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Texas head coach Shaka Smart directs his team during the game against TCU at the Frank Irwin Center in Austin on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017. (Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News)
Texas head coach Shaka Smart directs his team during the game against TCU at the Frank Irwin Center in Austin on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017. (Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News)
Texas head coach Shaka Smart (left) talks with an official during the game against TCU at the Frank Irwin Center in Austin on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017. TCU defeated Texas, 64-61.(Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News)
Texas head coach Shaka Smart (left) talks with an official during the game against TCU at the Frank Irwin Center in Austin on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017. TCU defeated Texas, 64-61.(Kin Man Hui/San Antonio
Texas coach Shaka Smart did not grant himself much time to sit and reflect on the Longhorns’ 77-62 loss to No. 12 West Virginia.
Immediately following Mondays’ game, Smart departed Morgantown without the team.
The reason, according to Brian Davis of the Austin American-Statesman: a meeting with five-star big man Mohamed Bamba.
Bamba, a 6-foot-11, 207-pound prospect, is a standout at Westtown School (West Chester, Pa.) and the highest-rated Class of 2017 player left unsigned.
He is the No. 3 player country, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings, and last month trimmed his list of schools down to Texas, Kentucky, Duke and Michigan.
Bamba’s wiry frame and non-stop motor have led some to compare the young Harlem product to future Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett, another impossibly-long and aggressive big.
He was named one of 10 finalists for the 2017 Naismith High School Boys Player of the Year award.
Texas hosted Bamba, along with Oak Hill Academy guard Matt Coleman, in October. The two played together on Team USA’s Under-18 team last summer and Coleman’s commitment to UT could give Smart an advantage in what appears to be a tight recruiting battle.
“Yeah, I’m staying [on him],” Coleman recently told ZagsBlog. “He’s really low-key with his recruitment and stuff. I know he just set his visit up for Duke, but I’m feeling good about him hopefully coming to Texas.”
Bamba expects to make his decision by early April.
nmoyle@express-news.net
Twitter: @NRmoyle
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