Q: Would you give us some historical background on your early childhood growing up in Georgia?
Sandro: Actually I was born in New York City, but my family is from Georgia, a really small country in Eastern Europe. We moved back there when I was young. Georgia has a small population and only one person from there has ever played in the NBA. That would be Zaza Pachulia, who won the NBA Championship with the Golden State Warriors this year.
He’s great, we talk at times.
I grew up in Georgia and played basketball there for 14 years. When I was 13 I started to get calls from the under-16 and under-18 national teams and eventually played with them in Europe.
After I was a freshman I started looking to play somewhere else because I wanted to improve my game so some day I could play in the pros. I always played against the older guys so that wasn’t easy, but I wanted to improve so that was the best way to do it.
Q: Looking to go to school outside of Georgia and play basketball, what prompted you to look to Italy?
Sandro: With our national team I played in some tournaments in Europe and a couple of Italian teams saw me and showed interest. I ended up at Angelico Biella because they have a really good youth program and my father and I thought they could help improve my game.
They are a strong reason I have been developing as I have. It was tough being away from home, but I learned so much there. I worked hard in school and started working on my game more than ever.
Everything was new to me in Italy so I went there to prove both to myself and my team that a guy from this little country can be a good player.
I think I did that in my two years there because I had some great seasons with Angelico Biella . In fact one European site ranked me third in my age group. After that a lot of people started looking at me.
I left Italy after two years because I wanted to face better competition but I did not want to go pro because then I could not come here and play NCAA basketball.
Q: Knowing that you wanted to leave Italy to continue to improve, how did you decide on Montverde Academy?
Sandro: My dad and I were looking at schools in America and we saw Montverde. I heard about Coach Boyle and read about him and found out he's a great coach. I heard about Ben Simmons and D’Angelo Russell and really, what more could you want? My dad and I started talking to each other about making a move there.
Montverde turned out to be a great program with great coaches. Everyone knows Coach Boyle, but Frank Holloway, Rae Miller, and Joe Katuka are great coaches too. They really helped me. They all helped me individually because they knew how hard it was for me being my first year in this country.
Q: American and International basketball styles are inherently different. What was it like transitioning to the United States?
Sandro: It really is different basketball. Europe is slower. Here, everyone is so fast, it's so crazy. It was hard because there is a lot of pressure on the ball here. More pressure than I am used to. At the beginning I was being told I needed to learn how to handle that so I worked hard to play faster.
At first I thought maybe I cannot compete with these guys. It was weird because in Europe I was getting more attention, but that was not happening here. Here I just wanted to do my best.
At Montverde we had a great team. We made it to the DICK’s National Championship because we played as a team and competed together.
Now that I’ve been here one year and played high school basketball, I think I am ready mentally and physically to compete at a higher level. I have improved so much in that time
Q: You mentioned that it was harder to adapt to the change of scenery here because of the style of play and because of the attention surrounding high school athletes and recruits. Do you think that, considering your transition, U.S. basketball coverage did not give you the attention you deserve?
Sandro: I think so. When I came here, a lot of people thought I was just a inside big man, but I am not. Like I said, I am more of a perimeter guy. I think I am better than people believe and I am still getting better. I would love to show those that rate basketball players that they were wrong on me.
From an early age, my dad asked me ‘Are you sure you want to play basketball because it will be hard with school’ and I always told him ‘Yes, yes, of course.’ Then I would miss a few shots in a row and he would ask me if I wanted to change my decision. He was pushing me and motivating me and I loved to show him he was wrong.
I want to show the fans that I am a better player than I was rated and that the experts were sleeping on me.
Q: it is encouraging to hear you have a chip on your shoulder and are using that to fuel your play, I feel that is similar to some players at Seton Hall currently. How did Seton Hall come across your radar when looking to play in college?
Sandro: We had a 5 a.m. workout at Montverde and after the workout I met Coach Grant (Billmeier). We talked a little bit, but I did not know much about him or Seton Hall. I looked them up later and I saw that they won the Big East Championship. I knew that Coach Boyle was from New Jersey and he was telling me that it was a good school, a good team with great coaches.
Coach (Boyle) knows a lot of coaches and their schools and he knows how I could fit in so I knew he would be truthful with me about them.
Q: What is your game like at this point? What are your strengths and where do you feel you need to improve?
Sandro: I am always working on my game, I think there is a lot of stuff I can improve on. Mainly, I need to get better all around because I am still young and I am still developing. I am working to be more consistent from the three-point line and I am working on improving my post up game. I need to get stronger to be down low, stronger to improve my post moves and stronger to improve my screens before popping out.
