UNC secured its second basketball commitment from the class of 2012 late Thursday night when SF J.P. Tokoto from Menomonee, WI chose to become a Tar Heel. Tokoto is ranked #42 overall by Scout and #41 by Rivals. At this point, the ranking is not a huge concern since Tokoto will have plenty of opportunity to raise his profile, much like Marcus Paige.
The word on Tokoto is he's long and athletic. Measuring 6-6 and 180 lbs, Tokoto will be a good fit into UNC's up-tempo system with his ability to run the court, handle the basketball and finish at the rim. Recruiting experts are high on his defense and rebounding. ACC Sports.com recruiting analyst Brick Oettinger had this to say about Tokoto:
Oettinger also described Tokoto as "an outstanding run/jump athlete. He can match up with a lot of people on defense because of that."
"I describe Tokoto as a slightly taller, better scoring, Jackie Manuel," Oettinger added. "He’s that type of an athlete, that type of a defender. He’s extremely agile.
"But he handles the ball better than Jackie. Jackie didn’t really have much of an offensive game. You really can’t say that about Tokoto."
Tokoto does have plenty of offensive game, but he also has one area in his repertoire that still needs work.
"I liked everything about his game except his ugly jumpers last spring and summer," Oettinger said.
Tokoto really sounds like a smaller version of John Henson who needs to develop offensive skills, particularly a working jumper. However, Henson has also proven having athletic guys who can defense is also a huge lift for a team.
Inside Carolina has a full write-up on Tokoto's decision via Scout's top recruiting expert Evan Daniels. Be sure to check out Dan Wiederer's piece on Tokoto which discusses his relationship with Roy.
Aside from his basketball skills, Tokoto is a solid student and will be another in a long line of "character kids" brought out in by Roy.