Tacko Fall

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Tacko Fall
File:Tacko fall.jpg
Fall in 2014
No. 24 – UCF Knights
Position Center
League American Athletic Conference
Personal information
Born (1995-12-10) December 10, 1995 (age 28)
Dakar, Senegal
Nationality Senegalese
Listed height 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m)
Listed weight 300 lb (136 kg)
Career information
High school Jamie's House Charter School
(Houston, Texas)
Liberty Christian Prep
(Tavares, Florida)
College UCF (2015–present)

Elhadji Tacko Sereigne Diop Fall (born December 10, 1995) is a Senegalese basketball player who currently plays college basketball as a freshman for the UCF Knights. At 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m), he was and is among tallest high school and college players in the US.[1]

Early life

Born and raised in Dakar, Senegal, Fall moved from Senegal to the United States at age 16. Initially, he played soccer (football) and had no interest in basketball. Fall visited the International Sports Training Institute at Dakar, known as ISTI-Dakar, in Senegal.

  • Ben Simmons TackoFall- ISTIDAKAR.png

    Ben Simmons in Senegal at ISTI-Dakar, with Fall

  • ISTI Dakar.jpg

    ISTI-Dakar team photo

Fall joined ISTI-Dakar and was brought to the US by Simmons with the help of his organization, the Ben Simmons Sports Foundation.[citation needed]

Fall lived with Ben Simmons for one year in Houston, Texas and played for his first organized basketball school team there. He trained with Simmons and the likes of NBA top 50 player Hakeem Olajuwon.[citation needed]

  • Hakeem Tacko Fall.jpg

    Fall training with Hakeem Olajuwon

  • Tacko fall training Eric riley.jpg

    Training with Eric Riley

  • Tacko Fall training weights.jpg

    Weight training in Houston, 2012

Fall then was sent to powerhouse basketball school, Liberty Christian Prep (LCP), in Florida, for his final two years of high school, and now plays college basketball at the nearby University of Central Florida (UCF).[citation needed]

Basketball career

High school

Due to his height and eight foot (2.45 m) wingspan, Fall was one of the most highly scouted high school basketball centers in the country.[citation needed] Fall first played for Jamie's House Charter School in Houston, where his team won the state championship in 2012. Tacko played with ISTI all-stars summer travel team. He played in several NCAA certified events.[citation needed]

  • Tacko Fall Jamie House Charter School Texas State Champs 2012.jpg

    At Texas State Championship

  • Tacko fall ISTI 2012.jpg

    In ISTI uniform

Fall then attended with Liberty Christian Preparatory School in Tavares, Florida. With nearly forty different schools expressing interest in him,[2] Fall committed to the University of Central Florida in Orlando, who had officially signed him on October 28, 2014. He would play with the UCF Knights under head coach Donnie Jones.[3]

College

Fall joined the UCF Knights as a center. He faced fellow 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) Senegalese center Mamadou N'Diaye in the tallest tip-off and match-up in US college basketball history in a game against the UC Irvine Anteaters. Both from Dakar, it was N'Diaye's brother, Ibrahim, who persuaded Fall to take up basketball.[4]

Personal

Fall stood 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) and is still growing, making him the tallest high school basketball player in the country while he played for Jamie's House Charter and Liberty Christian Prep.[2] He is a devout Muslim.[1] He maintained a 3.6 grade point average in high school.[5][6] Fall has aspirations of becoming an engineer for companies such as Siemens or Microsoft, making a future in professional basketball unclear.[1] Fall comes from a tall family. His younger brother was 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) aged 7, while two of his uncles are 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m).[7]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Tacko Fall and Mamadou N’Diaye faced off Wednesday for the tallest head-to-head matchup in college basketball history
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Meet the 7ft 5in basketball star who wears size 22 shoes, has an 8-foot wingspan, eats pizzas covered in hamburger... and he's still growing

External links

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