Philipe Ndong to Marquette

[wadesworld]

Second 2027 commitment. Congrats!

[tower912]

Awesome news.   Welcome!

[Uncle Rico]

Second 2027 commitment. Congrats!

Willie said we weren't recruiting.  Thought he'd have more insight with his massive donations

[Hards Alumni]

little willie will be disappointed to hear we got a big Ndong

JB on the other hand...

[WhiteTrash]

little willie will be disappointed to hear we got a big Ndong

JB on the other hand...

Middle school humor is a great way to start the day!

[Jay Bee]

little willie will be disappointed to hear we got a big Ndong

JB on the other hand...

Obviously I can provide a comprehensive scouting report.

[Hards Alumni]

Middle school humor is a great way to start the day!

You can always count on me, buddy.

[Jay Bee]

Ben Steele's tweet... I hope he was very intentional with his words!!

"Philipe Ndong has seen rapid growth in his game over the last year."

[tower912]

So, a little research.  Depending on where you look, he is a 6'7-8-9 shooting guard-wing-PF.  I saw one picture of him where he looks like Oso's younger brother.  4 star.  Riser.   Son of an NBA player and coach.

Another 'do a little of everything' 6'8 guy?

[MUbiz]

It appears he is a project. Sure seems like Shaka will be hitting the portal end of 2026-27 season for more big men.

https://x.com/AdamFinkelstein/status/2095858651101597698

[tower912]

His dad is 7'.  He may have some vertical growth left, as well as filling out and other metaphorical growth.

[wadesworld]

He's ranked 93 in 247's composite, 92 at Rivals.

Nigel James was ranked 89 in 247's composite just as a reference.

But predictable the people who come out and claim this kid should be going to a mid major without having seen more than 2 minutes of highlight video on him. Same people are probably complaining we're wasting time chasing the number 5 player in the country.

[Uncle Rico]

It appears he is a project. Sure seems like Shaka will be hitting the portal end of 2026-27 season for more big men.

https://x.com/AdamFinkelstein/status/2095858651101597698

Think this will be a regular plan moving forward.

[SchnitzelBoy]

I don't think the plan if for him to be a big man, but the scouting report made him sound like a Royce type of player at PF.

Projects aren't as valuable a proposition as they once were, but his path to immediate SF/PF playing time is practically nonexistent with (all hypothetical, due to the portal) Royce + Damarius being at MU next season and Alex, MPIII, Ethan Johnston being there for 2-3 years.

I'd love for Alex Egbuonu to put on another inch or two, but he's beefy enough to be a true PF in college. I'm expecting him to end up as Royce's long-term replacement. Maybe Phillipe Ndong will be a solid understudy to him

[GoldenWarrior11]

I just hope that by the time he arrives our summer league exhibition games are streamed live in high definition. 

[Badgerhater]

Welcome to MU!

[tower912]

Having a 7' father makes the possibility of getting taller very real.  The coaches compared his feel for the game to Oso.  I don't view it as a bad thing to have an abundance of 6'7/6'9 switchables.

And, I disagree with Brew's take about sending a top 100 prospect to a mid major for a couple of seasons and then grabbing him from the portal. I understand the bitter ex vibe from Sheek leaving.  I just reject it.

I am excited about the potential.

[Hards Alumni]

I don't think the plan if for him to be a big man, but the scouting report made him sound like a Royce type of player at PF.

Projects aren't as valuable a proposition as they once were, but his path to immediate SF/PF playing time is practically nonexistent with (all hypothetical, due to the portal) Royce + Damarius being at MU next season and Alex, MPIII, Ethan Johnston being there for 2-3 years.

I'd love for Alex Egbuonu to put on another inch or two, but he's beefy enough to be a true PF in college. I'm expecting him to end up as Royce's long-term replacement. Maybe Phillipe Ndong will be a solid understudy to him

A guy who already looks like a grown ass man probably isn't adding much more height.

[SchnitzelBoy]

Think this will be a regular plan moving forward.

Yeah I think Shaka's best-case-scenario is only losing 1-2 players each season to the portal and adding 1-2 players. But if he gets to sit out a portal cycle every few years that probably means things are going well!

If Fru is allowed to stay on for the 2027-28 season, there's a world where we don't touch the portal, but that seems highly unlikely for many reasons

[brewcity77]

I hope for the best with Ndong and would love to see him thrive here and outperform the expectations Adam Finkelstein and myself have for him.

That said, I just don't get this. Recruiting is changing. Taking a project when you could redshirt them and transfers had to sit out, making the move less appealing, made sense in 2017. But now it's 2027.

Every assessment of this guy indicates he's a project. As good as Jaxson Hayes was for Shaka at Texas and as good as Oso turned out to be after barely playing his freshmen year, we've seen 5 project bigs (Keeyan, Amadou, Gold, Hamilton, Clark) and the only one to develop to even the rotation player level was Gold.

High major programs are moving away from high school players. If you can get a top-50 kid, great. But otherwise, it makes more sense to dedicate roster spots to players with a proof of concept. Everyone always asks "oh yeah, who would willingly take a bench role?" How about Fred King at Creighton, Wilson Jacques at DePaul, NJ Benson at Georgetown, Samson Aletan at Providence, and Nikolaus Chitikoudis at Xavier? All of them are more proven big bodies that are D1 ready.

Some services have Ndong top-100. That's fine for him, but I'm of the opinion that the lowest level of high school players we should target are in the Egbuonu range. This just feels like we're trying to build rosters the same way we always did. It garnered mixed results before and seems likely to only push is further back if we stick with it going forward.

[Jay Bee]

^^^ We have 15 roster spots. Having some guys who sit and hopefully grow actually makes a lot of sense to me.

[JakeBarnes]

^^^ We have 15 roster spots. Having some guys who sit and hopefully grow actually makes a lot of sense to me.

Especially one who has a dad who turned into a strong professional player..after not getting recruited much because he was skinny.

[Badgerhater]

Build your team with recruits and fill in the gaps with NIL.

MU will find a roster spot if it needs to. 

I am far less concerned about cutting a player than I used to be.  With NIL and instant transfers, players have more options.

Building and developing are part of the coach's DNA and traditional recruiting will remain his focus.

[brewcity77]

^^^ We have 15 roster spots. Having some guys who sit and hopefully grow actually makes a lot of sense to me.

2-3? Sure. But this year alone we have 7 for which my expectations are zero or barely above that.

Crowdis, Miletic, and Walker all sound like guys that probably shouldn't be playing much.

Hamilton and Clark are guys who we've watched and would generally prefer they not play much without seismic leaps.

Johnston and Egbuonu are unknowns but I'm not expecting much out of them either.

And all 7 are eligible to return in 2027-28. We don't need more projects.

[tower912]

Is it really a safer bet to go the Yaxel route over the Oso route?
And, just because other programs do it, is it the right choice for MU?

The Dodgers, Brewers analogy seems to fit here.  How many years did the Dodgers have the highest payroll and not win?  How about those Yankees and Mets? How many teams went all in on the portal and didn't win the title or even get better?  Growing and developing your own can still lead to success.  Going after every free agent is no guarantee.

I think Shaka stays in his niche while at MU.  I think he will continue to recruit high schoolers and develop them, only hitting the portal when he has to, while continuing to develop his recruits. And I think that approach will continue to resonate.