Class of 2020 C Mounir Hima (NJ) Transfer from Duquesne/COMMITTED TO SYRACUSE

[pearl31]

So, your basically closing the book on the guy already?

not sure why I'm bothering w this but...
you know that just because a player who's essentially a project signs w Syracuse, it doesn't all of a sudden make him some legit sought-after player, right? As others have noted, just look at the list of teams who were in contact with him. Look at the film. Look at his numbers for a bad A10 team. This is a roll of the dice by JB/staff with a scholarship to burn. It's alright to acknowledge that, hope the kid can be serviceable in a minimal backup role, and call it a day. Don't need to keep your pom-poms going for a transfer like this.

 

[Niastri]

I watched the first half so far.

Sets a lot of screens and basically screening and rolling alongside rebounding is what he is out there for.

Positioning wasn't good early on and had a few really poor closeouts. Improved some as game went on including setting better screens.

Reaction time is definitely that of a player still raw and learning the game. Will need to rotate and respond faster on defense. Gets pushed out of position on the boards vs a smaller team a few times.

Did eventually win a couple rebound battles as he should have with such a big size advantage.

Ran the court ok but wasn't overly active. Brought his hands down defending a driver a couple times.

Size and length is legit- hoping the 240 listed weight is new weight and strength vs what we see on tape.

Big thing I saw is a kid who it took a bit to get into the game. As a sub he will need to find his way faster.

Again some tools here. Gotta hope he has been working hard this offseason and gets to work on campus asap.

I look at his highlights and the whole game posted earlier and I'm thinking if he's 240 in that game, he could probably get to 280 before he starts to look big. And he doesn't look like a twig right now.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

I think people would be more satisfied with him if they used the other scholie to bring in a proven forward.
Either way, time to move forward and get ready for Hima-Time

Yeah baby. Hima-Time!!! Can't touch this!!!

 

[Orangezoo]

I look at his highlights and the whole game posted earlier and I'm thinking if he's 240 in that game, he could probably get to 280 before he starts to look big. And he doesn't look like a twig right now.

Yeah I hope he is stronger than I see on the tape no matter the weight coming in.

 

[Niastri]

So, your basically closing the book on the guy already?

It would be simply ridiculous to watch him play first, before deciding he'll never amount to anything.

 

[DoctorBombay]

Here is an article on him from late in the season.

Tim Benz: Accelerated development of Mounir Hima a bright spot for Duquesne in 2022

Duquesne center Mounir Hima didn’t play any basketball as a child. Growing up in Tillaberi, Niger, soccer was his sport. “Me playing basketball is a destiny. I never thought about basketball,” Hima said Monday. “Basketball where I came from wasn’t a priority sport. You don’t even have a lot of

triblive.com

Surprised they would be interested in a freshman. 7 foot 7 wing span. Maybe JB is thinking he can be a MBK type that focuses on defense, will be content to be a role player and stay for 3 seasons?

Good article. Seems like a JBA-type in attitude and demeanor. I guess w/ Carey in the fold you take a flyer on this kid and see what happens. Worth the shot, i guess.

 

[RF2044]

I can see the upside others have noted. My biggest concern with him watching the videos is his reaction time to some things which will only be exacerbated by having to learn the intricacies of the zone.

I haven't watched full games, just clips from several games.

He seems to have decent mobility. Kind of glides when he runs, but can speed up at times. Seems to not plod / labor up and down the floor -- maybe not a gazelle, but not bad.

Lateral mobility seems ok. Not sure if that's because he's mechanical or just doesn't move well in space.

Agree that his reaction time seems slow. Probably a function of inexperience / having to think out there instead of just reacting. That could be a problem as he acclimates to the zone.

Another quick observation -- he sure doesn't look 240. Maybe he is -- different people carry weight differently. Not suggesting he's "small," but he doesn't seem to have much girth. Would guess he's closer to 220, but who knows.

 

[CA Monk]

Extremely unexcited about this pick-up.
The world has changed. I haven't. Might start a prayer circle.

 

[CousCuse]

not sure why I'm bothering w this but...
you know that just because a player who's essentially a project signs w Syracuse, it doesn't all of a sudden make him some legit sought-after player, right? As others have noted, just look at the list of teams who were in contact with him. Look at the film. Look at his numbers for a bad A10 team. This is a roll of the dice by JB/staff with a scholarship to burn. It's alright to acknowledge that, hope the kid can be serviceable in a minimal backup role, and call it a day. Don't need to keep your pom-poms going for a transfer like this.

