Edmond Memorial point guard Sean Pedulla earned some nice accolades this past season while leading the Bulldogs to the 6A state basketball tournament before COVID-19 shut down the remainder of the season.
While some hard-core, high school hardwood enthusiasts in the Sooner State might have already been familiar with Pedulla, he’s landed on everyone’s radar this summer after some stellar AAU tournament performances.
His performance that weekend earned him five college scholarship offers, including ones from Tulsa, Minnesota and Virginia Tech.
“Just the same way I was before,” admitted Pedulla on how he’s handling the new-found recruiting attention. ” I just keep my head down and keep on working. Ya, it’s great but it’s only been coming because I’ve been working hard.”
College recruiting can be difficult to predict at times. A player can wait a long time for that first offer, but once a team pulls the trigger, several more immediately follow suit.
“I’m not really sure,” said Pedulla in regards to what it takes for a team make an offer. “I’ve asked that same question. I guess it’s because teams are unsure, especially with a guy like me, because I’m kind of small in size. They’re not sure if I can play at the next level and once one school offers they say, ‘oh if they think he’s good enough then he must be.’ Then they just hop on that train.”
The fact he’s receiving all this attention comes as no surprise to Edmond Memorial head coach Shane Cowherd, who has witnessed Pedulla’s improvement firsthand.
“No, I wasn’t surprised at all,” claimed Cowherd. “What Sean showed in that tournament wasn’t anything different than what he’s shown the last two years. Sean is a great competitor. He’s kind of an unassuming kid, and as a result, some people don’t realize there’s a cold-blooded assassin lying underneath that exterior.”
Pedulla’s AAU performance even caught the eye of current NBA players Buddy Hield and Trae Young, who both tweeted his praises after seeing him play in person. It even garnered him an invite to play in the Skinz League, an adult men’s basketball league in Oklahoma City that has exploded in popularity.
This summer, the Skinz League has featured NBA players like Young and Hield, as well as several Top 100 high school talents from across the country. Pedulla made his Skinz League debut this week and earned some valuable experience playing against older players.
Pedulla attributes a lot of his recent success to the extra time he’s spent on his game and his body during the COVID-19 shutdown. The 6-1 guard has added almost 10 pounds of muscle to his frame and he’s added some range to his jump shot.
“It’s just from the work I’ve been putting in during this whole quarantine,” admitted Pedulla. “And just trusting my coaches and what they’ve been teaching me on how to improve. That’s really it.”
“Sean shoots the ball extremely well,” said Cowherd, who has been Edmond Memorial’s coach the past 14 years. “He has a toughness and a little bit of a swagger, although it’s not cockiness. It’s a quiet confidence in his abilities and the abilities of his teammates.”
The sting of losing the opportunity to win a state championship this past season has worn off some, but Pedulla believes winning the gold ball is definitely an attainable goal for him and his teammates this coming season.
“We’ve got some good starters returning and some other guys that are pretty good too, so I’m excited to see what we can do,” said Pedulla.
“We’ve had a lot of really talented young men that have played Division I basketball that played at Memorial and Sean is just like those guys in the regard that every day he pushes himself to improve,” said Cowherd. “That doesn’t just happen when you’re in a gym practicing. That happens when you’re in a garage lifting weights. It happens on a goal in the driveway. Sean has always pushed himself to be a better version of himself.”
