JUCO big man headed to Big 12

The journey for John Plefka, a 6-foot-9, 237-pound power forward from Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, Fla., has been interesting. He signed out of high school with Rutgers to play football. Then an opportunity to hoops came around. Last year he played baseball at Vermont. Now, the junior college big man will take his versatility to the Big 12 and play for a Hall of Fame coach.

Plefka committed to Texas Tech on Wednesday morning. He became a hot recruit in the last month and it was the Red Raiders' situation that helped him pick the Lubbock, Texas school.

"It's a good situation that should be very good for me," Plefka said. "I know they are losing their top big man, who is actually a junior college player, too. I think it will be a good opportunity for me to play in the role he played in this year."

Texas Tech was one of the many schools looking at him. Virginia, Iowa State, Hawaii, Nebraska, Utah and Minnesota were some of the programs involved.

"The recruiting process has been long and there have been a lot of teams down here to see us play because of the success we had this season," Plefka said. "They just came out of the woodwork. In crunch time, though, I knew Texas Tech is where I wanted to go."

As a tight end in high school, Plefka signed with Rutgers to play on the gridiron. That didn't pan out. Then he signed with James Madison for hoops. That didn't pan out either. It was last year on the baseball diamond when Plefka realized what he wanted to do.

"When I was at Vermont last year, I felt like I was missing out on basketball so that is why I came down here to Santa Fe," Plefka said. "I'm basically playing baseball down here to stay in shape. It's a fun thing to do but I'm going to be all basketball at Texas Tech."

After coming full circle, Plefka is ready to play for Bobby Knight.

Plefka averaged 9.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and shot 42 percent from three and 46 percent from the floor for Santa Fe.