City of Palms: Top unsigned big man Mohamed Bamba talks recruiting
MORE: Shaq's son talks recruiting | O'Bannon nearing a decision
FT. MYERS, Fla. -- On Sunday, maybe the most highly anticipated individual matchup of the winter took place when 2017's No. 1 player DeAndre Ayton of Phoenix (Ariz.) Hillcrest Prep faced off with fellow elite big man, No. 4 ranked Mohamed Bamba of the Westtown (Pa.) School.
The battle between seven-footers didn't produce the highlights many had hoped for, but after scoring six points, grabbing five rebounds and blocking three shots, Bamba was happy to take the 53-42 win over Ayton, who had 13 and 13 of his own on while making only 4-of-17 field goal attempts.
"I think I played pretty well," said Bamba. "I think I knew going into this game that it was another Super Bowl of mine. I played against DeAndre in the first game of the EYBL and that was big for me, and it was the same mentality going into this game.
"He is very physical, but I'm pretty edgy if you haven't noticed. Things were (chippy), but we are very good friends and I know that I bring out the best in him and I know that he brings out the best in me, and it's always fun playing him. Every single time I play him I look forward to it. Every time I have a lot of passion, and it's special to me."
"It is but at the same time it took away from a lot of defensive rebounding opportunities for me but the result was good, we won."
After the game, Bamba went into detail about his recruitment in front of a throng of media.
"It's going pretty well," Bamba said. "I think what has changed most with my recruiting process and what you guys are going to ask is that my family is very involved with it. That's something that with these recruiting visits, I was able to get the whole family together, which is something that I couldn't do when I was younger."
Though he has some other programs involved and wouldn't call them his final five, Bamba is most consistently linked to Duke, Harvard, Kentucky, Michigan and Texas. On Sunday, Shaka Smart and John Beilein were present. Bamba has visited both the Longhorns and Michigan.
The visit to Ann Arbor was his first official, and Bamba noted that it set the tone for future visits and that Michigan is one of the greatest schools in the world.
"One thing that I was really impressed with about Michigan was their strength and conditioning program - they are really top notch," Bamba said. "The only thing was that we looked at it a lot from a two-year development thing and one of my biggest goals and aspirations is to be a one-and-done. I think it's very possible that they can cater it to me and my time there, and I think it's something that me and my family wanted to know about."
In October, Bamba made his way down to Austin for an official visit with the Longhorns.
"It was great, it was very hot down there," said Bamba. "The family, they loved it. It was a very big university and I think we were able to get in 48 hours everything how it would look as a potential student athlete there."
Though Bamba hasn't yet set official visits to Duke and Kentucky, he said that would change very soon.
He discussed what he likes about each beginning with Kentucky.
"Its been mainly the same pitch as the summer, more positionless and what their track record is," said Bamba of the Wildcats. "What are the three bigs at mind when you think of Kentucky and the NBA right now? You think of Anthony Davis, you think of KAT (Karl-Anthony Towns) and you think of Demarcus Cousins. Their track record is unbelievable."
Not too long ago, Duke assistants Jeff Capel and Jon Scheyer were in to see Bamba. The five-star recruit said their pitch is consistent.
"Brotherhood," said Bamba. "Those guys, you can see it to the way they go at it out there they are a true brotherhood. I've been talking to coach Capel, we've been talking a lot. We've been talking about how he sees me as a player and how I fit in as a player at Duke. One thing we really, really talked about a lot which might be surprising is the Ben Simmons documentary. I haven't really talked to him on the phone about it but it was great texts that we exchanged."
A free thinker who expresses himself as well as any recruit in the last 15 years, Bamba is an outside of the box type of kid. For the most part the pitches have been consistent but he has found ways that the schools recruiting him have gone outside of the usual.
"I think the one thing that schools have found is just the history of the school more than just the program," said Bamba. "I think that's the outside of the box thing, the networking pretty much. I don't think any guy in my position has ever really thought about how a school can help them down the road as far as networking."
With visits left to take, it is clear that Bamba is still in information gathering mode. There is no timetable set and he's pretty clear about what's on his mind at this point.
"I'm watching, just watching," said Bamba. "I like what I see from pretty much every team recruiting me and it's just a matter of watching."
