Paul Weir appears to have brought in another pair of Canadian players in 6-4 Christian Kabongo and 6-9 Renaldo Dixon. Marvin Menzies closed the deal.
Kabongo has been described to me as a Brandon Fields type player with better ball handling skills. Both are athletic shooters who aren’t consistent from long range, but Kabongo is a freshman and Fields was a senior at Nevada last year so a little more consistency from long range and he could develop into a special player here. I believe Kabongo has actually already signed with NMSU and has been cleared since last year.
Dixon said NMSU has been recruiting him for a while, but it sounds like once there was a coaching change at East Carolina, it opened up an opportunity for both players, who are tight, to play together in college.
Both players ended up graduating from Central Commerce Collegiate Institute in Toronto, but I believe both were at God’s Academy in Texas for a limited time but I don’t think they ever played there before moving back to Canada.
Kabongo averaged 38 points per game at Monsignor De Charbonnel High School in Toronto as a sophomore, where he was for three years.
Renaldo Dixon is 6-9 with loads of athleticism but is a raw talent who will likely redshirt this year.
I thought it was interesting that their AAU coach, Ro Russell, was also involved with former Aggie Duane John.
I have also been told that 6-10 center Raphael Giaimo, who played last year at Notre Dame Prep, will also not have a scholarship and will most likely sit out if he ends up on campus. Chris Cantino, a 6-7 forward from Philadelphia, was on campus last weekend for a visit. That’s all I have for now.
8 comments:
Jason,
I had posted on a previous blog a question that never was answered. The question is what are the NCAA rules on the number of scholarships available. It appears teams like UTEP keep bringing in a bunch of players on scholarship when it appears they have no scholarships available. There was a statement made in an article that said some of the UTEP players were going to have to leave the program before the incoming kids arrived. Is it as simple as that? Cut kids on scholarship after one or two years because they aren't good enough. If so, why doesn't this impact the APR at the school. It appears Menzies only gives scholarships that are available based on graduations and kids leaving, JY for example. I think the NCAA had a 5 - 8 rule but thought that was eliminated partly due to what the new coach at UTEP did at Iowa State. Can you or someone else enlighten me?
I get the feeling that Tim Floyd in his first two weeks at UTEP is out-recruiting the Menzies by a wide margin.
I hope Mr. Menzies is watching and learning...
9:26 It's not a feeling when it's a reality. UTEP will have a more talented team than what they put on the floor last year.
9:26 and 12:45 are both delusional Minor fans. Menzies is doing a bang up job recruiting.
A bang up job, really? I hate utep, but let's give Tim Floyd some props. He has some 3 star and 4 star talent coming in. Jason could only find one site with a single line on our mystery recruit, so I tried, I found 1 other page, and apparently his facebook profile. Bang up job, not likely. Christian Kabongo, Renaldo Dixon, and Tshilidze Nephawe all sound like project guys, while utep is bringing in polished talent.
Kabongo is rated the number 4 prep player in the nation. Prep players are 5 year HS students instead of 4 years. That is still impressive. Dixon and him were both being recruited by some heavy hitters in the basketball world. Gillenwater (a Menzies recruit) was a 4 star player. Plus Menzies has proven he can take raw talent and mold it. Rahman is a beast and he's only going to get better. You want to knock Menzies fine, but it's not his recruiting or his development of players that has been a problem. If you can't see that then you are bias and no amount of logical reason will change that. Sucks for you.
Anon at 9:32. Kabongo isn't a project player. Dixon isn't a project player. Kabonga was offered by a lot of programs before he committed to East Carolina. Dixon took a visit to UConn before he committed to NMSU. If Dixon was a project. He wouldn't had visited UConn. Nephawe is a project but so was Rahman and look how he has turned out to be. The SG that is the mystery recruit isn't going to be a scholarship player. If that kid comes. It will be as a walk-on.
Ok on another utep related note, the young center out of Tucson was just released from his commitment by tim floyd and a few other WAC schools were in the running to sign him back when he committed to utep. I know we dont need a C, but the kid has some talent he put up 11.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.5 blocks as a junior, and shot 56 percent from the floor. Was 2nd team all region as a soph., and 1st team all region as a JR.
Post a Comment