I was feeling like we were going to get a barely serviceable guy with 1 year left that would have zero upside. I Mean, if a guy is a proven good to decent center is he going to come to play backup or go to one of the other 100 or so decent D1 teams where he can start. Instead we got a physical specimen of a guy with 3 years left who has a 3.7 Gpa and is a serious student who choose Syracuse largely due to academics, who can shoot and has some feel on offense. Did you think Bacot was going to come to back up Jesse? This is as good as possibly could have been hoped for.

 

[CardiacCuse]

Yeah, tabling my initial reaction to Mounir specifically, my concern with the situation is that for 5-10 minutes a game, we'll need someone at the five that doesn't ****lose***** us the game, this coming year.

That was my fear before Mounir, as well.

IMO, I think we'll be in a lot of tight games, and 5-10 minutes where we are getting abused at the 5 just makes our margin for error even smaller.

I'd have much more hope if we had a few years to get him up to speed and develop. But we need a solution this year.

BTW - we just need a lot of unproven guys to come through or level up, this isn't just about Mounir (Benny, Judah, likely will need at least two other of the frosh to come up big). Lot of unknowns coming off a bad season.

Good luck to Mounir, though. Hope he kills it.

i think this is going to be a lot of teams in NCAA - its more of the norm now - tons of other teams will be starting from scratch as well basically - but this team has 3 proven vets to lean on as it is...which is a good base.

p5 NCAA teams dont stick together for that long anymore...look at Georgia lol...

new year new team is the new norm...

 

[CardiacCuse]

Few if any thought Jesse would be Jesse

that off-season i advocated for a euro center

I think euro centers should be the target

NBA MVP is euro center...usually very skilled and can shoot

 

[phil77]

We can recruit anyone and this board will make him into the next best thing. 6'10'' random dude on the corner. Underrated. Slow to develop. Hasn't been in the game for a while. Totally raw. Going to be better than X for sure. Future starter. etc. Better chance he never plays and transfers out than any of that happening.

 

[pearl31]

I was feeling like we were going to get a barely serviceable guy with 1 year left that would have zero upside. I Mean, if a guy is a proven good to decent center is he going to come to play backup or go to one of the other 100 or so decent D1 teams where he can start. Instead we got a physical specimen of a guy with 3 years left who has a 3.7 Gpa and is a serious student who choose Syracuse largely due to academics, who can shoot and has some feel on offense. Did you think Bacot was going to come to back up Jesse? This is as good as possibly could have been hoped for.

I'm completely fine with Hima as prospective backup center for this coming season. And I've pointed out more than once around here that anyone clamoring for JB to pursue a forward or a starting-caliber center in the portal is wasting their time. For what it is -- a backup center who can hopefully provide serviceable defense, rebounding, and shot-blocking for 5-10 minutes a game, and a willingness to reside in that role -- Hima is fine. It's not some recruiting coup, though, to toot your horn about.

 

[Oakland]

Didn't about 50 posters definitively declare that we weren't adding anyone else?

 

[Sbucketball]

We can recruit anyone and this board will make him into the next best thing. 6'10'' random dude on the corner. Underrated. Slow to develop. Hasn't been in the game for a while. Totally raw. Going to be better than X for sure. Future starter. etc. Better chance he never plays and transfers out than any of that happening.

I think people are happy with Hima because we were pretty damn close to JB driving around Syracuse looking for a 6'10" guy standing on a corner.

 

[SUFan44]

I think people are happy with Hima because we were pretty damn close to JB driving around Syracuse looking for a 6'10" guy standing on a corner.

And that 6'10" Henninger product might have been just as impactful as this guy.

 

[RF2044]

And that 6'10" Henninger product might have been just as impactful as this guy.

And I think that they are fairly similar in some key ways. Both are bigger physique guys than we usually land, both have reasonable mobility and shot blocking potential, both are semi-experienced, they're both raw, and either of them would fill a key roster need.

 

[newmexicuse]

Sometimes the talent and/or potential for a recruit is front and center. Even then sometimes it still does not work out.

Sometimes you just have to trust the staff, and I will root for Hima to succeed and put my trust that the staff has at the very least found a serviceable backup until proven otherwise.

 

[SUFan44]

Sometimes the talent and/or potential for a recruit is front and center. Even then sometimes it still does not work out.

Sometimes you just have to trust the staff, and I will root for Hima to succeed and put my trust that the staff has at the very least found a serviceable backup until proven otherwise.

At what point, after 8 years of mediocrity, is "you just have to trust the staff" not an acceptable answer?

This kid might end up being the next Chukwu. He might be Chinoso Obokoh. Or he might be the next Etan Thomas. I don't know.

