The Aggies received verbal committments from 7-foot-1, 235-pound center Mouhamadou Abdoulaye Ndoye from Senegal and 6-foot-3 point guard Johnny Higgins, who played the last two years at Notre Dame Prep.According to Higgins' father, after Johnny Higgins visited the NMSU campus last weekend, he cut off the rest of his recruiting and will move to Las Cruces for summer school this summer.
Both players will receive scholarships and be on the Aggies roster next season.
Higgins is a player who will come in right away and compete for minutes. He's a prep school player, which means he's already competed at a high level. He originally signed with Duquesne to join a prep school coach, but after committing in early November, he was released from his letter of intent in early April. Ndoye is obviously a project type player that adds size.
With the two additions, the Aggies recruiting class looks like this. Let me know if I miss something
Centers
Mouhamadou Abdoulaye Ndoye
Hamidu Rahman
Chris Gabriel
Forwards
Troy Gillenwater
Guards
Terrance Joyner
Johnny Higgins
Faisal Aden
Robert Lumpkins
The regular signing period ends on May 21. Look for more on this story in the Sun News in Saturday's paper
22 comments:
What do you know about Ndoye? Not much out there.
Higgins sounds like a good get. Was he good friends with JY?
GREAT NEWS! And looks like I was justified in the name calling (dum dum).
Chile,
Higgins played with JY for four years on their aau team. I asked Higgins if JY contributed to his decision to come here and he said yes and no. Yes meaning that they are friends, no meaning that it was just a small factor to him coming here since it was a decision he made on his own.
Chile,
Higgins played with JY for four years on their aau team. I asked Higgins if JY contributed to his decision to come here and he said yes and no. Yes meaning that they are friends, no meaning that it was just a small factor to him coming here since it was a decision he made on his own.
Justin,
I think you are missing Herb Pope on your depth chart. I don't know how excited you should get about Johnny Higgins. He should add depth to your guard position but I don't think he's better than what you have. I live in Pittsburgh and I am close to the Duquesne University basketball program. I asked the coaches why Johnny was let out of his LOI, especially when he was recruited there by his prep coach. The answer was that he wasn't good enough and that they needed to open up the scholarship to get a guard that is better. They said they felt that he wasn't a true point guard that they needed, but that he was a good kid. I had to agree with the coaches because I saw him play with the team when he came on his visit and I was not impressed, especially when I had heard so much about him the previous year. Even when he played at a tournament at Duquesne with his team, Notre Dame, he had 9 pts, 3asts and 6 turnovers. If he's not good enough for Duquesne University, I don't know how good he will be for NMSU. Seems like a good kid.
Higgins, on paper sounds like a good one.
Ndoye, 7ft! Can't coach size! Looks like he's pretty raw and will be a couple of years before he becomes a contributor.
Looks like both are good students that can help with the APR mess brought on by Lou Doos recruits.
anon (8:01),
I think Jason wrote that Ndoye was originally signed by Duquesne. In that case the coaches were probably right in that they didn't feel this 7'0" guy wasn't a true point guard. I think you might have your players mixed up.
Anon at 8:01 is correct. Higgins signed with Duquesne originally. I'll make the necessary correction and thanks for pointing it out
It's about time Menzies brought in somebody Aggie fans can be excited about ... First of all; these players he brought in last summer are nothing to get excited about. They weren't recruited until mid-summer, or in the case for 7-foot center Hamidu Rahman, not until 2 weeks before the Fall semester began. One thing this brings up: If these players were worth getting excited about, wouldn't they have be recruited by SOME school before then? It seems we just took what other schools didn't want.
I hope these student-athletes have good grades AND good games, although from what I read above, Higgins isn't going to be a program-changer.
I like Menzies finding this N'Doye guy from Africa ... from some remote place. I think there is some great potential for this player, even though I don't know much about him. This find makes sense: one of the ways for Menzies to find some great talent is to look where no other school is looking, such as Afica ... or Finland. Does anybody realize how much untapped basketball talent there is in Brazil as well?
Meanwhile, what Menzies needs to do, and what I'm sure he's focusing on, is developing the emense talents of Jahmar Young, Jon Gibson and Herb Pope, IF these guys stick around. Please tell me Jason that there isn't truth to the rumors that these student-athletes aren't looking elsewhere.
And what about some news on Justin Hawkins, who finished up his play with the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament? I know he's working hard at playing professionallly somewhere. Can we please have some updates on his new basketball journeys and where he ends up?
Not sure I agree with you about Menzies "finally" bringing in someone to get excited about. Time will only tell on the academic side with his recruits, but as far as talent goes, Menzies has done well:
According to Rivals, Hamidu Rahman was recruited by Auburn, DePaul, Duquesne, Iowa State, Pitt and South Florida. He had scholly offers from Pitt and South Florida. Not a bad list. He had academic issues, which I'm sure is the biggest reason there wasn't more interest and why he chose to walk-on at NMSU.
Chris Gabriel has moved from a two-star when he signed with NMSU to a rising three-star recruit, according to Rivals. Looks like Menzies snagged him before his stock rose. Good find there.
Troy Gillenwater is a Rivals 4-star recruit, who was courted by Florida, Memphis and Pitt. Yeah, two of those teams played in the past three national championship games and the other was ranked most of last season. He sat out this season as well to gain solid elibility.
