Stefan signs with LaSalle

Minnetonka shooting guard Cole Stefan entered May as one of the best unsigned shooters in the nation. At 6-foot-3, Stefan averaged 17.9 points a game this year including his 40 point outburst at the Target Center against Linn-Marr. A couple weekends back Stefan visited LaSalle and yesterday he committed to the school and faxed in his letter of intent.

"Cole has a bright future and is a perfect fit with his classmates," La Salle head coach Dr. John Giannin said. "He can be part of our core group for the next four years.

"He is an excellent shooter, a good athlete and a smart, unselfish player. He comes from a great family and will be a positive addition to our program and the La Salle community."

Stefan is the 5th ranked prospect in the state of Minnesota for 2010 and his recruitment has included offers from the likes of Auburn, USC, Drake, UW-Milwaukee, Nevada, Northern Iowa, Tulsa, Utah State, and LaSalle amongst others in the past 12 months. Stefan had visited USC, Auburn, and Nevada in the past 12 months as well as the trip to LaSalle two weekends ago.

Stefan joins Tyreek Duren of Philadelphia, Sam Mills of Fort Lauderdale, and Matt Lopez of Sewell, New Jersey who signed National Letters of Intent to play for coach Giannin.

Stefan's career day at the Target Center in January saw him go for 40 points making 16 of 26 shot attempts in 31 minutes of play. A part of that shooting was his eight of 14 performance from behind the arc.

As a senior Stefan scored in double figures in all but five games (he played 22) putting up 20 or more nine times and most of those games were against the quality programs in the state of Minnesota (Benilde-St. Margaret's, Henry Sibley, Robbinsdale Cooper, Minnesota Transitions, Lakeville South, Robbinsdale Armstrong, etc). The Skippers finished 13-14 this winter playing amidst turmoil that led to the resignation of head coach John Hedstrom who also left his athletic director position. The team bounced back to make a playoff run before falling in the section final to eventual state champion Hopkins.

As a junior Cole led the Skippers in scoring with 18.8 points per game putting up 20 or more points in half of his games played (11 of 22). Cole had junior year highs of 32 points against St. Paul Johnson and 31 versus Benilde-St. Margaret's.

His sophomore year Cole was the lone underclassmen to get regular playing time on a state championship team that was commonly ten deep. They had seven seniors receive college scholarships including Anthony Tucker to Iowa and C.J. Erickson to Evansville (both of which have since transferred to the division two level at Winona State). As a tenth grader Cole averaged 7.6 points a contest including a high of 22 against Hill-Murray.