Junior college star Rivaldo Soares commits to Oregon | Zagsblog
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Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
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Saturday / December 14.
  • Junior college star Rivaldo Soares commits to Oregon

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    By ADAM ZAGORIA

    Junior college star Rivaldo Soares is headed to Oregon.

    The. 6-foot-7 sophomore from South Plains (TX) Community College chose the Ducks over Oklahoma State, San Diego State, DePaul, St. John’s, and Florida.

    “Coach [Dana] Altman and Coach Mike [Mennenga] are good people, they talk a lot about development which is big for me,” he said last week. “And Oregon continued to be in the [NCAA] Tournament.”

    He averaged 15.2. points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists while shooting 46 percent from the field and 35 percent from deep. As a freshman he averaged 15.4 points.

    Oregon also adds Oklahoma transfer guard De’Vion Harmon, incoming power forward Isaac Johnson and incoming big man Nate Brittle.

    “I would say the first thing was probably play style,” Soares told ProInsight.com of Oregon.

    “I know my fit. I think I’m a versatile player, positionless, and I can guard. The way they play, they play positionless basketball. I just love their style of play. With the coaches, it was really easy to communicate with them. A lot of the time you feel like some coaches are just annoying sending you texts all day, but with them…one of the assistants, Mike, he did a really good job building a relationship with me. Coach Altman also did a good job building a relationship with me, they did a hell of a job recruiting me. So I would definitely say play style came first. My connection with them felt genuine, and they also had a really good track record with JuCo players. Coach Altman has coached JuCo, Chris Duarte who is in the NBA draft this year, he was a JuCo product. So I’ve seen people go from my situation to Oregon and succeed. Why not me next?

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    Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle. A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.

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