The NCAA's Early Signing Period, as known as the Fall Signing Period, is now upon us, and many of Arizona's top basketball prospects will soon be making their college decisions. In exciting fashion recently, Sunnyslope High School's versatile 6-foot-6, 180-pound senior guard/forward Rider Portela gave a big verbal commitment, and will now look to sign this fall with the University of Colorado and Head Coach Tad Boyle and his coaching staff.
Arizona Preps recently caught up with Portela and he advised us that he appreciated the culture at Colorado and the coaching style of Head Coach Tad Boyle and his staff. Portela chose Colorado over numerous other offers from such school as UC San Diego, New Mexico, UNLV, Portland, Pepperdine, Nevada, GCU, UC-Davis, Long Beach State, Duquesne, Northern Arizona and Portland State, among others.
Portela is coming off another strong showing this past spring and summer, where he raised his recruiting stock a great deal with consistent strong performances on the Adidas show circuit. Portella thrived while playing for the heavily Adidas-sponsored Compton Magic (CA) club program. Portela raised his overall play and, as a result, many college coaches took notice.
Portela burst on to the varsity basketball scene as a freshman starter for the Vikings and did not disappoint, as he immediately impacted the program. Since his stellar freshman season, Portela has shown excellent versatility for the Vikings - providing scoring depth and ball handling for this group. Portela has consistently played with superior confidence and has shined when the bright lights were on throughout his high school career. Portela's numbers last season were good, but the true value he brought to his team did not show up on the stat sheet. Portela averaged 13.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.1 steals per/game as a junior.
Portela came up big for Sunnyslope last season during their state title run, and will look to lead Sunnyslope to this year's Open Division State Championship during his final senior season. Sunnyslope High School is one of the favorites to win next year's Open Division State Championship. The program is loaded with talent, and the future for the program is now, as the Vikings have one of elite programs in the state. Last season with a younger group, Head Coach Ray Portela and his experienced and long-time successful coaching staff led the program to another excellent season, as the program again finished as a runner-up for the Open Division State Championship.
Portela has a very bright future ahead for himself and will be one of the featured prospects all season long during his senior season, as he prepares for high-level Division-I basketball. Congratulations to the Portela family on this amazing accomplishment from our Arizona Preps' staff.
Arizona Preps Scouting Report: The son of a coach (Ray Portela _ Head Coach @ Sunnyslope HS), Rider Portela is a skilled and lengthy guard prospect with an excellent feel for the game. He is a strong shooter of the basketball with unlimited range on his shot, and he plays at a very good pace. He has excellent versatility as a player, as he is able to handle the basketball and make plays from the guard position, or slide over over to the wing and become more of a scorer. He has a nice ability to get into the lane and make and finish shots in traffic. He plays very fast in the open floor and has very good court vision - able to find the open man on the floor. He is a good rebounder from the guard position, and he will only continue to get better in this area, as he continues to grow physically and mature. Portela is a fundamentally sound prospect with good size for the wing or guard positions. He plays with an excellent overall motor and is just scratching the surface on how good he will become over time.
