Decision Dossier: Four-star center Patrick Ngongba
The last bits of sand are running through the hourglass in four-star center Patrick Ngongba’s recruitment. As we speed toward Saturday's announcement, the big man is officially down to Kansas State, Kentucky and Duke. With back channels suggesting Kentucky is a non-factor, the Blue Devils seem to be playing heads up against K-State down the stretch.
Below, Rivals national analyst Rob Cassidy breaks down the decision that lies in front of Ngongba just a few days before he announces his college choice.
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MORE: Duke coach Jon Scheyer remains on a roll with five-star recruits
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THE FRONTRUNNER: Kansas State
The Wildcats hosted Ngongba last weekend, and the trip represented the big man’s final official visit. It was Ngongba’s second official to K-State and an important moment for a program trying to seal the deal with its second top 50 prospect of the cycle. Having committed point guard David Castillo on campus for a visit at the same time as Ngongba probably didn’t hurt matters.
What may have helped more, however, was the fact that Duke landed 6-foot-10 forward Cooper Flagg, the class’ No. 1 prospect, on Monday morning and the Blue Devils now have a four-member high school class. A 5-to-6 member haul would feel like a large group for head coach Jon Scheyer, who has said publicly that he intends to recruit fewer high school prospects in the transfer portal era.
It feels as though the logjam at Duke could play in K-State’s favor as we head toward the four-star big man’s Saturday announcement. Ngongba has been the top priority on K-State’s board for nearly a year, and head coach Jermome Tang and staff have been using that as a selling point down the stretch. Tang even recently retweeted Ngongba’s first announcement of his Kansas State offer, which came with a March 2022 time stamp.
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THE UNDENIABLE THREAT: Duke
There are plenty of things that point to K-State when it comes to the Ngongba sweepstakes, but betting against Duke in a high-profile recruiting battle seems like a fool’s errand. All accounts are that Duke still very much wants Ngongba in the fold despite having a four-member class and other high-profile targets such as Dylan Harper and VJ Edgecombe still on the board.
There’s a question of just how hard the Blue Devils are pressing here, but there’s no way of really telling where things stand on that front a few days from Ngongba’s scheduled announcement. If Ngongba chooses Duke, nobody could even pretend to be surprised, even if the edge seems to belong to K-State in the aftermath of last weekend’s official visit to Manhattan.