Is Mamadou Ndiaye this Year’s Anthony Davis?

 

All the buzz in the wild world of basketball recruiting has been about Mamadou Ndiaye, a 7’5”, 310 lbs center from the class of 2013 who has skyrocketed up the recruiting charts in an Anthony Davis-like ascension. 24/7 Sports released their latest 2013 Top-100 rankings, and coming in at #7 was Mamadou. Most other recuiting services have him listed as a three-star prospect, but as the year goes on, he’s likely to see his stock rise in all of the major recruiting services.

The 18-year old from Senegal averaged 23 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks for Brethren Christian in California last season. He arrived in the US from Senegal in September 2010 and initially attended Stoneridge Prep but eventually wound up transferring to Bretheren. His head coach, Jon Bahnsen, said that while still very raw, he’ll be playing pro basketball eventually:

 

Right now his game is basically catch, turn, drop-step, dunk. But this kid’s going to play professionally someday. The minute Mamadou enrolled I became a much better basketball coach.

 

As you would expect, Mamadou is still getting used to living inAmericaand is very shy when it comes to interview requests, but keeps a positive and humble outlook, according to Brethren Christian principal Rick Niswonger:

 

He doesn’t really like publicity so we are honoring his desire and not talking much about him, He is a great kid though. We are fortunate that he moved into our neighborhood. The truly amazing thing is how gentle and kind he is. We love him. He takes his studies seriously. The rest is basketball awesomeness.