Magic-Sags-Main-102016.jpg
Men's Basketball Notebook: WVU's Baby Bigs
October 20, 2016 02:07 PM | Men's Basketball
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins has taken a United Nations approach to his recruiting, at least as far as this year’s freshman class is concerned.
He’s got 6-foot-8-inch, 250-pound man-child Sagaba Konate from Bamako, Mali by way of Kennedy Catholic High in Hermitage, Pennsylvania, and he’s got 6-foot-10-inch, 240-pound, wingman Maciej Bender from Warsaw, Poland by way of Mountain Mission School in Grundy, Virginia.
According to Huggins, both are on schedule and coming along nicely.
Konate didn’t quite make those coveted top-100 lists all college basketball fans seem to be consumed with, although Huggins maintains he’s a top-100 talent.
Rivals.com rated Konate the nation’s 137th-best prospect, Scout.com had him rated as the 26th-best prep center in the country while ESPN.com had him rated No. 19 among prep power forwards and the sixth-best player in the Keystone State.
Bender, meanwhile, was rated the 30th-best power forward in the country and the fifth-best player in Virginia by ESPN.com.
I bring these up because both players could wind up performing much better than their prep ratings might indicate because they wisely chose to play for Bob Huggins. If there is a coach out there who can get the last drop of potential out of a player - especially bigs - it’s Huggs.
He did it time and again at Cincinnati, and we’ve also seen him do it during his nine seasons here at West Virginia with guys such as Devin Ebanks, Wellington Smith, John Flowers, Kevin Jones, Devin Williams and Jonathan Holton.
Konate and Bender are next in line.
Konate already possesses some things Huggs can’t teach such as size, strength, athleticism and aggressiveness.
The Pennsylvania Class A Player of the Year averaged 15.5 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game in leading his team to its first state championship in 15 years. In the finals, he scored 17 points, grabbed 22 rebounds and blocked two shots in Kennedy Catholic’s 71-60 victory over Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School of Philadelphia.
ESPN basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla, in town to observe practice a few weeks ago, tweeted that Konate resembles a “young Al Horford who doesn’t know what he doesn’t know yet.”
He’s got good bounce, demonstrates a willingness to go after the basketball on the glass and in the air, and he could potentially give Huggins a rim protector he probably hasn’t had since Wellington Smith filled that role during WVU’s Final Four season in 2010.
“I think one of the great things about Sags is he doesn’t know a whole lot because he really didn’t start playing until he got over here,” Huggins admitted after last Thursday night’s Gold-Blue Debut in Wheeling. “He’s had good coaching in high school so you don’t have to break a lot of bad habits. We just have to create good ones.”
What Huggins means by that is sometimes Konate could take plays off because he was so much better than the players he was facing in high school.
That obviously won’t work playing in the best basketball league in America.
“I think day by day he finds out he’s got to do things the right way and he wants to do things the right way. I think that’s the most important thing. He’s extremely, extremely coachable,” Huggins said.
As for Bender, he played on a prep team that sent him and five other players to Division I schools this year - Bitumba Baruti to Washington, Jethro Tshisumpa to Arizona State, Diogo Brito to Utah State, Jakub Migakowski to Penn and Kenshon Montague to Pacific.
Bender averaged 10.8 points and seven rebounds per game with this group and has been touted as a taller version of Nathan Adrian.
Bender’s development was delayed somewhat when he opted to play for Poland in the U20 European Championship this summer where he averaged 8.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. But in the short time he’s been here, he’s demonstrated the ability to knock down open shots - and with range - the only issue being the language barrier, which he is still working through.
“Magic is very skilled,” Huggins noted. “We’ve just got to get the motor running a little more and he’s got to be a little more aggressive and more physical.”
Overall, Huggins said he is pleased with his two new bigs, plus 6-foot-8-inch, 215-pound redshirt freshman Lamont West, who possesses bounce and athleticism similar to Konate.
These guys should all help returning bigs Adrian, Elijah Macon and Brandon Watkins underneath the basket this year.
None of these new guys have to be great this year - just reliable and dependable, and the longer they’re around Huggs, the better they’re going to become.
“I think it’s a work in progress, but I’m happy with those guys,” Huggins concluded.
College Basketball Crown Recap
Thursday, April 16
Ross Hodge, Honor Huff & Brenen Lorient | Oklahoma Postgame
Sunday, April 05
Ross Hodge, Treysen Eaglestaff & Brenen Lorient | Creighton Postgame
Saturday, April 04
Ross Hodge & Honor Huff | Stanford Postgame
Thursday, April 02
