roster and a couple guard-forward combinations. So adding some size is pretty understandable.
As for Sagemont, it could mean a return to the state tournament.
Sagemont was eliminated in the second round last season following consecutive state tournament appearances in 2011 and 2012. The school won the state tournament in 2011.
Goloman will certainly provide size on the interior and stretch the floor. Along with Ali, they could make for one of the strongest and arguably, more dangerous, duos in South Florida. Another player to look for could be point guard Joe Kirby. Kirby, per Rivals, is fielding offers from Columbia, FAU, Harvard and Princeton.
“We’ve had Fab Melo who is from Brazil and went to Syracuse so a precedent has been set,” Ross said. “Will Sheehy, who is at Indiana, played here. We’ve had a couple dozen kids go off to play Division I basketball. It is not just Sagemont. Around South Florida, you’ll see there are many schools with an international roster.”
rsclark@tribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @ryan_s_clark
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