I was able to talk briefly with trainer/coach Joe Boncore this morning about student athlete Daddy Ugbede. First let me say that Coach Boncore is probably one of the nicest coaches I’ve ever spoken with. He seems to have great patience with inquiring sports blogger types.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
There still isn’t a whole lot of information available on Ugbede. At 6’7”, 224 lbs., he is a big shooting guard. I had read an article that cited him as a wing, but Coach Boncore says he’s a guard. I had also read that Ugbede compares with 5-star former Kansas freshman Xavier Henry. Henry is a big shooting guard as well (6’6”, 225 lbs.), and both are left-handed. Boncore said their playing styles are very similar: inside, outside, and defense – the kid’s got skills.
Ugbede hails from Lagos, Nigeria, but will be enrolling at St. John’s College High School this fall. He also plans to play for the DC Assault AAU team, so there should be plenty of photos and video coming out later this year for us to digest. As part of the 2012 class, he has plenty of time yet to consider play at the college level. Coach Boncore did confirm that the schools showing interest include Kentucky, Maryland and Rutgers. It looks like Coach Antigua will be handling the recruiting for Kentucky. Obviously Ugbede is too new to U.S. basketball to be ranked by any of the major sites, but he is worth keeping an eye on. Kentucky missed out on Henry in 2009, maybe they can land his twin in 2012.
[I]This article was contributed to Nation of Blue by Todd Kirby of [URL=”http://www.wildcatrecruits.com/playerProfile.php?Contact_ID=549″]Wildcatrecruits.com[/URL].[/I]
