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Fall joined ISTI-Dakar and was brought to the US by Ben Simmons{{who|date=December 2016}} with the help of his organization, the Ben Simmons Sports Foundation.{{Cn|date=January 2016}}
Fall joined ISTI-Dakar and was brought to the US by Ben Simmons{{who|date=December 2016}} with the help of his organization, the Ben Simmons Sports Foundation.{{Cn|date=January 2016}}


Fall lived with 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 [[National Basketball Association|NBA]] Hall of Famer [[Hakeem Olajuwon]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/mastering-the-rebound/|title=Mastering the Rebound - Pegasus Magazine|newspaper=Pegasus Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2016-11-18}}</ref>
Fall lived with Simmons for one year in [[Houston]], [[Texas]] and played for his first organized basketball school team there. He trained with Simmons and [[National Basketball Association|NBA]] Hall of Famer [[Hakeem Olajuwon]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/mastering-the-rebound/|title=Mastering the Rebound - Pegasus Magazine|newspaper=Pegasus Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2016-11-18}}</ref>


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Revision as of 08:22, 24 December 2016

Tacko Fall
File:Tacko fall.jpg
Fall in 2014
No. 24 – UCF Knights
PositionCenter
LeagueAmerican Athletic Conference
Personal information
Born (1995-12-10) December 10, 1995 (age 28)
Dakar, Senegal
NationalitySenegalese
Listed height7 ft 6 in (2.29 m)
Listed weight268 lb (122 kg)
Career information
High schoolJamie's House Charter School
(Houston, Texas)
Liberty Christian Prep
(Tavares, Florida)
CollegeUCF (2015–present)
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at NBA.com
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at Basketball-Reference.com

Elhadji Tacko Sereigne Diop Fall (born December 10, 1995) is a Senegalese basketball player who currently plays college basketball for the UCF Knights. At 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m), he is among the tallest 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 and had no interest in basketball. Fall visited the International Sports Training Institute at Dakar, known as ISTI-Dakar, in Senegal.

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

Fall lived with Simmons for one year in Houston, Texas and played for his first organized basketball school team there. He trained with Simmons and NBA Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon.[2]

Fall went to Liberty Christian Prep, in Florida, for his final two years of high school, and then played college basketball at the University of Central Florida.[3]

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]

Fall then attended with Liberty Christian Preparatory School in Tavares, Florida. With nearly forty different schools expressing interest in him,[4] 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.[5]

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.[6] By his sophomore year, Fall became the exclusive tallest player in college basketball thanks to N'Diaye's declaration to enter the 2016 NBA Draft.

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.[4] He is a devout Muslim.[1] He maintained a 3.6 grade point average in high school.[7][8] 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).[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c "The rise of 7-6 (and growing) Tacko Fall". Yahoo Sports. December 16, 2014.
  2. ^ "Mastering the Rebound - Pegasus Magazine". Pegasus Magazine. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
  3. ^ "Tacko Fall - 2015-16 Men's Basketball Roster - UCFKnights.com | (M) Basketball". ucfknights.com. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
  4. ^ a b "UCF signs 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall, America's tallest high school basketball player". Orlando Sentinel. November 12, 2014.
  5. ^ "Tacko Fall". ESPN.
  6. ^ Tacko Fall and Mamadou N’Diaye faced off Wednesday for the tallest head-to-head matchup in college basketball history
  7. ^ "Meet Tacko Fall the 7ft 5in basketball star who is still growing". Daily Mail Online.
  8. ^ "Tacko Fall Bio". UCF Knights. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
  9. ^ 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