But what I do know is that given the evidence and information we have, he isn't very good. You can polish it up however you want to polish it, but the data I have suggests this is not a good pickup.

 

[Sbucketball]

Getting a backup center from the portal was never going to be the move that gets us back to 25-0 starts. We had a leaking boat. Getting a backup center was always about plugging the hole, and was never about trading in the leaking boat for a yacht. Hima hopefully plugs the hole. Now we can get back to focusing on trying to get back on a yacht. Hopefully we have a group that sticks together and we're a few pieces away over the next couple years from trading up to that yacht. That's just realistically where we're at and what's happening. It doesn't matter how any of us feel about it. I want Cuse to get back to being a national powerhouse more than anyone, but I'm realistic about what's currently happening, what it will take and how long it will take.

 

[SUFan44]

Getting a backup center from the portal was never going to be the move that gets us back to 25-0 starts. We had a leaking boat. Getting a backup center was always about plugging the hole, and was never about trading in the leaking boat for a yacht. Hima hopefully plugs the hole. Now we can get back to focusing on trying to get back on a yacht. Hopefully we have a group that sticks together and we're a few pieces away over the next couple years from trading up to that yacht. That's just realistically where we're at and what's happening. It doesn't matter how any of us feel about it. I want Cuse to get back to being a national powerhouse more than anyone, but I'm realistic about what's currently happening, what it will take and how long it will take.

The thing is, you can get good quick if you are fully invested in doing it.

Look at the transformation from 2002 to 2003. We made the NIT, then won the national title.

Recruiting, recruiting, recruiting. This class could be good in 2-3 years. But with the landscape of college basketball, who is going to stay at the same school 2-3 years to develop a good team?

That team construct is more the outlier now than it was before. Don't you wonder why Jay Wright up and retired this year?

 

[Sbucketball]

The thing is, you can get good quick if you are fully invested in doing it.

Look at the transformation from 2002 to 2003. We made the NIT, then won the national title.

Recruiting, recruiting, recruiting. This class could be good in 2-3 years. But with the landscape of college basketball, who is going to stay at the same school 2-3 years to develop a good team?

That team construct is more the outlier now than it was before. Don't you wonder why Jay Wright up and retired this year?

I agree with you. One of my concerns is that we invested in a young team and they're all going to say thanks for the experience at the end of the year and transfer somewhere they can play more. That's a major issue in today's game. But it's what we have, so need to consider the best path forward. To me, that means plugging the current hole that is our backup center position, and then doing everything possible to get the best 4 or preferably 5 best freshman to stick with the program -- it helps that they're all friends (and friends with Benny too) and want to play together. Then we're one 5 star recruit and one stud transfer away from being a contender. Going from our first losing season under JB to being a contender in 2 seasons is pretty quick. That can all be within our grasp, especially if Weitsman gets involved, which is something he's expressed interest in.

But yes, I agree it would have been a better strategy a few years ago. If it falls apart by major pieces leaving next year -- which it very well could -- the strategy will have to be to do everything possible to get stud transfers going forward and only recruiting top freshman who will have an immediate impact, or freshman who are the type that will clearly stay for several years (i.e. leave out the tweeners who aren't good enough right away but think they're good enough so they leave for more playing time). Our ability to pull that off will most likely revolve around NIL money.

 

[Sherman20]

The thing is, you can get good quick if you are fully invested in doing it.

Look at the transformation from 2002 to 2003. We made the NIT, then won the national title.

Recruiting, recruiting, recruiting. This class could be good in 2-3 years. But with the landscape of college basketball, who is going to stay at the same school 2-3 years to develop a good team?

That team construct is more the outlier now than it was before. Don't you wonder why Jay Wright up and retired this year?

I agree on Wright. He denied it, but I think the changing landscape of college athletics and the constant turnover is one of the reasons he began thinking about retirement. He probably figured it would be a challenge to keep his consistency going with the portal, NIL, all the player movement and the money flying around the P5 football schools. At some point, it’s like, who wants to deal with all that in your 60s? Let some younger hungry coach figure out the new way forward.

 

[bigmike]

The only thing we know for sure is we’ll know what this young man brings after some time has passed, say 2 years. For now, I’m a believer that he will be a productive addition.

 

[Orangezoo]

I agree on Wright. He denied it, but I think the changing landscape of college athletics and the constant turnover is one of the reasons he began thinking about retirement. He probably figured it would be a challenge to keep his consistency going with the portal, NIL, all the player movement and the money flying around the P5 football schools. At some point, it’s like, who wants to deal with all that in your 60s? Let some younger hungry coach figure out the new way forward.

Wright was very much a family issue. That isn't conjecture.