Watch above: Mike Scott is the fourth consecutive American point guard recruited by the Saskatchewan Huskies. As Jack Haskins reports, he continues a trend for the Huskies men’s basketball team.
SASKATOON – The pipeline of talented recruits traveling from California to Saskatoon has been flowing strong for the better part of a decade. First it was Showron Glover, then Jamelle Barrett, followed by Stephon Lamar.
The most recent player to be recruited from The Golden State is Mike Scott. To be fair, Scott isn’t actually from California, but he played for San Diego City College last season.
Scott hails from Tacoma, Wash., which is over 1,700 kilometers away from Saskatoon. But if you asked Scott seven months ago to try and peg Saskatoon on a map, he wouldn’t have had a clue.
“I was like, is there even basketball out there? I’ve never heard of Saskatoon,” said Scott when asked what his initial reaction was when he was approached about playing for the Huskies.
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It was a difficult decision for Scott to pack up and move to a foreign country, but it’s a choice he’s glad he made.
“I really feel like it’s going to be a good experience for myself just to come and get perspective from another country.”
Expectations are high for Scott, because for the past six seasons the Huskies top point scorers have all been American point guards. Scott leads the Huskies in scoring through 8 games posting 14.6 PPG.
Huskies head coach Barry Rawlyk hopes that the best is yet to come from the six-foot three-inch point guard.
“When the chips are down and you need a play, you have to have a couple guys in particular that are prepared to step up and make plays,” said Rawlyk, “so hopefully he is going to be able to step into that capacity.”
Scott has shown that he’s a capable scorer, but believes he brings a lot more to the table than points on the stat sheet. Scott sees himself as a well rounded player, who is “unpredictable” on the court. Off the court Mike comes off as a soft spoken, but driven individual.
Scott travelled a long way to settle in Saskatoon, and he wouldn’t have come here if he didn’t believe that this team had a chance of winning a national championship.
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