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My first impressions, is that this guy is legit, reminds me of young Emeka Okafor. Looks like a lock to go top 10.

I don't see it

pros are obvious, long, really good frame, super productive at his age, high motor, solid to good touch

cons are also there and pretty limiting (he is young if you trust his DOB so he might improve but...), very poor athleticism, literally can't jump, average at best coordination, his shot is a mess, super flat, mobility also doesn't look great

he is a safe due to productivity and size to make it to the league eventually (going to likely red-shirt as a freshman for Gonzaga and I'd guess won't come out til 2022 when he turns 20 probably) but I don't see the high ceiling as of now to take him that high, unless he can really improve his athleticism

Ibou Diankou Badji from Senegal is more intruging

I need to see more from all of these guys, but it should be said that it's exciting to see more prospects come out of Africa. So much untapped potential out there. Seeing Mali get so far in the U19's was great.

B-Ball Freak wrote:Ibou Diankou Badji from Senegal is more intruging

I missed him previously but my goodness - 7'1 with a 7'8 wingspan. Seems like a good athlete for that size too -

GimmeDat wrote:I need to see more from all of these guys, but it should be said that it's exciting to see more prospects come out of Africa. So much untapped potential out there. Seeing Mali get so far in the U19's was great.

Masai and co. has realized this too, that continent is oozing with potential.

GimmeDat wrote:

B-Ball Freak wrote:Ibou Diankou Badji from Senegal is more intruging

I missed him previously but my goodness - 7'1 with a 7'8 wingspan. Seems like a good athlete for that size too -

He is an amazing athlete for his size and age, he'll probably grow another inch or two too (if his age is correct)...someone to watch out for in the coming years.

GimmeDat wrote:

B-Ball Freak wrote:Ibou Diankou Badji from Senegal is more intruging

I missed him previously but my goodness - 7'1 with a 7'8 wingspan. Seems like a good athlete for that size too -

Watch on YouTube

Wow, he looks very good, altho the level of competition is noticeably not great.

UcanUwill wrote:

GimmeDat wrote:

B-Ball Freak wrote:Ibou Diankou Badji from Senegal is more intruging

I missed him previously but my goodness - 7'1 with a 7'8 wingspan. Seems like a good athlete for that size too -

Watch on YouTube

Wow, he looks very good, altho the level of competition is noticeably not great.

Man among boys in the youth leagues. We'll see how he performs in the men's team but playing in Barca is a good sign.

As for Ballo, I wasn't able to watch a lot of games (I should, the tournament was in my country) but from the little I did watch he did seem pretty good. Still super young and I read that he reclassified for the '19 class so he'll come over this fall. Even if he redshirts his first year, we're going to see him play soon. Gonzaga is a good school for bigs. Let's see how he does there.

Nuntius wrote:As for Ballo, I wasn't able to watch a lot of games (I should, the tournament was in my country) but from the little I did watch he did seem pretty good. Still super young and I read that he reclassified for the '19 class so he'll come over this fall. Even if he redshirts his first year, we're going to see him play soon. Gonzaga is a good school for bigs. Let's see how he does there.

Gonzaga has a ton of bigs, this year Petrusev, Watson, Tillie, Timme and Zakharov (all better than Ballo pretty clearly)

Even with maybe Tillie and one of Petrusev/Watson leaving, they will have 3 guys to play a ton in 20-21, I think Ballo stay at least til the 2022 draft, he likely plays a ton that season

Expect something similar to Rui in that sense

Fischella wrote:

Nuntius wrote:As for Ballo, I wasn't able to watch a lot of games (I should, the tournament was in my country) but from the little I did watch he did seem pretty good. Still super young and I read that he reclassified for the '19 class so he'll come over this fall. Even if he redshirts his first year, we're going to see him play soon. Gonzaga is a good school for bigs. Let's see how he does there.

Gonzaga has a ton of bigs, this year Petrusev, Watson, Tillie, Timme and Zakharov (all better than Ballo pretty clearly)

Even with maybe Tillie and one of Petrusev/Watson leaving, they will have 3 guys to play a ton in 20-21, I think Ballo stay at least til the 2022 draft, he likely plays a ton that season

Expect something similar to Rui in that sense

Ah, I see. Thanks for the info. I don't follow the NCAA closely so I wasn't aware of their depth at the C position. I'm not surprised, though. They do have an excellent reputation when it comes to bigs.

what I liked the most about Ballo is his defense and rim protection. i really doubt guy this caliber gonna be redshirted in college.

UcanUwill wrote:what I liked the most about Ballo is his defense and rim protection. i really doubt guy this caliber gonna be redshirted in college.

