Season recap: Haukur Palsson
For better or worse, the end of Haukur Palsson's high school career played out live on national television.
Palsson suited up as the sixth man for top-seeded Montverde (Fla.) Academy -- just as he had all season long -- in the ESPN Rise National High School Invitational at Coppin State's Physical Education Complex. The 6-foot-6, 215-pound small forward from Iceland had been one of Montverde's most consistent performers throughout the year, but at Coppin, the Maryland-bound senior was off his game.
"He struggled with his shot," said Montverde coach Kevin Sutton. "Actually, he tinkered with his shot before the tournament, so his shot was a little bit off. So it wasn't representative of his talent at all. Defensively, yes, but from an offensive standpoint, it wasn't at all. He's a skilled basketball player. He's a young man that's going to be a good player for Maryland. He didn't play as well as he's capable of playing."
The Eagles finished the year at 23-4 with a loss to Findlay (Nev.) Prep in the ESPN Rise championship game. Montverde's apperance in the tournament -- held the first weekend in April -- came nearly two months after its last game. Sutton believes that hiatus also contributed to Palsson's quiet tournament.
Regardless of the reasons for Palsson's play, many Terps fans tuned in to watch the games, and subsequently expressed less-than-enthusiastic reviews on message boards.
"I'm not sure [if Palsson paid attention to criticism], but whether good or bad, it's just people writing their opinions," Sutton said. "They're faceless. Gary Williams knows what he's getting and I'm sure those same people were writing messages about some other players Maryland has got. I'm sure they didn't think Greivis Vasquez would turn out to be as good as he was. I'm certain [there were people] thinking he couldn't play at Maryland. But that's just people writing on the message boards. I know Gary Williams well enough to know that he doesn't care about [what people write on message boards], whether it's good or bad."
Palsson finished the year -- his first living in the U.S. -- with averages of 10 points and five rebounds per game. He was the Eagles' best free-throw shooter at 72 percent, and also shot 51 percent from two-point range and 39 percent from beyond the arc. While Palsson's numbers may appear underwhelming at first glance, Sutton cautions observers to remember that playing for Montverde is much different than playing for a local public school.
"We have a very talented team, yes, and Hawk is one of the talented players. It's more like playing at a college. It's preparing for college rather than [playing for] an all-star team," Sutton said. "Every day he's going up against James Bell, a Parade All-American who's going to Villanova, he's going up against Jamail Jones, who's going to Marquette, and every day he's going up against Papa Samba Ndao, who's going to Boston College. Practicing against high-level players daily enables him to be a high-level player himself. Playing for us prepares him for the next level, physically, socially and academically. If he was playing at a public school, I think obviously he would score a lot more points, but I'm not sure he would be as prepared."
The Maryland staff has told Sutton they expect Palsson to come in, play tough defense and knock down long-range shots. He'll have another chance to play in front of local fans Thursday when he suits up for the U.S. All-Stars in the Capital Classic at American University in Washington.
Sutton hasn't known Palsson very long. It was less than a year ago that former DeMatha assistant and current Maryland women's assistant David Adkins recommended Palsson to Sutton. But the two have grown close over the past several months, and Sutton can't wait to see Palsson start his career in College Park.
"I will miss him as a person, first, because he's a quality young man," Sutton said. "I'll miss his competitive sprit as a basketball player. He brought a lot of things to our team that made us a complete team. We wouldn't have had this good a season if he hadn't come to our program. In general, I'll just miss Hawk period. He combines the three things I look for in a student-athlete. No. 1, being serious about his academics, which he is. Hawk's an honor-roll student. He's also a young man who's a good role model and has high character. And then I want passionate basketball players, and he was. He's a passionate basketball player. He exemplifies everything I want in a student-athlete to come out of Montverde. So I'm just going to miss him period."
Comments
At first I too was concerned about taking a guy that didn't even start on his high school team, but sometimes you do have to appreciate the competition. Not every guy that dominates against kids who won't even play college ball works out, and not every guy who plays in a big time league works out. Remember that little kid who wore #3 who was too skinny to make it in the acc? Let's give him a chance and now that we have him let him know how much we love our terps!
