[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Many may not know the name Tom Konchalski, however he was a legend to many in the basketball community as a talent evaluator. Running High School Basketball Insider Report since 1979, he mainly covered players from the Northeast, still finding some time to go to national events. He also was a huge part of the Five-Star Basketball Camp, with ties to the emergence of Michael Jordan. We decided to do an episode talking about Mr. Konchalski, some of the stories about him, with lots of links to other great stories in his memory.

https://youtu.be/jRmXqv0-Rh0

We talk about a story involving Konchalski drafting an unknown player from North Carolina for a coach during the 1980 Five-Star camp which was one of my favorites. Also have links to a number of touching tributes to Mr. Konchalski, who had battled cancer. It was announced last week he was in hospice care and passed away on Monday, at the age of 74.

If you read Roland Lazenby’s book, “Michael Jordan: The Life”, there is some fantastic insight into Michael Jordan’s emergence on the national scene at the Five-Star camp, where he stood out immediately to camp founder Howard Garfinkel and Tom Konchalski. Also have a link in our description to a great mini documentary done by Grantland of the man known as “The Glider”.

In the episode we also talk about players who were late-risers in the recruiting process or had unconventional paths to college or the NBA. Would urge people to learn more about Tom Konchalski, who will hopefully be honored in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor, an honor he absolutely deserves for all he did for countless players and the game.

[armchairgmParticipant]

Def well respected in the coaching community.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Wanted to post this, as Tom Konchalski talked with someone about how he discovered or heard about certain players, along with many other basketball opinions on the HS and college landscape. Was a great read.

https://twitter.com/prcdotwork/status/1359159442827317250?s=20

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14IS4LXir6_Y1X5evgjB0u0kCCeLEwKtdDa6vMDlP780/edit

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