Mo Bamba wants to leave a legacy at Texas

From Burnt Orange Nation:

Mohamed Bamba admittedly has eyes on the NBA, but wants to leave a legacy at Texas

“Bamba’s a freak. A freak. He’s a freak!,” Coleman told the Austin American-Statesman. “Now seeing him every day, seeing him workout, the stuff he does, how he affects the game with his length and skill set and his basketball IQ … wow.”

Such is to be expected from a 7-foot paint protector with what would considered the longest wingspan in the NBA and an ideal skill set for today’s game, as evident by reportedly hitting 71-of-100 3-pointers in a recent workout — hence the ‘freak’ label.

Bamba enters Austin as the nation's No. 2 overall prospect and is the most tantalizing talent to side with Texas since Kevin Durant in 2006, but with heightened hype comes extensive expectations. Rather than becoming another piece to the puzzle at Kentucky or Duke, Bamba could be perceived as the savior of Texas basketball program that won just one-third of its games in 2016-17, even if just for one season.

Just take the word of the Austin American-Statesman’s Brian Davis as evidence — “This sounds like a wild embellishment or some bombastic fake news, but here it is: Mo Bamba will make you believe in Texas basketball again.”

The rest of the article is at the link above.

 

^^^^^
Great attitude, but there is only so much he can do in the year before he moves onto the NBA. KD did it so it can be done.

 

I'm sure he thinks that now. I think with millions being waved in his face that will change. And there's nothing wrong with that, by the way.

 

This. Unless he leads the team to a Final Four next March, he will need to spend more than one year at Texas.

 

This was interesting
If you missed it

 

Redding: "How did you grow after getting cut from your grade school?"

Bamba: "I mean, other than growing literally [laugh, chuckle, grin]?"

Didn't come off as being cocky, just an admission of his growth spurt didn't hurt.

Mature, and seemingly well-grounded kid.

Hate to say it, but in burnt orange for one year.

Hook 'em

P.S., regarding how his interest from back East to Texas evolved over time, being sought by all big-time programs, I'm guessing seeing the NBA playoffs final four teams each had one UT-Austin baller as a starter --- it amazes me so, that I should repeat that --- each of the final four NBA teams Celtics (Bradley), Cavs (Thompson), Spurs (Aldridge), Warriors (Durant) had a Longhorn as a starter.

Without being critical of Shaka, of course these were all Barnes' players, but still, probably eased Bamba's concerns a bit about going to Texas.

 

Unfortunately you are correct.

If he wants to leave a legacy - stay around to at least get Texas to the Final Four.