Moustapha Thiam 7'2 C transfer commit (UCF)

[GoBearcats31]

Booooooom!


Jeff Borzello: UCF transfer Moustapha Thiam has signed with Cincinnati, sources told ESPN. Former top-30 recruit averaged 10.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.6 blocks as a freshman. 7-foot-2 Senegal native was one of the best bigs left in the portal.

(Matt Zenitz of CBS / 247 seems to have been first)

[GoBearcats31]

From Scott Springer of the Enquirer and Chris Boyle of the Dayton Beach News-Journal
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/spo...h/83128765007/

Thiam averaged 10.4 points and 6.4 rebounds for Johnny Dawkins and UCF in his freshman year. He shot 50% from the field, 29% from the perimeter and 67% from the free throw line. He had 88 blocks for the season, substantially more than Bandaogo's 50 and six off the UCF record set by 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall. Thiam’s high point game was 18 against Utah and his rebounding high was 11 coming in the Crown championship game against Nebraska.
...
Before last season Thiam was the No. 1 rated center by 247Sports.com. When he reclassified to come to UCF early, he was still ranked as the No. 7 center. He was UCF's highest-rated basketball recruit when signed.
...
Thiam was tutored at UCF by former NBA player Mamadou N’Diaye, also from Dakar, Senegal. He had been the Associate Head Coach for Dawkins this past season. N'Diaye, a 49-year-old 7-footer himself, is in line to fill the Cincinnati Bearcats coaching vacancy left by the departure of Drew Adams who moved on to the Darian DeVries staff at Indiana according to sources and reports.
...
Thiam replaces rim-runner Bandaogo with better overall results and shooting touch. Five years younger than Bandaogo at age 19, he played more minutes. While Bandaogo's dunks gave him a better overall shooting percentage (68% to 50%), Thiam was better at the free throw line (67% to 65%) and has the ability to knock down 3-pointers hitting 23-of-79. While that's just a 29.1% rate, it still is better than Jizzle James (28.2) and Connor Hickman (25.7) and just slightly below Dan Skillings Jr. (29.9) and Dillon Mitchell (29.4).

He outrebounded Bandaogo by seven and had 13 more offensive rebounds (90-77) playing in one less game. Considering he could have played in high school last season, his potential is through the roof.

[GoBearcats31]

Dan Hoard nuggets from Twitter:
- 7'6 wingspan
- 18 points versus Houston
- 10+ rebounds 6x
- 8 blocks versus Kansas State

[zykarious]

From Scott Springer of the Enquirer and Chris Boyle of the Dayton Beach News-Journal
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/spo...h/83128765007/

Thiam averaged 10.4 points and 6.4 rebounds for Johnny Dawkins and UCF in his freshman year. He shot 50% from the field, 29% from the perimeter and 67% from the free throw line. He had 88 blocks for the season, substantially more than Bandaogo's 50 and six off the UCF record set by 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall. Thiam’s high point game was 18 against Utah and his rebounding high was 11 coming in the Crown championship game against Nebraska.
...
Before last season Thiam was the No. 1 rated center by 247Sports.com. When he reclassified to come to UCF early, he was still ranked as the No. 7 center. He was UCF's highest-rated basketball recruit when signed.
...
Thiam was tutored at UCF by former NBA player Mamadou N’Diaye, also from Dakar, Senegal. He had been the Associate Head Coach for Dawkins this past season. N'Diaye, a 49-year-old 7-footer himself, is in line to fill the Cincinnati Bearcats coaching vacancy left by the departure of Drew Adams who moved on to the Darian DeVries staff at Indiana according to sources and reports.
...
Thiam replaces rim-runner Bandaogo with better overall results and shooting touch. Five years younger than Bandaogo at age 19, he played more minutes. While Bandaogo's dunks gave him a better overall shooting percentage (68% to 50%), Thiam was better at the free throw line (67% to 65%) and has the ability to knock down 3-pointers hitting 23-of-79. While that's just a 29.1% rate, it still is better than Jizzle James (28.2) and Connor Hickman (25.7) and just slightly below Dan Skillings Jr. (29.9) and Dillon Mitchell (29.4).

He outrebounded Bandaogo by seven and had 13 more offensive rebounds (90-77) playing in one less game. Considering he could have played in high school last season, his potential is through the roof.

Advanced metrics are more favorable to Aziz in rebounding. In conference, Aziz's total rebound percentage was 16.5%, compared to 12.5% for Thiam. They were almost identical in ORB% 10.8% for Aziz, to 10.5% for Thiam, the big difference was Aziz's 22.8% defensive rebounding percentage, whereas Thiam was only at 14.7%.

The stats indicate Aziz's touch at the rim was better too, 92% on dunks and 78% on close 2's, to Thiam's 85% on dunks and 69% close 2's. The stats he put up last year aren't a clear upgrade to Aziz, but Thiam's youth, potential to improve and having a bit more mass give good reason to believe he'll be an upgrade to Aziz next year. Plus we desperately need more floor spacing from our big men and Thiam gives that, shooting 49% on long 2's and 29% from three.

[sedz]

Advanced metrics are more favorable to Aziz in rebounding. In conference, Aziz's total rebound percentage was 16.5%, compared to 12.5% for Thiam. They were almost identical in ORB% 10.8% for Aziz, to 10.5% for Thiam, the big difference was Aziz's 22.8% defensive rebounding percentage, whereas Thiam was only at 14.7%.

The stats indicate Aziz's touch at the rim was better too, 92% on dunks and 78% on close 2's, to Thiam's 85% on dunks and 69% close 2's. The stats he put up last year aren't a clear upgrade to Aziz, but Thiam's youth, potential to improve and having a bit more mass give good reason to believe he'll be an upgrade to Aziz next year. Plus we desperately need more floor spacing from our big men and Thiam gives that, shooting 49% on long 2's and 29% from three.

Good analysis. Aziz and Thiam had similar offensive production last year, with Thiam posting a 1.5 offensive BPM and Aziz just behind at 1.1. Aziz was a significantly better defender though, with a 3.2 defensive BPM compared to Thiam's 1.6. Those full season numbers indicate that Aziz had learned better positioning with fewer fouls after 5 years of experience. But Thiam has the potential to be much better than Aziz this year.

In conference play Thiam's offense improved dramatically and he posted a 3.0 OBPM and 4.7 overall BPM in B12 play. Aziz had a 2.7 BPM in conference. Thiam brought his turnover rate all the way down to 13% (Aziz was 21% in conference) and converted 62% inside the arc on two more attempts per game than Aziz. I'm hopeful that trajectory will continue and Thiam can be a 6+ BPM player this year.

I wouldn't worry too much about the DReb rate. UCF basically abandoned the defensive glass to get out on the break. They had a top 12 tempo and bottom 25 offensive rebounding rate as a team.

[fmirzamd]

What is his free throw sooting %?

[sedz]

What is his free throw sooting %?

67% for the season. 70% in conference.

[CatCane]

According to a previous post his free throw "sooting" was 67%.

[GoBearcats31]

Good get for UC and we're getting caught up in numbers. Objectively, this is a nice add and Moustapha has a high ceiling, and can hopefully raise UC's floor to making into the NCAA Tournament.

[Corporateballa]

This kid is light years better than Aziz (advance metrics not withstanding). He competes at the rim with ferocity. In Las Vegas, he was screaming at the Bearcats (gimme dat *****!!).

$2.5 million for Thiam, $1.65 for the shady coach who shopped him behind Johnny Dawkins back, and $1.1 million for Celestine.