My biggest strength right now is pushing the ball in transition. I am really good at grabbing the rebound and getting out and running. A lot of coaches have told me I have good dribbling skills, like a guard.
I also think I have really good vision so I can find guys for open threes and other shots. I am not a selfish player, I like passing a lot. A lot of times I am guarded by a slower player or a bigger guy so they are easier for me to get by them and when the help comes I think I can really find the open look down low or back outside for my teammates.
I love being outside, I am more of a perimeter big guy right now. I can pick and pop because I shoot the three well. I have worked a lot on my three point game so when big guys guard me, they kind of dare me to shoot which I can. The next time the guy comes out to defend me or close out, I use my quickness to blow by him and get an assist or take it to the rim.
A lot of people don’t know me that well because my high school experience was just one year so I want to show them that I am a really good player and one day hopefully I can make the league (NBA).
Q: Playing at Montverde for Coach Boyle leads to exposure to schools across the country. What schools were you considering and why did you ultimately decide to become a Pirate?
Sandro: I had my top five schools and all of the schools were showing love and showing interest.
I visited the University of Southern California. They had a player like me, Bennie Boatwright. So I thought it could be a good situation for me.
I also went to visit Vanderbilt. I had a great relationship with the coaches there, but I did not think I was going to fit their style.
I also unofficially visited South Carolina. I was going to visit Maryland too, but I didn’t because I committed after visiting Seton Hall.
I made it my last visit because when I came here It felt good. It wasn't just something where it felt good for a day or two and then a year later I was going to be regretting committing on the visit. I saw something more with Seton Hall. They did a really good job getting their coaches here and seeing me play. They knew my strengths and they knew my weaknesses and I thought they could develop me better.
Coach Willard and Coach Grant can develop me and help me with my post game and help improve my pick and pop ability. They focus on individual workouts and fundamentals, it’s not just five on five. They have a game plan.
I am also familiar with New York because my aunt works in New York and my brother lives in New York so I thought it would be a great move.
My aunt is a professor at New York University, she teaches the piano. She is really good and was nominated for a Grammy in 2000. She is from Georgia, then she went to Russia and then came here. She taught at DePaul University before coming back to New York.
Sandro: Actually I was born in New York City, but my family is from Georgia, a really small country in Eastern Europe. We moved back there when I was young. Georgia has a small population and only one person from there has ever played in the NBA. That would be Zaza Pachulia, who won the NBA Championship with the Golden State Warriors this year.
He’s great, we talk at times.
I grew up in Georgia and played basketball there for 14 years. When I was 13 I started to get calls from the under-16 and under-18 national teams and eventually played with them in Europe.
After I was a freshman I started looking to play somewhere else because I wanted to improve my game so some day I could play in the pros. I always played against the older guys so that wasn’t easy, but I wanted to improve so that was the best way to do it.
Q: Looking to go to school outside of Georgia and play basketball, what prompted you to look to Italy?
Sandro: With our national team I played in some tournaments in Europe and a couple of Italian teams saw me and showed interest. I ended up at Angelico Biella because they have a really good youth program and my father and I thought they could help improve my game.
They are a strong reason I have been developing as I have. It was tough being away from home, but I learned so much there. I worked hard in school and started working on my game more than ever.
Everything was new to me in Italy so I went there to prove both to myself and my team that a guy from this little country can be a good player.
I think I did that in my two years there because I had some great seasons with Angelico Biella . In fact one European site ranked me third in my age group. After that a lot of people started looking at me.
I left Italy after two years because I wanted to face better competition but I did not want to go pro because then I could not come here and play NCAA basketball.
Q: Knowing that you wanted to leave Italy to continue to improve, how did you decide on Montverde Academy?
Sandro: My dad and I were looking at schools in America and we saw Montverde. I heard about Coach Boyle and read about him and found out he's a great coach. I heard about Ben Simmons and D’Angelo Russell and really, what more could you want? My dad and I started talking to each other about making a move there.
Montverde turned out to be a great program with great coaches. Everyone knows Coach Boyle, but Frank Holloway, Rae Miller, and Joe Katuka are great coaches too. They really helped me. They all helped me individually because they knew how hard it was for me being my first year in this country.
Q: American and International basketball styles are inherently different. What was it like transitioning to the United States?
