7’5″ high school center Tacko Fall recently scored 44 points in a game and is the talk of high school basketball.
Gheorge Muresan. Manute Bol. Shawn Bradley. Yao Ming. All were of course 7’6” or taller.
Add another name to that list, potentially. Liberty Christian Prep center Tacko Fall, bound for the University of Central Florida, officially stands 7’5”, but some say he is 7’6”. Others say he is still growing.
His full name is Elhadj Serigne Tacko Diop Fall, but he goes by Tacko and needless to say he is a relative giant.
Tacko the giant recently scored 44 points in a HighSchoolOT.com Holiday Invitational contest against a helpless Bishops squad.
Fall is considered a four-star recruit according to ESPN.com and represents a major get for the UCF Knights.
In the 44-point game, Fall towered over his opponents, but looked to have a bit of basketball savvy, registering an assist when passing out of a double team. Most of his action, though, was of the more predictable sort, as he would regularly stand near the basket, catch the ball and dunk it through the hoop with merely a tippy-toe hop.
He did score on a Skyhook-baby hook combo that both Shaq and Kareem could be proud to see.
That said, it is not terribly surprising that the Senegal native is a relative newbie to the game of basketball. He has already lived in Texas and Tennessee in the states before making his way down to Florida through a connection with former NBA center Mamadou N’Diaye, whose brother runs a sports academy in Senegal and helped make the connection also through Pat Burke.
The incredibly tall center only averaged 11 points, 5.0 rebounds and just north of one block per game as a junior and had just one double-double. This season, still wearing his indelible goggles during games which make him stand out as much as his eight-foot-wingspan and size-22 shoes, he has looked more the part of a basketball player.
Caution should be heeded though for the career of “Taco”. A 7’5” center named Sim Bhullar played at New Mexico State the past four seasons before going undrafted in the 2014 NBA draft. He now plays in the NBA D-League.
Of course, the tales of other giants, like Bol and even Bradley and Muresan should be heeded as well. None became giant stars in the NBA despite their gargantuan statures.
For now though, fans, recruiters and coaches can marvel at his size and dream about all he could become. The sky is, almost literally, the limit for the kid whose teammates call “Taco”.
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