Rutgers had tremendous success with the last African player it recruited.
Hamady N’Diaye, a 7-foot center from Senegal, was named the 2009-10 Big East Defensive Player of the Year and now plays for the Washington Wizards summer league team.
Now new Rutgers coach Mike Rice could be close to landing a commitment from Daddy Ugbede, a 6-foot-6 wing from Lagos, Nigeria who also has interest from Kentucky and Maryland.
Ugbede, 16, is in the Class of 2012 and will enroll this fall at St. John’s College High School in Washington, D.C., the alma mater of Georgetown standout Chris Wright.
Rutgers associate head coach David Cox evaluated Ugbede this past week at the Blue Star African Showcase, held near the Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C.
“He’s just nasty, he knows how to score,” said Joe Boncore, Ugbede’s mentor. “That was basically Coach Cox’s evaluation. He just knows how to score.”
Rice still needs to see play Ugbede play in person before any official commitment can be taken.
Boncore previously compared Ugbede to Xavier Henry and calls him a “slashing scorer.”
In one game with the Union Bank basketball club in Nigeria, Ugbede put up 21 points, 17 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks.
Among other African players Boncore says are being recruited highly are:
**Chinonso Obokoh, 6-10, 2013, Rochester Bishop Kearney (Georgetown)
**Maurice Emmanuel, 6-5, 2011, Huntington (West Va.) Prep (West Virginia)
**Emmanuel Ndumanya, 6-11, 2014, Huntington (West Va.) Prep (USC)
**Paul Gombwer, 6-6, 2011, Monteverde (Fla.) (Florida)
**Daniel Garza, 6-0, 2014, Potomac School (Va.).
**Robert Ojeah, 6-9, 2011, Atlanta Mount Vernon (Marquette, Rutgers, James Madison, Valaraiso, USC)
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