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2019 Bradley commit- Ville Tahvanainen

Ville Tahvanainen (just turned 18 years old) 6'4" point guard/shooting guard from Finland (from Helsinki) who averaged 22.5 pg, 4.3 rpg, and 4.3 assists in 18U Euro Championships A Division this summer.
http://www.fiba.basketball/europe/u18/2018/player/Ville-Tahvanainen
https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Ville-Tahvanainen/Summary/108843

Because he has played exclusively for Finland national teams, there is not information available on him. Here are more links, but they mostly report the information we already have posted-
https://www.google.com/search?num=1...0....1..gws-wiz.....0..0i131j0i10.9OZI_WGq1TI
 
Ville Tahvanainen was 30 for 65 from the international 3-point distance in the 2018 FIBA European Championships U18 this summer. The international 3-point distance is 1 foot 5 inches farther from the basket than it is in the NCAA (International distance 22 feet 2 inches, NCAA distance is 20 feet 9 inches). So this kid definitely has great range. He is also described by European talent scouts as being a great passer and having great point guard skills.

Ville is on a visit to Bradley right now, and will leave tomorrow to return to Finland. The Bradley coaches are not currently planning to use their final scholarship for 2019 this fall, but if they have the opportunity to get someone at the top of their wish-list, they would.

Ville has also played some with the Finland men's national team (unlimited age group), who may qualify for the World Cup.
Here is a brief article about his play in a World Cup qualifying game this summer while playing for the Finland national team.
https://www.eurohoops.net/en/fibawc...anainen-shines-in-finlands-win-over-latvia/?a

Other reports consistently call him the most impressive player there. He averaged 22.5 ppg. By comparison, DLO and Luuk both played in the FIBA Euro Championships, and each averaged single digits (DLO played in the A Division [the top division], and Luuk played in the B Division). It is very high level competition with some players who turn pro right after the U18 competition, and many more from lots of the countries who move on to colleges in the US.
 
Our online census has zoomed from around 70 to well over 300 since the announcement. Good news travels fast, and Bradley fans as always, are hungry for good news!
 
Amazing - our staff is doing a great job...practically a 50% shooter from nearly the NBA 3-pt line!

....let's just hope he doesn't take advice about going pro from the same guy that talked to ISU's Clarance
 
I really like the video on this guy. It??™s easy to get hyped on YouTube highlights but I??™m liking the looks of our recruiting class this fall.
 
This past two weeks is pretty much unprecedented...

four separate commits from talented recruits...
all as a direct result of hosting them for fall visits ON CAMPUS!!!

Kudos to our staff who obviously came over as highly capable and a perfect match for each of the recruits...
BUT ALSO to those who developed and planned the outstanding expansion and construction of all the incredible facilities up on campus..
Included are the donors - big & small - Jim Les, Ken Kavanagh, Tom Hammerton, Virnette, Engelbrecht, Kalina, Ken Goldin, and many others
who were the ones who got these facilities built despite that the proof & the stories crediting them have been scrubbed (by guess who) from the archives.


It would be nice if we got some kind of nice writeup for those guys and the results it's now producing in the right hands - maybe an article extolling "a defining moment" or "unprecedented recruiting success"...
 
Seems like a great pickup. He's the FIBA Europe championship 2nd leading scorer; the 3rd leading scorer is a Gonzaga commit, and the leading scorer also has a Gonzaga offer. Zags have built a top-10 program with top European talent. Not a bad formula to emulate, at least a bit.
 
not sure about the numbers but a few of the Euro guys have left early because they have that pro option -
Obviously Clarance but also Gal Mekel and a couple others...
one guy from Loyola (Rajala) is on Donte Thomas' team in Finland...

Utah Valley had a kid named Joonas Tahvanainen - who just transferred to a different school a couple days ago... Joonas played U20 with Lauri Markkanen of the Bulls
https://gouvu.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4555

Here's Joonas on U20 and Ville on U18 - brothers?

196378
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one more thing- check the stats for a game they just played a few weeks ago...
U18 Finland beat Greece and Ville had 35 points on 8-17 from 3-pt range to go with 6 rebs & 4 asst (one of Ville's teammates, Mikael Jantunen, went for 22 pts on 8-10 and 16 rebs and zero turnovers)
http://www.fiba.basketball/europe/u18/2018/team/Finland
http://www.fiba.basketball/europe/u18/2018/game/0508/Finland-Greece#|tab=boxscore
 
Bradley commit Ville Tahvanainen played a game today back in Finland for his team in the 1st Division A League, HBA-Marsky Helsinki. It was his team's first game of the 2018-19 season. The 1st Division A League is a pro league that is one level below the top pro league, the Korisliiga. Teams are allowed to have junior (amateur) players on their roster, but the pro players usually dominate.

