New Hampton Pops Pair of Commitments
The New Hampton School produced a pair of commitments this week as post-graduate sharp-shooters Nick Paulos and Joey Ptasinski committed to UNC-Greensboro and Lafayette respectively.
“I’m excited for everyone involved,” said New Hampton head coach Pete Hutchins. “Now the work begins so that they can make an immediate impact once they get there.”
Ptasinski made his commitment to Lafayette at the conclusion of his official visit on Sunday. He had also visited South Dakota earlier this fall.
“It was the perfect fit academically and athletically,” Ptasinki told the New England Recruiting Report. “The overall basketball culture was great with all of the players, [head coach] Fran O’Hanlon, and the rest of the staff.”
Ptasinski is a three-point specialist who arrived at New Hampton this year after graduating from Regis Jesuit High School just outside of Denver where he was named All-State in Colorado after averaging 19 points per game and shooting over 91% from the free-throw line.
“I really liked the type of offense they run,” Ptasinski said of Lafayette. “They shoot a lot of threes, which is a little bit of a specialty of mine.”
Ptasinski is a six-foot-three shooting guard with a picture perfect shooting stroke and deep range. He has a quick and compact release and needs very little separation to fire.
Equally dangerous from behind the three-point arc, Paulos is a tremendously skilled six-foot-seven forward who not only shows a feathery jumper but also the versatility to handle and pass the ball, along with a tremendously high basketball I.Q.
Paolos has had a terrific two months in New Hampton, attracting interest and offers from some of the most competitive mid-major schools in the country.
He took his first official visit to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro this weekend, and after mulling over the decision for a couple of days decided to make a verbal commitment on Thursday.
“On my visit I had a chance to meet with all of the coaches and I felt really comfortable with the way they’re running things down there,” Paulos told NERR on Thursday night. “They’re starting to allocate a lot of time and money into the basketball program and really making an effort to turn things around.”
Much like his teammate, Paulos’ skill set put him in especially high demand as he may be just the piece that UNCG has been missing.
“They like to get up and down the court. They have a lot of athleticism and young talent but don’t really have anybody who can knock down shots and I think that’s part of the reason why they were really interested in bringing me in,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to playing in that up and down system and being a guy who can knock down some three-pointers and things like that.”
Prior to arriving at New Hampton, Paulos was also an all-state selection in his home state of Utah, averaging 17 points and 8 rebounds per game while leading Olympus High School to the state’s #1 ranking for the majority of his senior year.
Ptasinski and Paulos’ commitments are just the start to what promises to be a very exciting week for New Hampton with practice set to get underway on Monday as the Huskies prepare for the debut season of class AAA in the NEPSAC.
Nick Paulos
Joey Ptasinski