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Pitt’s Adams, UNLV’s Bennett are most attractive imports International Game Carl Berman As the season approaches, it’s time to focus on the the rim with fluidity. He can use both hands and finish top international recruits of the 2012 class. well over the rim. Gerun has a solid defensive presence, Our top international recruit is 7-foot, 240-pound is a strong rebounder and an excellent shot-blocker. Big of New Zealand, who will be play- While he needs to add strength, he’ll be a solid starter ing at Pitt. Adams, who prepped for the second semester for the Mountaineers from Day One. last season at Notre Dame Prep of Fitchburg, Mass., is This makes two years in a row that the Ukraine has rated as a top-five 2013 draft pick by most of the NBA sent a top big man prospect to the USA for college. Alex draft boards. Some rate him as the No. 1 pick. Adams is Len will be entering his sophomore season at Maryland extremely strong, has very good athleticism for a player and should begin to tap his potential. of his size and runs the court very well. He’s getting a Prior to Gerun’s signing, the best international big decent shooting touch out to 15 feet. He’ll score near man signed was 7-1, 280-pound Premek Karnowski of the basket because of his size and hands but needs to Poland, who will be a Gonzaga Bulldog. improve on his post moves. As long as Karnowski continues to get himself into Adams really excels on the defensive end and in shape, he should make a considerable impact in Gon- rebounding. He’ll contribute quite a few offensive re- zaga’s attempt to replace . bounds and putbacks for the Panthers and will be one of Karnowski will be extremely difficult for anyone to the top shot-blockers in the nation. It will be interesting match up with in halfcourt sets. He’s extremely big, has to see how much further Adams progresses in what will Steve Adams Anthony Bennett nice moves around the basket and a left-handed touch likely be his only season at Pittsburgh and how much he out to about 18 feet. improves his team. Most of Adams’ improvement will Karnowski will work very well with Elias Harris, likely occur after he turns pro. dency to rely more on his outside game than he should. giving Harris more room to operate inside when Kar- We’ve watched Canadian Anthony Bennett since he With his solid body and frame, Bennett can overpower nowski flashes out for jumpers or draws multiple de- was a sophomore at Mountain State (W.Va.) Prep. Ben- other power forwards in the paint. With fellow frosh Ka- fenders inside. nett, who grew to 6-8 and 230 pounds and went on to tin Reinhardt’s shooting ability, look for Bennett to mix Karnowski played solidly but a bit erratically in the play at Findlay Prep of Henderson, Nev., will be quite it inside more for the Running Rebels. Expect UNLV to U-19 World Championships last summer in Latvia, av- the presence for UNLV. The Rebels figure to be a top-20 go far into the 2013 NCAA Tournament. eraging a little over 13 ppg and 6 rpg. He did score 29 team with the addition of Bennett and his fellow Cana- We’ve seen 6-6 improve the past few points against Croatia, but Poland was a disappointment dian, 6-9 Pitt transfer Khem Birch. years that we’ve seen him playing for St. Mark’s School in that event. Bennett has the power to score inside on mismatch- of Southborough, Mass., at the National Prep School As international recruiting experts, we’ll be watch- es due to his strength and body. He can also score from Invitational in Rhode Island each February. Stauskas ing Gonzaga closely. outside and has improved his 3-point shot significantly has developed into an ideal shooting guard and will be Karmowski and the 6-8 Harris (Germany) will be over the last few years. He has ball skills and is an excel- showing off his game for Michigan this season. joined by sophomore (Cana- lent rebounder. He can out of his area as well as Stauskas has great touch out to close to 25 feet and da) and a much improved 7-footer in Canadian redshirt bang with opposing big men. figures to come in as a shooting specialist for the Wol- junior . It will be interesting to see how If he has any weakness, Bennett has shown a ten- verines. He’s pretty thin but has gotten stronger; how- opponents try to defend Olynyk and Karnowski if they ever, he’ll need more strength to compete defensively play some together. in the Big Ten. We’re also somewhat concerned as to Ohio State was the worst 3-point shooting team in whether he can stay in front of athletic off guards defen- the Big Ten. The Buckeyes will try to change that with sively. However, he is smart and should improve on that the addition of a 6-4 Italian, Amedeo Della Valle. side of the ball over time. Della Valle was a teammate of Anthony Bennett at At the end of August, Bob Huggins and West Vir- Findlay Prep. Della Valle can catch and shoot from dis- ginia reeled in a recruit who could change their season tance and should be what the doctor ordered to solve around: 6-10, 240-pound Ukrainian center Volodymyr the Buckeyes’ shooting woes. He chose Ohio State over Gerun was a great pick-up. Texas A&M and Arizona. Gerun impressed us at the Under-18 European We’ll be interested to watch Stefan Jankovic’s de- Championships in 2011. He averaged a double-double velopment at Missouri. We were very impressed with the (18.2, 11.1) at that event. In the summer of 2010, he was 6-9 Serbian native and Canadian resident when we saw the MVP of the U-16 European Championships (17.3, him play two years ago for the Kiski School in Salts- 9.1, 2.4 bpg). burg, Pa. He continued his development at Huntington After graduating from high school, Gerun went out (W.Va.) Prep last season. to the Canarias Basketball Academy in the Canary Is- Jankovic can shoot and score from all over the floor, lands, where he worked on his game under the tutelage although his long-distance shooting needs more consis- of coach Rob Orellana. Gerun will enroll in Morgan- tency. He’s a decent rebounder but can add strength. He town as a sophomore with three years of eligibility re- does have a solid offensive skill set and can create off maining. the dribble. He should be able to fit in with Missouri’s In NetScouts Basketball’s most recent Internation- fast-paced offense. al Recruiting Digest, we had Gerun rated as the No. 1 Carl Berman and Chris Denker, who contributes regu- available international recruit at the time he was signed larly to this column, are Managing Partners of NetScouts by West Virginia. Gerun is long and agile and likes to Basketball. Information on NetScouts Basketball and face the basket to take advantage of his coordination and their International Recruiting Service can be found at athleticism. He can put the ball on the floor and get to www.netscoutsbasketball.com.