Tokoto Makes It Official, He's Headed South to North Carolina

JP Tokoto said when he decided to commit to the , it was a great relief. 

Now that he has made it official, Tokoto said he feels even better.

The Menomonee Falls basketball star signed his letter of intent to join the Tar Heels Wednesday during a charity event at Tokoto’s signing highlighted a program with eight of his teammates, who spent time reading and encouraging younger students to prepare for college. The players also collected can goods from participants that will be donated to the Menomonee Falls Area Food Pantry.

Tokoto’s signing marks the end of a whirlwind courtship with several major basketball programs that started at the end of his freshman year.  In the end, it was North Carolina first and the University of Wisconsin a distant second.

“I feel like I fit in with their program, I can’t wait to get there and play for Coach (Roy Williams),” said Tokoto about his decision to attend North Carolina. “We went to games last year and I was sitting there during timeouts picturing myself in the huddle. It was a different feeling definitely and I look forward to it. I feel like I’m ready.”

But his primary goal now is to prepare for his final season at Menomonee Falls.

“Going through the (recruiting) process was a lot of fun. But with that out of the way, I can concentrate on basketball,” Tokoto said. “Our season is coming up, I feel this year we have a way better team, I feel something different this year.”

Tokoto, who is 6-6, 190 pounds, averaged 19.2 points and 12.5 rebounds per game for the Indians last season, who had their share of ups and downs as they finished with an 11-12 record. The Indians had great success during Tokoto’s sophomore season, the team went 21-4, and ended up losing to eventual state champion Arrowhead in the sectionals.

Falls, started off well last season, but went through a stretch that saw the Indians lose six of seven games. They played better near the end of the season, but suffered a disappointing in the opening game of the state tournament.

Dan Leffel, after several seasons as freshman coach, watched the team’s inconsistent play last season first hand. He said the intense recruiting of Tokoto did not have a bearing on last season’s finish.

“People called it circus, it wasn’t a circus,” Leffel said. “We (the coaches) know it was a positive thing. The team wasn’t as successful as it would have liked. They found out that individual basketball doesn’t work. They found out that we need to play team basketball.”

Tokoto said he has improved in several areas this season.

“Over the summer, I worked on my overall game, worked a lot on my shooting and my ball handling and I worked a lot on my defense,” Tokoto said. “Coach (Williams) said if you can’t play defense, you can’t get on the floor.”

Tokoto and his Falls teammates are confident that they will be able to compete for the title in the Greater Metro Conference this season.  Tokoto will be joined by senior guard CJ Malone, who averaged 11.2 points per game while starting every game last season.

Another player to watch is senior Ryan Bross, a 7-2 center who is starting to attract major-college attention.