Iād be interested. Probably wouldnāt play a ton this year, but getting a blue chip prospect into the hopper is valuable because we lose TDR and Sam after this year.
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Just so I understand clearly, he wouldnāt be on Grounds until the 2027-2028 season, right?
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Correct. Just turned 17 last month so not old enough to reclass. Prepping in the US for the upcoming year, so weāll get a feel for how good he really is.
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Wow. Reading up on this kid, sounds like a real find. 56 points and 33 boards in a youth all star game in Spain?
Consider the source here (how many grammatical errors can you find?), but hereās a fluff piece from Ratcliffe: Hootie on Mamadoure
Big get. We hope, I guess, now we have to defend the commitment for a year.
I think the timing is interesting. He just announced his prep school destination a few days ago. Usually kids go to prep school to get discovered by college coaches.
So either he just decided to handle both HS and college recruitments at once or maybe we wanted to lock him down before others in the states got a closer look at him. Given that he used to play in the same league as Boumtje Boumtje maybe he was our backup plan to him (though very different players).
Anyone know anything about this prep school? is this one of the high-level ones where heāll have D1 teammates and play good comp?
I think it has some notable alumni.
Edit: checked and not really. Alex Johnson, FSU and the NBA, but that was 20 years ago. And Vaden, UAB to Charlotte for at least a cup of coffee.
Schedule from this past seasons looks solid: https://bridgtonacademy.org/athletics/basketball/basketball-schedule
Played HoopHall, in same prep conference as powers like New Hampton, played IMG (2x) and some other nationally relevant prep schools. I saw two D1 commits referenced on their Instagram, a guard who was a late cycle signing for Marquette and a center who was an unranked signing for UMass. So not top-tier prep school, but should have good comp.
Also from what I can gather their longtime coach unexpectedly passed away during the season this year, and so they recently promoted the interim coach, St Johnās alum Paris Horne, to the permanent role.
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Is there an actual age limit for reclassing? I thought as long as someone finished the minimum entrance requirement classes per the NCAA, they could play in college. If you donāt meet the NBAās minimum age requirement you couldnāt be eligible for the draft after your first season, so you might have to stay in college 2 years.
That was the situation with Emoni Bates when he reclassed.
But maybe thatās not a consideration for our guy.
Full games from this U19 tournament NBA Academy Africa was in:
vs. Unicaja (32p, 16r):
vs. Dubai (21p, 13r)
vs. Veritas (12p, 6r), en Espanol:
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Official offer to him. Hard to see him at UVA with him being on Dukeās radar.
A lot of interest in PSA cardinal kids. Think that was already the case with staff but imagine that interest continues with Autry on staff
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Read somewhere their family has a connection to the Virginia area and thatās why big bro was at Oak Hill. Also no idea if any relation to Justin Anderson or just coincidence Christian Anderson and Justin follow each other
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I assume staff if not Odom himself are there if coaches are allowed
Ok, something has to be going on, right? There are surely teams who would have roster spots for a typical recruit of his ranking.
Gibson is an extreme case but itās gotten weird for a lot of HS recruits these days. Itās not so much that they arenāt wanted. Just guys are trying to find the best route to maxing their college earnings. Mix that in with power conference coaches having little appetite for non-elite recruits making any sort of demands, and you end up with top 100 recruits considering the mid major route. Put up numbers there, heās a portal millionaire in year 2. Thatās the hope anyway.
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Makes sense. I think I have seen some chatter this offseason about coaches getting a little wiser about empty calorie-types of scorers though, so heās probably gonna have to show more development in other parts of his game.
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Oh Iām sure thereās something especially unusual in Gibsonās caseā¦everybody but a few dropped out toward the end. I assume he or his people are difficult in some way, not seen as worth the bother, unreasonable demands etc.
Interesting times though. Used to be HS recruits made decisions based on their pro futureā¦whether thatās the best place to feature their skillset or develop it. Now that college pays more than anything short of NBA stardom, itās sort of the same, only the calculus is completely different.
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