Texas basketball: Longhorns hook Mohamed Bamba

Shaka Smart and Texas basketball grabbed the best high schooler left in the country. Mohamed Bamba will join a Longhorns’ squad brimming with talent.

Texas basketball was already in fine shape for next year with its recruiting, but things exploded today when five-star forward Mohammed Bamba announced he would join the Longhorns and Shaka Smart. The 7’0″, 216-pounder from Harlem chose UT over Kentucky.

Bamba is a true physical specimen that can astonish opponents purely in length and foot speed. He is the best Texas front court prospect since, well, last year’s Jarrett Allen who is now in the NBA draft process. Bamba might not have Allen’s offensive game yet, but he won’t need to carry the team like Allen sometimes did. Bamba joins forwards Jerico Sims, Royce Hamm and Dylan Osetkowski (from Tulane), wing Jase Febres and true point guard Matt Coleman. Overall he forms part of UT’s 4th ranked class per 247.

Bamba joins forwards Jerico Sims, Royce Hamm, Dylan Osetkowski (from Tulane), wing Jase Febres, and true point guard Matt Coleman. Overall, he forms part of UT’s 4th ranked class per 247.

I like Bamba to immediately start next to one of the other new forwards. His main role is likely as a rim protector on defense and finishing lobs on offense. He is tall but too wiry at his current rate to bang against more physical posts in the Big 12.

Most scouting reports also show fairly low effort, so he will need to pick up the intensity to keep others from stealing his minutes. Even if Bamba jumps to the pros after one year, he will help the Longhorns push up the Big 12.

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There is always a chance a player won’t work out as expected; Texas was bad last year despite having a stellar group of freshmen. That could certainly happen again, but for now Bamba puts Texas in a great position for the 2017-2018 season. Fans in Austin should be very excited to see what he and the rest of the Longhorns can do.