Welsh visits Berkeley
One of the first schools to offer him, California got another leg up in the Thomas Welsh sweepstakes when the 7-footer stopped by campus for an unofficial visit, on Monday.
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"It was a really good visit with them (Cal)," Welsh told GoldenBearReport Monday evening. "I got to sit down with all the coaches. Coach Mike Montgomery was there, his son John Montgomery, Coach Travis DeCuire, and Coach Gregg Gottlieb."
Though the two parties have been communicating for close to a year now, this was the Southern California native's first visit to Berkeley.
"The campus is beautiful," said Welsh. "You hear all these great things about the school so it was definitely what I expected. I got to meet with some of the academic advisors and they talked about how they have people travel with the team to make sure guys are doing well in their classes."
A near straight "A" student at the hyper competitive, Loyola High School, in Los Angeles, most prognosticators expect Welsh will gravitate to a school where he'll be challenged both on and off the court. So it's not surprising the 3-Star prepster also spent time across the bay visiting archrival Stanford (the Cardinal have yet to formally offer).
"That was good, too," remarked Welsh. "I went to their camp on Friday and then spent about five hours with the staff. Both visits went really well. I don't really have a favorite. We were pretty much just getting to know one another."
Also there to get acquainted was Welsh's father, mother, and younger brother, Henry, a 6-10, 2016 prospect who'll be clogging the lane alongside Thomas next season.
But for now, the bulk of the attention is being paid to middle sibling Thomas -- Welsh's oldest brother attends Santa Clara -- and the rapidly improving athleticism he showed at the Pangos All-American Camp in Long Beach, two weeks ago.
That performance is likely to produce a host of new suitors. Still, Cal fans have reason to feel optimistic. Already with one visit in the books, the Bears are slated to receive another soon.
"I'm going to go back and visit again when my family takes my [older] brother back to school in a couple months."