Posted on 8 June, 2011
Carrollton, GA – The West Georgia Wolves’ 2011 men’s basketball signing class has added its second international player of the current recruiting season.
Head coach Michael Cooney announced Monday the signing of Zach Taulien, a 6-4 swingman from Moorolbark, Australia. Taulien graduated high school in December 2010, and will be a freshman when he enrolls at UWG in August.
“Zach has a very high upside,” says Cooney of his newest recruit. “He is a very good shooter with length and hops. He loves to shoot the three or to dunk the ball. He has a quick release and the ball just rips through the net.”
Though an early high school graduate, Taulien has remained active on the basketball floor. He has played the past two seasons Kilsyth Cobras, a prestigious under-20 club team in his native Australia. There, Cooney says, the youngster was beginning to draw much attention from college recruiters.
“We felt like if we waited any longer to sign Zach, the Division I programs were getting ready to come in,” said the coach. “He is only 18 and could easily be going into his senior year in high school, and it’s doubtful that a D-II program could have recruited him.”
Taulien is expected to bring explosiveness to the UWG offense. He had a 46-point game for his club team in 2009, though Cooney admits that his newest addition is still a work in progress.
“He needs to work on his ball handling, especially with the left hand,” says Cooney. “But he has the athleticism to become a good defender. The question is how long it will take him to adjust.”
Taulien is the Australia native to join UWG’s 2011 signing class. Cooney earlier signed Ben Kelly, a transfer from Division I Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. The duo will join a trio of other Ausies on the Wolves’ roster: senior Gavin Field, and juniors Ryan Godfrey and Brett Seljak all hail from Australia.
West Georgia has now signed six players for this season’s recruiting class. Joining Taulien and Kelly are guards Quincy Hill of San Jose (Calif.) College and Thomas Higginbotham of Brookwood High School in the Atlanta area. Also new for the Wolves are two frontcourt players: Lavon Gray of Ohlone (Calif.) College and Dan Trimble of Geneva (Ill.) High School.
Kilsyth wishes to congratulate Zach on this fantastic acheivement and we are sure to keep up to date with his progress from August.
In the meanwhile you can catch Zach playing with the Workforcexs Kilsyth Cobras!