Sandro: It really is different basketball. Europe is slower. Here, everyone is so fast, it's so crazy. It was hard because there is a lot of pressure on the ball here. More pressure than I am used to. At the beginning I was being told I needed to learn how to handle that so I worked hard to play faster.
At first I thought maybe I cannot compete with these guys. It was weird because in Europe I was getting more attention, but that was not happening here. Here I just wanted to do my best.
At Montverde we had a great team. We made it to the DICK’s National Championship because we played as a team and competed together.
Now that I’ve been here one year and played high school basketball, I think I am ready mentally and physically to compete at a higher level. I have improved so much in that time
Q: You mentioned that it was harder to adapt to the change of scenery here because of the style of play and because of the attention surrounding high school athletes and recruits. Do you think that, considering your transition, U.S. basketball coverage did not give you the attention you deserve?
Sandro: I think so. When I came here, a lot of people thought I was just a inside big man, but I am not. Like I said, I am more of a perimeter guy. I think I am better than people believe and I am still getting better. I would love to show those that rate basketball players that they were wrong on me.
From an early age, my dad asked me ‘Are you sure you want to play basketball because it will be hard with school’ and I always told him ‘Yes, yes, of course.’ Then I would miss a few shots in a row and he would ask me if I wanted to change my decision. He was pushing me and motivating me and I loved to show him he was wrong.
I want to show the fans that I am a better player than I was rated and that the experts were sleeping on me.
Q: it is encouraging to hear you have a chip on your shoulder and are using that to fuel your play, I feel that is similar to some players at Seton Hall currently. How did Seton Hall come across your radar when looking to play in college?
Sandro: We had a 5 a.m. workout at Montverde and after the workout I met Coach Grant (Billmeier). We talked a little bit, but I did not know much about him or Seton Hall. I looked them up later and I saw that they won the Big East Championship. I knew that Coach Boyle was from New Jersey and he was telling me that it was a good school, a good team with great coaches.
Coach (Boyle) knows a lot of coaches and their schools and he knows how I could fit in so I knew he would be truthful with me about them.
Q: What is your game like at this point? What are your strengths and where do you feel you need to improve?
Sandro: I am always working on my game, I think there is a lot of stuff I can improve on. Mainly, I need to get better all around because I am still young and I am still developing. I am working to be more consistent from the three-point line and I am working on improving my post up game. I need to get stronger to be down low, stronger to improve my post moves and stronger to improve my screens before popping out.
My biggest strength right now is pushing the ball in transition. I am really good at grabbing the rebound and getting out and running. A lot of coaches have told me I have good dribbling skills, like a guard.
I also think I have really good vision so I can find guys for open threes and other shots. I am not a selfish player, I like passing a lot. A lot of times I am guarded by a slower player or a bigger guy so they are easier for me to get by them and when the help comes I think I can really find the open look down low or back outside for my teammates.
I love being outside, I am more of a perimeter big guy right now. I can pick and pop because I shoot the three well. I have worked a lot on my three point game so when big guys guard me, they kind of dare me to shoot which I can. The next time the guy comes out to defend me or close out, I use my quickness to blow by him and get an assist or take it to the rim.
A lot of people don’t know me that well because my high school experience was just one year so I want to show them that I am a really good player and one day hopefully I can make the league (NBA).
Q: Playing at Montverde for Coach Boyle leads to exposure to schools across the country. What schools were you considering and why did you ultimately decide to become a Pirate?
Sandro: I had my top five schools and all of the schools were showing love and showing interest.
I visited the University of Southern California. They had a player like me, Bennie Boatwright. So I thought it could be a good situation for me.
I also went to visit Vanderbilt. I had a great relationship with the coaches there, but I did not think I was going to fit their style.
I also unofficially visited South Carolina. I was going to visit Maryland too, but I didn’t because I committed after visiting Seton Hall.
I made it my last visit because when I came here It felt good. It wasn't just something where it felt good for a day or two and then a year later I was going to be regretting committing on the visit. I saw something more with Seton Hall. They did a really good job getting their coaches here and seeing me play. They knew my strengths and they knew my weaknesses and I thought they could develop me better.
Coach Willard and Coach Grant can develop me and help me with my post game and help improve my pick and pop ability. They focus on individual workouts and fundamentals, it’s not just five on five. They have a game plan.
I am also familiar with New York because my aunt works in New York and my brother lives in New York so I thought it would be a great move.
My aunt is a professor at New York University, she teaches the piano. She is really good and was nominated for a Grammy in 2000. She is from Georgia, then she went to Russia and then came here. She taught at DePaul University before coming back to New York.
