Men's Basketball Signs Jari Vanttaja of Finland
11/11/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 11, 2004
WACO, Texas - Baylor University has signed Jari Vanttaja of Oulu, Finland, to a National Letter of Intent, head basketball coach Scott Drew announced Thursday. Vanttaja, a member of the Finnish Junior National Team is Baylor's fifth signee of the early signing period.
"Our coaching staff feels Jari Vanttaja is a perfect fit at Baylor University and will be very successful on the court and in the classroom," Drew said. "Jari really compliments the other four players who have signed National Letters of Intent to Baylor."
Baylor's five-man early signee class is currently rated the ninth-best class in the nation (tied with Alabama) according to HoopScoop. Vanttaja joins four who signed with Baylor Wednesday, including Henry Dugat of Dayton (Texas) High School, Curtis Jerrells of Del Valle High School in Austin, Texas, Tony Jones of Hill College and Kevin Rogers of South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas.
Vanttaja is a 6-10, 215-pound forward who recently averaged 14 points and 5.5 rebounds for the Finnish Junior National Team at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Mannheim, Germany.
Chris Johnson of HoopScoop called Vanttaja possibly the top international signee this period who is not playing high school basketball in the U.S. According to HoopScoop, if Vanttaja played in the U.S. he would be rated among the Top 50 high school prospects.
"Jari is a very skilled player for his size and we agree with the Finnish coaches that he reminds us of a Hanno Mottola, Dirk Nowitski type of basketball player," Drew said. "He can handle it, pass it and really shoot is well."
Vanttaja's Finnish coaches compare him to a young Hanno Mottola (a member of the University of Utah's 1998 Final Four team and an Atlanta Hawks draftee), arguably the best basketball player to come out of Finland in the last 20 years.
Baylor tips off its season Nov. 22 when it hosts Hillsdale FWB College at 7 p.m. at the Ferrell Center.
BAYLOR SIGNEES:
Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown (Schools)Henry Dugat G 6-0 160 Fr. Dayton, Texas (Dayton HS)Curtis Jerrells G 6-1 170 Fr. Austin, Texas (Del Valle HS)Tony Jones F 6-7 185 So. San Antonio, Texas (Taft HS/Hill College)Kevin Rogers F 6-8 220 Fr. Dallas, Texas (South Oak Cliff HS)Jari Vanttaja F 6-10 215 Fr. Oulu, Finland (South Tapiola HS)