I haven't even mentioned Terrance Joyner (3-star) or Faisel Aden, who had interest from SDSU, USC and Fresno. Johnny Higgins (3-star) and N'doye (project) round out some solid signings
Like I said, time will tell on the academic side (as it always does), but talent-wise, there is much to be excited about.
I heard Higgins never wanted to play for Duquesne, and the only reason why he signed with them is because his AAU coach was hired there. I can tell you right now that Higgins was the best player in the class for Duquesne, so that crap about him not being good is bull crap, because NMSU is a better basketball program than Duquesne. He is better off playing for a school that has the history of playing in the NCAA Tourney, and playing in a big arena in front of over 12k. You must be a Duquesne fan, so that is why you had to post the negitive crap here.
You guys are critical of the Ndoye kid from Africa.
What if this kid red-shirts and is the next Hakeem Olaguwon or Dikembe Mutombo?
Both were projects from Africa that flourished their senior years and had/ have stellar NBA careers.
It could happen. If not, he's a smart individual.
Either way, he should block some shots and bring down the rim!!
Vic
Vic,
I don't think anybody's being critical of N'Doye. I think he is a great great find. In my message above, I wanted to say that I think N'Doye COULD be the type of player the Aggies have rarely had. The comparison to Mutumbo and Olajuwan is exciting, but lets be realistic. Yes, it’s fun as a basketball fan to predict success. But he has unknown potential that could go either way, so lets just hope Menzies and McMullen can transform him in a James Moore-type player.
About all the other recruits coming in; I've been an Aggie fan for over 10 years and have seen MANY 'heralded' recruits come in. It's fun to get excited about these student-athletes and what they could be, but to be realistic, the only player that has deserved so much hype has been Herb Pope and even he is struggling, and part of that struggle might be the pressure he has on him to perform.
And to hype up recruits by saying what other schools were recruiting them is misleading. Players like Rahman and Gillenwater would've surely been snatched up if these big schools WERE recruiting them, and they very well might have been, but as walk-ons. NMSU was the only school to offer a scholarship.
All these players have a chance to be great players and that would be wonderful. Lets hope Herb Pope, JY, Gibson, and these young guys can come together and dominate. If they are still on the team next year. It seems every summer around June/July, there is a huge surprise of some player transferring and everytime I read the Lcsun-news.com the past couple weeks, I expect to a headline saying “Aggie Transferring”.
(((Prediction: I believe the player who will show the most improvement is Jahmar Young. He is so focused on improving and will show it next season by taking his game up multiple levels. It was nice to see how focused he was when he was getting playing time and I see him improving more than anybody. He’s tall (6’2”), incredibly fast and would be great as a scoring point guard. He’s like a mix between San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili and Memphis Grizzlies’ point guard Mike Conley Jr. )))
Tim, you have horrible reading comprehension, and when one of the poster refuted what you said in your fist post, you changed the argument in your second post. Nice.
Tim, what the hell are you talking about dude. Gillenwater has offers from Arizona, Florida, Memphis, and Pitt when he decided to come to NMSU. Gillenwater was going to go to prep school, but changed his mind, and came to NMSU instead. You need to get your facts right before you open your mouth.
Tim, you have no idea what the hell you are talking about. Jahmar Young is 6'4. WOW, I can tell you know nothing about the Aggies. Everything you say is false.
Agreed that you can't tell how great a player will be based on who recruited them (I'm Anon. May 18, 2008 10:26 AM, btw). Time will only tell. My point was that there is much potential in Menzies' recruits based on their Rivals/Scout rankings and the schools that were interested in them.
To say that there is nothing to be excited about is far from true. That was my biggest point.
NMSU WILL NOT get the 5-star recruits regularly, but 3-4 stars aren't bad either...
First of all, the person who posted that N'Doye might be great: I was not refuting that. I said in both posts that N'Doye was a great find. Read above.
And second; can you really tell how tall a basketball player is and differentiate between 2 inches? I disagree with you Anon 1:15 over that comment and saying everything I say is false. What have I said that is false? What need is it to defend JY, when all I said about him were compliments?
And third; Gillenwater MAY be good, but if he were as good as you make it sound, why wouldn't have have taken those top tier schools up on their scholarship offers? Hm?
Thank you Anon. May 18, 10:26 AM.
You understand my point.
Anon: 1:08am, 1:14am and 1:15am. I know you are the same person because your defensive arguments are equally weak. I said JY is 6'2" and not 6'4". Does that make much of a difference when I'm COMPLIMENTING him??? Really ... And in your first post saying "you have horrible reading comprehension": When did I change my argument? I still said N'Doye was a great find and I STILL said the other recruits are questionable. Before you "open your mouth" (haha), get your defensive arguments straight.
Gillenwater probably didn't take those offers from high majors because of playing time, or because he would get a larger role with the Aggies to start. Large programs aren't always the best fit for good players. Let's hope this is the case for this guy.
Tim, do some research. Gillenwater had some big time offers from big schools before he committed to OSU. It is a fact that Kansas wanted Troy very bad, and that Bill Self told Troy off after he committed to OSU. He had offers from Florida, Arizona, Pitt, and Memphis before he decided to come to NMSU a year early. He was suppose to attend Notre Dame Prep, but he came on a visit to NMSU, and had a good relationship with Menzies. Troy liked it so much he decided to enroll at NMSU early. So do some research. I do mine, so that is why I know all of this stuff. Plus there is a big differece between 6'2, and 6'4, and I can tell you right now almost all true aggie fans would know how tall a player is.
ehh. bookmarked post :))
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