Tobey Impressing New Coach

By Chris Horne
www.thesabre.com
November 16, 2011

University of Virginia 2012 signee Mike Tobey attended Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey for the first two years of his high school career. He moved on to the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut for his junior school before deciding to return to the Garden State for his fourth and final year on the high school level. The 6'11", 230-pound center is finishing out his prep career at Blair Academy (Blairstown, N.J.), a school no stranger to sending prospects to the college level.

Blair Academy head coach Joe Mantegna, who has coached current NBA talents Luol Deng, Royal Ivey and Charlie Villanueva, has been impressed with what he has seen out of the Virginia-bound center in fall workouts and in practice.

“He’s 6'11", very versatile, and he has a very high skill level,” Mantegna said of Tobey, one of four high school seniors to sign a letter of intent with UVa in the Early Signing Period. “He’s a lot more athletic than people realize. He runs well. He catches the ball well. He has a good idea of how to play. He hasn’t had a whole lot of background going against the type of competition he’ll face this season, so this will be a good year for him to get used to better competition before moving on to the college level.”

Tobey is the lone college signee on a young Blair team that includes seven sophomores. He’ll be in the starting lineup on November 20, which is the date of the Buccaneers’ 2011/2012 season opener against a New Hampton Prep team led by Boston College-bound guard Olivier Hanlan and Notre Dame-bound forward Zach Auguste. The Bucs won the Prep A state championship last season.

Coach Mantegna discussed the role he envisions Tobey playing throughout this season.

“I think the role Michael will play here will be a similar role to what he will be asked to play in college,” said Mantegna.“He’s a versatile 6'11" big. He can take other bigs outside and go by them off the bounce. He can really pass from the post. He can take smaller guys into the post. He’s long in addition to being 6'11". I’ve had two NBA bigs and I’ve never had a kid who could score with both hands. It’s almost like he’s ambidextrous. Michael can score with both hands easily.”

Mantegna continued: “We can play through him because he can really pass. He’s a guy that can make other people better. He’ll be able to make the high/low pass at the ACC level. He really has an advanced offensive skill-set. He can even lead the break a little bit. There are shades of Charlie Villanueva in terms of just being versatile. Michael’s not an easy guard.”

On the next level, the versatile prospect could turn into a consistent threat from beyond the arc.

“I’m not sure he’d drill it all day in the situation he’s in today, but with the coaching he’ll get at Virginia, he could develop into a good 3-point shooter,” Mantegna said.“He has a nice release. He shoots a soft ball. He shoots 80-percent from the free throw line.”

While Tobey has exhibited impressive offensive skills, he is working hard to improve his abilities on defense. A hard worker, Tobey is often up at 6 a.m. to work on his game before the school day starts.

“We’ve made defense a priority in his life,” Mantegna said. “He’s working on taking charges, blocking shots, running the floor hard. He’s starting to do it. Coach Bennett’s going to ask him to do those things and then some. He’s buying into it totally.”

A broken hand sidelined Tobey for much of the summer. Once healthy, he made getting bigger and stronger a priority. Tobey has added 10 pounds of muscle since arriving at Blair Academy, and Coach Mantegna believes the promising prospect is just scratching the surface physically.

“Every high school senior has some development to do physically, but Mike is only 17. He should really be a junior in high school,” Mantegna said. “He’ll be coming into Virginia as a very young freshman. In terms of how young he is, physically he is coming along really well. He has put on 10 pounds of muscle. He has a frame that he could add a lot of weight to. He’s a kid that can carry 250 to 260 pounds no problem.”

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