Kabengele

[Sherman20]

As JB said, this kid is gonna play in the NBA. He’s from Burlington, Ontario, Canada, though it sounds like he spent his senior year at a prep school near Chicago. Why weren’t we on this kid in high school if he’s a Canadian/from nearby Ontario? And why can’t we seem to identify and land these kind of under the radar center recruits?

 

[dasher]

As JB said, this kid is gonna play in the NBA. He’s from Burlington, Ontario, Canada, though it sounds like he spent his senior year at a prep school near Chicago. Why weren’t we on this kid in high school if he’s a Canadian/from nearby Ontario? And why can’t we seem to identify and land these kind of under the radar center recruits?

Because they are under the radar guys. It's hit or miss.

 

[SUGIANT]

Why is the sky blue?

 

[Cheriehoop]

He actually went to Don Bosco Prep in Indiana for high school. He was ranked a 3 star recruit and had 6 offers - BC, St Louis, Binghamton, St Bonaventure, Georgia and FSU. He was recruited by an FSU assistant from Illinois, yet never had a Big 10 nor Big East offer despite playing right in their recruiting area. He was ranked 268th nationally. Great unheralded pickup and evaluation by FSU. Trivia- Kabengele is a nephew of Dikembe Mutumbo but no Hoya offer.
Mfiondu Kabengele, Don Bosco Prep Academy, Small Forward

 

[Todoubled23]

He actually went to Don Bosco Prep in Indiana for high school. He was ranked a 3 star recruit and had 6 offers - BC, St Louis, Binghamton, St Bonaventure, Georgia and FSU. He was recruited by an FSU assistant from Illinois, yet never had a Big 10 nor Big East offer despite playing right in their recruiting area. He was ranked 268th nationally. Great unheralded pickup and evaluation by FSU. Trivia- Kabengele is a nephew of Dikembe Mutumbo but no Hoya offer.
Mfiondu Kabengele, Don Bosco Prep Academy, Small Forward

Thought I had heard he was Mutumbo's nephew, kid has "it" shot is still ugly though lol.

 

[MGDCuse]

Watching him play, I kept thinking that I hope this is the kind of player Braswell ends up being.

 

[sutomcat]

He had a late 3 inch growth spurt to reach 6'10.

Mfiondu Kabengele went from under-recruited to a star for Florida State

 

[pfister1]

We only have 13 scholarships to award. Generally 4 or 5 max per high school class. We offer some modest number more than that 25 or 30 maybe? According to Cherie's info he was ranked 268th.

There isn't a lot of science to the rankings once you get past the kids that are playing against each other at the top of the AAU heap. There are probably 300 kids vying and who may be largely interchangeable in rankings at the 150-300 ranking spots. There are literally a TON of kids out there to sort through.

I know it seems like we've missed on a few guys, but its infinitely easier to find examples of guys that we didn't offer, that seem like they would have been better players than the guys we ended up with. Especially true when you've had a run of guys that haven't met expectations.

Watched Creighton blow a win against Nova last night. The missed opportunity prominently featured old friend Kaleb Joseph. Creighton down one with a few seconds left on the clock he gets bailed out and fouled on a rushed three point attempt as the shot clock was winding down. He ends up missing two of three free throws and the game goes to overtime where Creighton loses. Noticed him lose his man on defense several times and chuck a couple of late shot clock bombs and fail to get the ball to Creighton's center in the post who was having a decent day.

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

Because they are under the radar guys. It's hit or miss.

Who are some unde the radar guys we've done well with (I have a hard time remembering recruiting pre-Craig Forth)? Warrick obviously. Rautins. Fair and Triche, but they were really under-recruited more due to injuries in HS than their respective talent ceilings (and still 4* guys). Keita gave us a lot of good minutes, but he was really limited. Same with Kristoff and Dolezaj.

 

[pfister1]

Who are some unde the radar guys we've done well with (I have a hard time remembering recruiting pre-Craig Forth)? Warrick obviously. Rautins. Fair and Triche, but they were really under-recruited more due to injuries in HS than their respective talent ceilings (and still 4* guys). Keita gave us a lot of good minutes, but he was really limited. Same with Kristoff and Dolezaj.

I would say that its really hard to answer that question because historically when JB offers, they are no longer under the radar and they start to attract attention. There is really a difference between an under the radar recruit who is a really solid player and a project that works his way into being a contributor.

I think Kristoff and Dolezaj are closer to the later than the former. Tyler Lydon might be an example of an under the radar guy, but I could be wrong.

 

[kcsu]

Marek is very much a D lister who has been a great surprise.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Who are some unde the radar guys we've done well with (I have a hard time remembering recruiting pre-Craig Forth)? Warrick obviously. Rautins. Fair and Triche, but they were really under-recruited more due to injuries in HS than their respective talent ceilings (and still 4* guys). Keita gave us a lot of good minutes, but he was really limited. Same with Kristoff and Dolezaj.

Arinze, Andy Rautins are ones I can quickly think of - neither were even ranked. Oshae and Hughes were 3 star recruits. Wes Johnson was originally a 2 star recruit. Jonny Flynn wasn’t ranked nationally and whose offer was originally thought to be a favor to Paul Harris, his HS teammate. Low /non ranking by recruiting services based on their talent coupled with the possibility of their ability to recover athletically afterwards for players like Fair, Triche etc should count as being under recruited finds when SU offers and takes them when other programs pass and recruiting services downgrade them.

 

[RF2044]

Marek is very much a D lister who has been a great surprise.

That's not remotely accurate. Dolezaj was not a replacement for Jordan Tucker. The coaching staff wanted both. Marek was a guy they discovered late, brought in to evaluate, and decided that they wanted him. He wasn't fourth in any pecking order.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Marek would have been ranked in the top 80. D lister or not he was a 4 star recruit.

 

[Fly Rodder]

There are ~350 D1 basketball programs recruiting about 1,000 would-be freshman every year. There are always going to be kids who blow up late for some team. I'd bet FSU doesn't have another kid like Kabengale (when I was listening to the announcers, I at first thought they were saying Kevin Galley, and I couldn't find that name anywhere) in the next decade.

 

[Newhouser]

IN today's recruiting world guys like that are going to be few and far between. Beat out Binghamton and the Bonnies for a kid who will be a 1st round pick. Fluke

 

[Sherman20]

He actually went to Don Bosco Prep in Indiana for high school. He was ranked a 3 star recruit and had 6 offers - BC, St Louis, Binghamton, St Bonaventure, Georgia and FSU. He was recruited by an FSU assistant from Illinois, yet never had a Big 10 nor Big East offer despite playing right in their recruiting area. He was ranked 268th nationally. Great unheralded pickup and evaluation by FSU. Trivia- Kabengele is a nephew of Dikembe Mutumbo but no Hoya offer.
Mfiondu Kabengele, Don Bosco Prep Academy, Small Forward

Thank you for the info. It wasn’t a criticism of our staff. I was just wondering if anyone knew the details of his recruitment. The kid is really good. I hope our coaches can identify and land a couple of these under the radar types in the next few years. We need bigs.

 

[Sherman20]

Watching him play, I kept thinking that I hope this is the kind of player Braswell ends up being.

Good call! Bras was def a late bloomer. I hope he can become a star by junior or senior year.