Drawn in by the potential of his 7-foot-4 frame and athletic fluency,
Mamadou Ndiaye has been the subject of projection, speculation and mystery since surfacing as a national name in late 2011.
He was very productive as a junior at tiny
Brethren Christian (Huntington Beach, Calif.), averaging 24.0 points, 13.9 rebounds and 5.0 blocked shots per game. But many dismissed those numbers as simply the product of playing against small-school competition.
Mamadou Ndiaye
Photo by Heston Quan
The Senegal native has put in a few well-placed appearances on the summer circuit, showing flashes of potential at the Pangos All-American Camp and NBPA Camp in June. He will likely finish the summer as a consensus Top 100 player and at least one highly-respected analyst has already installed him as a Top 10 talent in 2013.
Entering the July live evaluation periods, he stands at No. 2 in MaxPreps.com's look at the top centers in the Class of 2013.
Ndiaye is nowhere near being polished, but the career trajectory of a player like Hasheem Thabeet is probably fueling the optimism. At 7-3, Thabeet didn't emerge as a highly-prized recruiting target until after his senior season of high school basketball.
But after just three years in Storrs, the Tanzania native was taken with the second overall pick of the 2009 NBA Draft.
Ndiaye has gained far more favorable attention than Thabeet at the same stage of their careers. While things haven't gone well for Thabeet in the NBA (he's on his fourth team in four years), he was the co-Big East Player of the Year in 2008-09 and helped the Huskies reach the Final Four.
There are a number of centers we hope to get a look at in July for future rankings consideration, including South Florida commitment
John Egbunu of
Eagle's Landing (McDonough, Ga.).
MaxPreps will release updated class rankings for 2013 and 2014 in August, along with a watch list for 2015 prospects.
CLASS OF 2013 TOP 10 CENTERS
| Name | Stars | College |
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| 1 | Dominic Woodson, CVermont Academy (Saxtons River, VT)6-9/285 |
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| 2 | Mamadou Ndiaye, CBrethren Christian (Huntington Beach, CA)7-4/295 |
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| 3 | Kennedy Meeks, CWest Charlotte (Charlotte, NC)6-9/295 |
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| 4 | BeeJay Anya, CDeMatha (Hyattsville, MD)6-8/275 |
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| 5 | Maverick Morgan, CSpringboro (OH)6-10/240 |
| Illinois |
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| 6 | Jarquez Smith, CJones County (Gray, GA)6-10/215 |
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| 7 | Moses Kingsley, CNew Albany (MS)6-9/215 |
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| 8 | Jimmie Taylor, C/PFGreensboro (AL)6-9/220 |
| Alabama |
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| 9 | Thomas Hamilton, CWhitney Young (Chicago, IL)6-10/280 |
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| 10 | Chinonso Obokoh, CBishop Kearney (Rochester, NY)6-9/210 |
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