Kountz, Parquet Join Basketball Buffs For 2018-19
November 08, 2017 | Men's Basketball
BOULDER – Every year in recruiting there are the standard checklists for the University of Colorado men's basketball program.
Recruit based on the program's needs…Check
Get the top player in the state of Colorado…Check
Once Colorado is taken care of, scour the basketball hotbeds in Texas and California…check.
Tad Boyle and his staff took care of all three as Daylen Kountz and Elijah Parquet signed their National Letters of Intent to attend and play basketball at Colorado in 2018-19. Boyle made the announcement Wednesday, the first day of the early NCAA signing period.
Kountz is a 6-foot, 4-inch, 180-pound guard from Denver's East High School. Parquet is a 6-3 185-pound combo guard out of West Brook High School in Beaumont, Texas. That duo will fill right in for outgoing senior guards Dominique Collier and George King.
"They're both very athletic guys with great speed, great quickness," Boyle said. "They're both very good shooters from the perimeter and they can put the ball on the floor and attack the basket. They'll be great additions to our program."
Kountz literally follows in the footsteps of Collier. The two grew up in the same neighborhood and started playing pickup together at Green Valley Recreation Center in Denver when Collier was in high school and Kountz was in middle school.
"I didn't really know much about CU until Dom was going there and then I started looking into it," Kountz said.
The East senior is rated as the No. 1 player in the state of Colorado by ESPN and 247Sports for good reason. He led the state in scoring as junior, helping the Angels to a spot in the 2017 Class 5A Great 8. He earned Class 5A All-State Second Team and All-USA Colorado Boys Basketball Second Team honors.
"Very athletic, very serious kid about basketball although he plays for the fun of it," Denver East head coach Rudy Carey said. "He's self-motivated, and has a quiet toughness about him."
Boyle characterizes Kountz with "elite level speed. He can get from baseline to baseline very quickly, with the ball or without."
Boyle also touts Kountz's "great first step" and ability to get to the basket. He will need to work on his midrange game and become a more consistent shooter "but that's true of any kid coming from high school to college," Boyle added.
Kountz is the latest in a line of top Colorado recruits staying home to play for the Buffaloes. Along with Collier, a two-time Mr. Colorado Basketball in his own right, he follows Josh Scott, Wesley Gordon, Xavier Talton and future teammates D'Shawn Schwartz and Dallas Walton, among others.
"It's pretty good to see the top players wanting to represent Colorado by staying home," Kountz said. "It feels good to be mentioned along with them."
Parquet popped onto Colorado's radar during the summer circuit with Team S.T.A.G.E, which included tournament stops in Houston, Dallas and Las Vegas. Team S.T.A.G.E fared well on the summer run, reaching the semifinals at the two Texas locales and the quarterfinals in Las Vegas.
"Every time I saw (Elijah this summer), I liked him more and more," Boyle said. "He's a guy that can pass, dribble and shoot at a high level in all three of those areas. I think he's a very complete player; really excited about him."
Parquet used this past spring and summer to the fullest. Injuries derailed the spring and summer of his sophomore year, and had to sit out at West Brook for his junior season after transferring from Hardin-Jefferson where he was a two-time All-District performer.
"They (Colorado staff) liked how I played (this summer) and wanted to get me on a visit and when I got there, it was a great atmosphere," Parquet said. "It was my first time being in Colorado and the people were great. It was a no-brainer decision."
Now Parquet can focus on his senior season for West Brook, playing Texas 6A, the state's largest classification.
"Elijah is first of all a winner; a true team player," West Brook head coach Andre Boote said. "Hopefully this year our goal is to win as many games as we can as a team, but my goal for him is to exert himself to the fullest, be a vocal leader, scoring leader, rebounding, do whatever it takes. He does an excellent job involving his teammates; a true team basketball player."
"Anytime you evaluate kids you have to look at production and where they are right now," Boyle said. "But also I think, the art of it is where are they going to be two or three years from now? I think with both these kids the answer to that is they have a major upside. But they're also good players today, so I'm excited about both of them."