He is 17, Gonzaga has already 5 bigs, Tillie, Watson at PF, Timme at PF/C, Zakharov and Petrusev at Center, all of them are readier than Ballo

Gonzaga redshirted Rui, they have done this, he is likely not playing at all next season

Fischella wrote:

UcanUwill wrote:what I liked the most about Ballo is his defense and rim protection. i really doubt guy this caliber gonna be redshirted in college.

He is 17, Gonzaga has already 5 bigs, Tillie, Watson at PF, Timme at PF/C, Zakharov and Petrusev at Center, all of them are readier than Ballo

Gonzaga redshirted Rui, they have done this, he is likely not playing at all next season

Ok, we will see, you definitely know better than I. I ddint realizehe is this young, he is still 16

Ibou Diankou Badji from Senegal is more intruging

Just watched that tape. Wow. Unbelievably athletic for his size, unbelievably coordinated for his age. This kid looks like a future top 10 pick.

Fischella wrote:

UcanUwill wrote:what I liked the most about Ballo is his defense and rim protection. i really doubt guy this caliber gonna be redshirted in college.

He is 17, Gonzaga has already 5 bigs, Tillie, Watson at PF, Timme at PF/C, Zakharov and Petrusev at Center, all of them are readier than Ballo

Gonzaga redshirted Rui, they have done this, he is likely not playing at all next season

Actually Gonzaga didn’t redshirt Rui...he just played sparingly on their national runner-up team. I don’t think Ballo redshirts either but he might not play big minutes. He’s unlikely to be a 4 year college player so a redshirt doesn’t really make much sense to use even with him being so young.


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Fischella wrote:

UcanUwill wrote:what I liked the most about Ballo is his defense and rim protection. i really doubt guy this caliber gonna be redshirted in college.

He is 17, Gonzaga has already 5 bigs, Tillie, Watson at PF, Timme at PF/C, Zakharov and Petrusev at Center, all of them are readier than Ballo

Gonzaga redshirted Rui, they have done this, he is likely not playing at all next season

I am a diehard Gonzaga fan, travel all over the country watching them since 1998. You’ve got the lineup a little wrong. Tillie is the starting power forward, Petrusev will be the starting center. Timme will back up Tillie and Ballo will back up Petrusev. Watson will be backing up Kispert at the small forward spot. Ballo is going to get playing time this year not only because he’s extremely gifted but also because Tillie and Petrusev are notorious for picking up silly fouls. Ballo does not foul at all, I think he only had 10 in the entire tournament. Look for Zakharov to get maybe 5-7 mpg like Rui did(Rui didn’t redshirt), But Ballo will get plenty of minutes, as many as 15 per game. He is just too good not to play.

UcanUwill wrote:

Fischella wrote:

UcanUwill wrote:what I liked the most about Ballo is his defense and rim protection. i really doubt guy this caliber gonna be redshirted in college.

He is 17, Gonzaga has already 5 bigs, Tillie, Watson at PF, Timme at PF/C, Zakharov and Petrusev at Center, all of them are readier than Ballo

Gonzaga redshirted Rui, they have done this, he is likely not playing at all next season

Ok, we will see, you definitely know better than I. I ddint realizehe is this young, he is still 16

Yes he was 16 dominating players two and three years older than him. He turns 17 next week. He is a man child and when he loses his baby fat and gets buff… Look out.

gundysmullet wrote:

Fischella wrote:

UcanUwill wrote:what I liked the most about Ballo is his defense and rim protection. i really doubt guy this caliber gonna be redshirted in college.

He is 17, Gonzaga has already 5 bigs, Tillie, Watson at PF, Timme at PF/C, Zakharov and Petrusev at Center, all of them are readier than Ballo

Gonzaga redshirted Rui, they have done this, he is likely not playing at all next season

I am a diehard Gonzaga fan, travel all over the country watching them since 1998. You’ve got the lineup a little wrong. Tillie is the starting power forward, Petrusev will be the starting center. Timme will back up Tillie and Ballo will back up Petrusev. Watson will be backing up Kispert at the small forward spot. Ballo is going to get playing time this year not only because he’s extremely gifted but also because Tillie and Petrusev are notorious for picking up silly fouls. Ballo does not foul at all, I think he only had 10 in the entire tournament. Look for Zakharov to get maybe 5-7 mpg like Rui did(Rui didn’t redshirt), But Ballo will get plenty of minutes, as many as 15 per game. He is just too good not to play.

I'd bet you whatever you want that Zakharov plays over Ballo