Posted by: ds | April 14, 2010 10:19 AM
I saw some other people asked this... What is the deal with Goins? Is he transferring or stickin around? How about he sticks around but we dont give him a scholarship :) ? Thanks Matt and Go Blue!
Posted by: TeddytheTerp | April 14, 2010 11:31 AM
Agreed. Thanks for posting this Matt. I think the feedback from his coach makes a lot of sense and I think he's right on the money about negative posts and GW's reaction. Welcome Hawk, I think you'll be a great addition to the team!
Posted by: Charles | April 14, 2010 12:33 PM
I saw the game and I not saying that the kid can play but as a coach (Kevin Sutton) he rarely made substitutions. He has two talented players that I saw but he seemed to get so caught up in the game that those two kids rarely left the floor. Based on what I saw I can't even give you grade on him because the coach never really gave him a chance. I have to wonder though if he is souch a good player with good basketball IQ then why not have him on the floor? Why tell the world about his skills and his game and not try to keep him on the floor?
Posted by: Will | April 14, 2010 12:38 PM
you always need hard working role players, and that is what he is coming to MD to be. He isn't expected to be anything more, we have other recruits to fill those roles
Posted by: Ben | April 14, 2010 12:42 PM
At the very least, he should raise the team's GPA....
Posted by: Troof | April 14, 2010 1:53 PM
Ben, who the other top players you are talking about? Guys get a clue this kid come off the pine to a major college. Oh by the way Juan was a star at his High School. We will never win anything here unless we presure on the coaching staff. Why does Keith Booth have a job?
Posted by: tony dixon | April 14, 2010 2:35 PM
tony dixon..you're comments are as ludicrous as your grasp of the English language.
Posted by: chris | April 14, 2010 3:28 PM
tony dixon, i'll tell you what, you can have Sidney Lowe and all his recruits, i'll take last year's ACC regular season championship.
Posted by: musicturtle | April 14, 2010 6:24 PM
Tony, are you high??? peshon howard, terrell stoglin, myckal parker... possible Biruta aslong and ruters give him the release to go along with jordan, tucker, mosely, and bowie.... top 3 acc team again next year!!!!
Posted by: andy | April 14, 2010 7:19 PM
haukur palsson =EPIC FAIL
Posted by: Obafemi | April 14, 2010 10:36 PM
Teddy the Terp -- The Maize and Blue need all the love they can get these days, so thanks for that. As for Goins, he wasn't with the team during the second semester. Barring extremely unforeseen developments, I don't see him coming back.
Posted by: Matt Bracken | April 15, 2010 1:01 AM
Cris, you are right my english is not so great. Sorry for that....But, were is this top 5 class you guys said Maryland has coming in. Why does Keith Booth have a job?
Posted by: tony dixon | April 15, 2010 12:11 PM
You have got to be kidding me with this one. Hawk looked like a deer in headlights against highschoolers. Don't give me that the sixth man on a high school basketball team is okay to have as a recruit, regardless of competition. There were three or four plays he just flat out missed. I'm sure he is a hard worker and going to be a role player at UMD, but lately that seems to be all we are getting lately. I think stogs will be a star at umd, but he was not signed as a star, but a role playing pg. I think Parker will be servicably good, but again not a star scorer. I love Gary to death and don't want him out but I think we need to get a new recruiter guy out there to try something different. Repeatedly getting guys that no body wants is not going to get it done, yeah you'll find the diamond in the rough and sometimes a couple aka our championship team, but in the long haul it will equate to squeaking into the tourny and losing in the second round (MD's forte as of late, didn't squeak this year but in past).
Posted by: pv | April 15, 2010 4:23 PM
I trust Gary's take on talent. Attitude is very important for 18 year olds. Look at Juan (too skinny), LM this year (1ppg as a freshman), GV this year (how many ACC schools recruited Greivis?)...
Don't hate on Hawk BEFORE midnight madness - let's appreciate the international diversity of our basketball team. Welcome Hawk...ICE ICE BABY!!!
Posted by: Sean | April 15, 2010 5:29 PM
What does "international diversity" got to do with anything? Here's my idea of diversity for the MD b-ball team...a couple of kids from Baltimore, a couple from DC, 1 from PG County, etc.
Posted by: shreds123 | April 15, 2010 10:46 PM