Scotland, Pa. is an unincorporated town in Franklin County.
And at one point, the pin drop quiet little community consisted of under 1,500 people.
These past few weeks, however, the tiny and secluded Scotland Road area has been a popular destination for some of America’s decorated high major Division-I basketball coaches.
You see, Scotland Campus‘ basketball team, which went 36-2 (while ranked no.1 nationally at one point) en route to the school’s first-ever berth in the 2019 Prep National Championship game, features one the country’s top undecided guards in Clarence Nadolny.
And so Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard and assistants were on hand at Scotland’s gym last night, witnessing the Class of 2019 Nadonly’s hyper-competitive juices during a series of timed shooting drills. Iowa State head coach Steve Prohm and a pair of assistants are slated for a visit to Scotland tonight.
A freakishly athletic 6-foot-3 guard who finishes in powerful and crafty style (both around and above the rim), Nadolny has improved as a reliable 3-point shooter who can stick it from NBA range.
The French guard’s additional ability to defend, trigger the break fresh off a defensive rebound, and snare rebounds over 7-footers, have catapulted him into the upper crust of still available Class of 2019 recruits. Nadolny recently narrowed his choices down to West Virginia, Texas Tech, and Iowa State.
MARKED MAN
Back on January 12, during Scotland Campus’ 87-77 defeat of Perkiomen Prep (PA) at nearby Chambersburg High School, Nadolny doled out six assists (in the second half) as Scotland overcame an irregular and sloppy first half performance.
During the second half, when the team returned to normalcy, Nadolny routinely fed the post. He setup a titanic performance from 6-foot-7 forward Jordon Jones, who bulldozed his way to a game-best 21 points.
Weber State-bound guard Austin Galuppo hit several big 3-pointers and Dequarius Nicholas (SEMO, Canisius, Bryant) added 15 points as Scotland eliminated the lingering rust from a three week Christmas layoff.
Scotland head coach Chris Chaney and assistant Dave Springer gave the team a long post game speech that snow-blanketed evening, emphasizing a need to play harder and go full throttle on every possession.
And while it may be rare for an undefeated and nationally ranked team to receive a thorough earful following a double digit victory, the coaches’ words did not fall on deaf ears for Nadolny.
This particular moment seems to have triggered a self-revelation in the former Our Savior New American (N.Y.) star, who authored arguably the best second semester out of any guard in the country.
Nadolny scored 20 points–burying momentum-bolstering three-pointers and flying in for acrobatic dunks–while spearheading Scotland to a wild 77-74 win over Putnam Science (CT) during the Prep National semi-final. He scored 21 points and cemented his highly sought after status (he received offers from Boston College, Ole Miss, Arkansas, TCU, and others around this time) during a quarterfinal win over Northfield Mount Hermon (MA), slicing his way to the rim gracefully.
During the Knights’ 92-86 win at Fork Union Military Academy in January, Nadolny scored 26 points (hitting four straight three-pointers and calmly sinking 8-for-8 from the foul line down the stretch) and dished nine assists to go with six rebounds and four steals.
He followed this up with 27 points, seven rebounds, and five assists during a thorough 103-82 throttling of Olympus (NJ).
Nadolny piled up 15 points, nine rebounds, five assists, three blocks and five steals in 21 minutes during an 117-60 drubbing of NTSI Orlando. Submitting 16 points, six rebounds, five assists, four blocks and four steals, Nadolny’s workload fended off a late comeback bid during the Knights’ 89-69 win over West Nottingham.
The big stage performances had extra juice for the 18-year-old Nadolny, known in the prep hoops world simply as “Frenchy”.
He scored 22 points–including three consecutive contested straight-away 3-pointers before halftime–in leading Scotland over Mt.Zion (MD) during the Military Circuit at Massanutten Military Academy, with WVU head coach Bob Huggins and assistant Ron Everhart eyeballing his every move.
“He definitely made a big transformation during the year,” said Chaney, who has coached 18 NBA players during his time as a widely known program builder.
“He came in a very talented kid. I would say Clarence ended the season ultimately more college ready, because he’s gained confidence and learned how to play in different speeds. He’s become even more of a leader and his work ethic is very much in an area of its own. All of these factors, his workload and his knack for big moments, things of that of that nature, really blossomed his game. I think all three schools have done a good job. I definitely think it will come down to the visits and how he feels on the visits.”
