IU basketball recruiting: A coach’s take on Kyle Filipowski, who is taking an Indiana official visit in June

Indiana has secured an official visit from one of the more coveted big men in the class of 2022.

Kyle Filipowski’s high school coach Mike Mannix confirmed with The Daily Hoosier on Wednesday that he has an official visit with IU scheduled for mid-June.  Josh Verlin of The City of Brotherly Love was the first to report last week that the 4-star top-60 forward was scheduling the visit in Bloomington.

With Indiana’s recruitment of the 6-foot-10 Filipowski rapidly accelerating, we took the opportunity to ask Mannix about Filipowski the player and teammate.

Mannix is Filipowski’s head coach at Wilbraham & Monson Academy (Wilbraham, Mass.)  Here is our Q&A with Mannix.

TDH:  Do you think Kyle can play on the perimeter in a four-out offense?

Mannix:  Absolutely.  If you look at how the game has changed over the last five to ten years, there are a lot of guys who play the five that can step out and makes shots, but not all those guys can put it on the floor.  Kyle can put it on the floor, and he is very fluid and agile.  If you took two inches off of Kyle Filipowski, and just watched him play, you would think 10 or 15 years ago he was an NBA small forward.  That’s the kind of game he has — the small forwards of the early 2000s where a lot of those guys can take you off the dribble, a lot of those guys can take the ball up the floor, but in the early 2000s those guys were also a little more likely to be able to take you into the post too.  The fact that he is 6-foot-10 plus, you just expect him to get in the post, and he does, but he handles the ball like those guys.

TDH:  Talk about his development as an athlete since he arrived at W&M in 2019.

Mannix:  From the time that he’s been here he’s been extremely fluid and extremely agile, it has just improved to where now it is at its highest level.  It was good since 2019, now it’s great.

Monster weekend for 2022 Kyle Filipowski |@kylefilipowski| of NY Rens EYBL @NYRhoops at the KYDA Invitational.

Perimeter shotmaking, playmaking for others, shot-creation off the bounce, high-level finishing at the rim all on display for the 6’10 Forward.

Criminally undervalued pic.twitter.com/BGyx3gd0iq

— Endless Motor Sports (@endless_motor) May 3, 2021

TDH:  Defensively do you believe he will be able to guard the four at the high major level?

Mannix:  He can guard all the fours, no problem.  Laterally he is good.

(Note:  Mannix indicated that Filipowski’s wingspan is directionally in the 6-foot-11 range)

TDH:  What is he like as a teammate?

Mannix:  He’s a guy that when he hangs out with the other guys and the way he responds to his teammates, you would never know that he’s the best player in terms of having any kind of air of superiority where he would say something like I’m the best player you can’t talk to me like that, or I deserve this or that — there’s never any of that.  Instead it is I’m the best player, so I am going to be there to support you guys, I’m the best player so in practice I’m going to show you that I am the hardest worker.  He takes all of the right approaches with being the best player.  There is never any negative side.  With him you always get his best, and then when he hangs out with the guys he is just a normal guy and normal teammate, he takes jokes and makes jokes, he just has a great time with his guys.

TDH:  Can you talk a little bit about the intangibles he brings on the court?

Mannix:  He’ll take charges, he doesn’t avoid them.  The first time I ever saw him play an AAU game back in the spring of 2019 he dove on the floor for a loose ball, got it to a teammate, sprinted the floor and ended up finishing the play.  He’s also a very willing passer, and a very good passer.  The last game of the season that we played he had his lowest point total of the year, he only had ten points.  But he had eight assists, and he also had 19 rebounds, so he just finds a way to impact the game if one part of his game isn’t going so well.

TDH:  What aspects of Kyle’s game do you think he needs to develop to be ready for high major college basketball?

Mannix:  He will need to get a little bit stronger.  He really takes a beating just because he sees a lot of double teams, and when he drives the ball he sees a lot of guys trying to take charges.  He endures a lot of contact.  So he is going to have to get stronger just to be more durable and take those kind of beatings.  But he is already working on that.  He has put on weight since he has been here.  He is around 230 now and he came in at around 215.

Also this year he was named captain, so that’s the other thing next year with being year two of being a captain and a senior, so he knows that our coaching staff will just expect more leadership.  This year he stepped up and had a voice, we just need it to be more frequent next year.

To see our Q&A with Filipowski after Indiana offered a scholarship in late April, GO HERE.

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