Here is the 1st Division League page-
https://www.eurobasket.com/Finland/basketball-1st-Division.asp

Last year's final results- HBA-Marsky Helsinki won the regular season, but lost in the finals of the post-season tournament.
https://www.eurobasket.com/Finland/basketball-1st-Division_2017-2018.asp

Ville's team, HBA-Marsky Helsinki-
https://basketball.eurobasket.com/team/Finland/HBA-Marsky-Helsinki/6057

Ville's team won their game today 92-88 over Helsinki NMKY.
He was the star of the game with a game-high 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 assists.
Leaders-
https://www.basket.fi/basketball-finland/competitions/game/?game_id=4237921&season_id=103771

Box score-
https://www.basket.fi/basketball-finland/competitions/game/?game_id=4237921&season_id=103771

The kid can play.
His team's next game is October 11.
https://basketball.eurobasket.com/team/Finland/HBA-Marsky-Helsinki/6057?Page=2
 
Ville Tahvanainen's teammate on their U18 National team, 18 year old power forward Mikael Jantunen, just committed to Utah-
https://twitter.com/EvanDaniels/status/1049397339230797826
https://247sports.com/college/baske...rd-Mikael-Jantunen-commits-to-Utah-123073136/
http://www.fiba.basketball/europe/u18/2018/player/Mikael-Jantunen

Mikael Jantunen is also Ville's teammmate on their Finnish Pro league team HBA-Marsky Helsinki-
https://basketball.eurobasket.com/team/Finland/HBA-Marsky-Helsinki/6057?Page=1

FIBA U18 Championships stats- Mikael Jantunen was the 2nd highest Finnish scorer behind Ville Tahvanainen-
http://www.fiba.basketball/europe/u18/2018/playerstats
 
Da Coach said:
Bradley commit Ville Tahvanainen ....
His team's next game is October 11.
...
Click to expand...
Ville Tahvanainen's team just completed their game today over in Finland


his team HBA-Marsky lost 88-81 but Ville had another great game
29 points, 3 reb, 3 asst, 2 steals, 2 blocks...
his team hit only 9 of 37 3-pt attempts but Ville hit 5-15

so, Ville is averaging 26.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg, & 6 apg

the kid mentioned above who just verbaled to Utah, Mikael Jantunen had just 2 pts, 4 reb
 
Ville Tahvanainen's team, HBA-Marsky Helsinki, is one of the few teams in the Finnish pro league that does not have any American or foreign players on it.
Every player on their roster is Finnish-
https://basketball.eurobasket.com/team/Finland/HBA-Marsky-Helsinki/6057?Page=1

But I noticed one of the players on the team they played against yesterday is a former Bradley player that fans might remember- Alex Foster-
https://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/Alex-Foster/Finland/LoKoKo-Bisons-Loimaa/303711

Alex played only 1 season at Bradley after sitting out a year, then finished up his career at Albany.
He started and played 22 minutes in yesterday's game for the Lokoko Bisons. He had 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 fouls-
https://www.eurobasket.com/boxScores/Finland/2018/1011_12761_6057.asp?

The leading scorer for the Lokoko Bisons was another former American college player, Marcus White, a kid from Milwaukee.
https://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/Marcus-White/Finland/LoKoKo-Bisons-Loimaa/358202
He is a kid that got some Division I interest out of high school at Milwaukee Vincent HS, but ended up at a juco then an NAIA school because of academic issues. I wonder if Coach Wardle might have followed him in high school?
http://verbalcommits.com/players/marcus-white-wi
 
Ville played 25 minutes tonight- 12 pts, 4-7, hit 2-4 from 3pt range, 4 asst, 2 blks
Next game is next Tuesday
 
tornado said:
Ville played 25 minutes tonight- 12 pts, 4-7, hit 2-4 from 3pt range, 4 asst, 2 blks
Click to expand...

Ville Tahvanainen leads his team in scoring, rebounding, and assists through their first 3 games. And note that he is an 18 year old amateur high schooler playing in a league with predominantly pro players.
His season averages are 22.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 5.3 assists.
He is shooting 59.3% overall, 37% on three pointers from the longer international distance (22' 2" distance in FIBA vs. 20' 9" distance used in the NCAA), and he is shooting 100% on free throws. Plus he is averaging 32 minutes played per game, more than any other player on the team, and playing good defense as well..
 
Ville Tahvanainen's team in the Finnish 1st Division pro league played their 4th league game today. His team, HBA-Marsky Helsinki, won in a blowout 100-68 over one of the weaker teams in the league Pyrinto Akatemia. Ville had another superb game, though he played fewer minutes (23:55) than usual (he had been averaging 32 minutes per game) because of the blowout. He had 16 points (2nd highest point total on either team), 5 rebounds, and 2 assists. He also had a team-leading 4 steals, and lead all players with a whopping +/- score of 34-
Box score-
https://www.basket.fi/basketball-fi...?game_id=4237957&season_id=103771&league_id=2 (click on the Box Score tab)

The opponent, Pyrinto Akatemia, is one of the other teams in the league that has all Finnish players, and no American or import players.
And again, the Finnish 1st Division league is not the highest level of international basketball, but it is a pro league and nearly all the players Ville is playing against are professionals, while Ville just turned 18 and is still an amateur high schooler.
 
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