The University of Texas Longhorns have had the luxury of having some of the most talented point guards in all of college basketball at their disposal over the past 15 years. First it was National POY TJ Ford in ‘02-’03, to DJ Augustin(‘07-’08) who fed the rock to Kevin Durant, then fabulous freshmen Avery Bradley(‘10) and Corey Joseph(‘11), who both left for the NBA after just one season.
This upcoming 2011-2012 season will be no different as elite level freshman Myck Kabongo will be running the point for coach Rick Barnes. Kabongo may have the most potential of all the aforementioned floor generals as he has already been compared to a number of NBA greats from Dwyane Wade to Rajon Rondo.
Although he hails from Canada, American point guards know him well as he has competed against and gotten the better of numerous upperclassmen like Kyrie Irving during his time at NJ prep powerhouse St Benedicts HS and ater at the fabled Findlay Prep. Even fellow highly touted incoming freshman at Duke, Austin Rivers, speaks glowingly in terms of Kabongo.
Incoming freshman point Marquis Teague at Kentucky is the only floor general rated higher in the 2011 Class, mostly because of Teague’s offensive prowess. But in terms of “pure” PG’s in the class, no one is more of a complete player than Kabongo. He is a true facilitator, seemingly enjoying finding open teammates with lightning quickness and elite level handles seen only recently by NBA rookie John Wall.
He has shown the innate abilities as a natural leader, showing off some precision passing skills that make you wonder “how he just did that.” On defense, Kabongo is a gambler, constantly patrolling the passing lanes, looking to take an errant pass to the other end for the next highlight reel play. He has a developing 15 foot pull-up jumper that can be deadly as a compliment to his skills at getting to the rack.
The only downside to Myck’s game is that his body hasn’t quite caught up to his immense talent as of yet. By the measurements, he’s still a wiry 6’1 and 165lbs that sometimes struggles to finish on aggressive drives to the basket and when finishing in traffic. Surely a Division I weight room will take care of that.
Kabongo is a veteran of the Boost Mobile Elite 24 Game, McDonald’s All American Game and the Jordan Brand Classic and is one of those impact freshmen that everyone will be talking about when the season regular season rolls out in early November. No doubt he has the potential to be a one-and-done player, so enjoy him while you can.
Check out Myck Kabongo’s 2010-2011 Mixtape:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
