Now that my Texas commitment is yesterday’s news, I wanted to elaborate on why this spring wasn’t nearly as stressful as you guys might think. My recruitment was very structured and organized, which allowed me to focus most of my attention on forming relationships and determining where I felt most comfortable.

I’d always heard stories about how personable Shaka Smart is, and how he really aimed to connect not only with players but with their families too. Well, he exceeded all my expectations. I know that he will use every University of Texas resource possible to prepare me for the next level both on and off the court.

In closing, I would like to thank everyone who played a part in this. From the people of Westtown, who brighten my day with quick smiles and greetings, to the members of my family who go above and beyond by supporting me through life and the many obligations that come along with playing basketball at the highest level. Finally, I’d like to thank SLAM Magazine for this platform that has enabled you to hear my honest thoughts directly from me.

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It all started as a joke. Westtown requires a major community service project as a condition to graduation. While they allow us to “give back” anywhere in the world (and even sponsor the trip), proposals have to be detailed and well-thought-out or they get denied and your only option is to volunteer locally.

So my good friend Anthony Ochefu and I said, “Let’s say we’re going to Jamaica or Cancun so we have an extra week to relax after this long season.”

I write a proposal and basically tell the project advisor, “Yeah, we’re thinking of going to China.”

I guess I should’ve done less research on my plan for China, because 3 weeks after I submitted the proposal, I got approval and it was on its way to becoming a reality. While Anthony’s mom was understandably concerned about him going halfway around the world, I was able to convince my family that this could actually be a great cultural exchange opportunity for me, especially in a country where over 300 million people play basketball.

Just before I went off to China, I attended the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference for a second year in a row. This year, I brought my sister so that she too could learn from all of the expert panels that have topics ranging from “Life of a College Student-Athlete” to “Sports Science and Player Tracking Data” and even “Silver asks Silver” (one of my favorites because I got to hear Adam Silver’s vision first-hand). I’ve always been interested in the experts who use numbers to back up a lot of their sports observations and there’s no shortage of it at this conference.

The conference ended on a Saturday afternoon and hours later I was sitting on a plane going to Beijing — alone – officially starting the first leg of my spring break.

I landed late on Sunday night, and showed up to my first non-profit, Love & Hope, the following morning. Love & Hope devotes itself to the education of migrant children from rural areas who are often left behind when their parents move to urban areas to seek jobs and a better life. The kids in that program were unbelievably happy and motivated, despite their difficult circumstances.

Love & Hope teaches many trade skills such as sewing, dental lab technology, computers and instrument training, but the living conditions lack many resources. In addition to working with the students, I also got my hands dirty and shoveled coal, yes coal, into nearly 200 different 75-pound bags so that they could deliver their primary heating source throughout the entire community.

I spent the next several days touring local schools, including Western Academy of Beijing, Canadian International School, and a few others. I did some Q&A with the broader student body at an assembly and was able to run some after-school and weekend basketball clinics with kids of all ages. I spoke to them about my life experiences and how to balance academics and athletics. It was a great opportunity and I was fortunate to have some caring hosts at each of the schools who were able to show me around and teach me more about their way of life.

The last nonprofit I worked with was called Roundabout – it is sorta like Goodwill or Salvation Army here in the U.S., where people donate second-hand goods to those in need. I sorted a ton of books and other home goods and was able to learn a bit about how their retail model works.

I put in a lot of work in China, but was also able to get out on my own and experience some of the main attractions. Of course, I had to see The Great Wall – it’s one of the Seven Wonders of the World! It was one of the best tourist attractions I’ve ever been to in my life but I wasn’t expecting to hike an entire section of it. It was tiresome but the views were spectacular. You can see some of them on my Instagram @therealmobamba_

I was also able to sample some of the local food. The Great Wall is about an hour and a half from Beijing, and afterward we ate at a small village in Huairou County. The chicken/rice/noodles combination was some of the best I’ve ever had.

In total I spent 10 days in China, and one of the best outcomes was me just continuing to grow as an adult—being by myself on a different continent helps you grow up quickly and I was able to do this all while experiencing a cultural exchange that I’ll never forget.

—

Previous HS Diaries from Mo Bamba: 

Mo talk speaks on his HS career coming to an end and taking Environmental Social Justice class

Mo talks about taking the ACT twice and cutting down his college list to four schools

The post HS Diary No. 8: Mohamed Bamba appeared first on SLAM.

Well, my high school playing career has officially come to an end.

It is bittersweet because on one hand, I’m ready to graduate, move on to the next level, play at the highest collegiate level, and enjoy my time in college, but on the other hand I want to hold on to all the high school memories and cherish these last moments.

This season went by in a blink. I remember Fall practice and getting ready for the season like it was yesterday, and now it’s all over – crazy.

Recently, I was very fortunate to be named one of the five finalists for the Naismith National High School Player of the Year award. There are several highly deserving candidates and it’s honestly unbelievable to even be mentioned alongside them, regardless of who wins. If you look at the history of guys who have won that award, and look at the great careers they went on to have, it says a lot. It illustrates all the hard work that is put in both individually and as a team, much of which goes unaccounted for.

This semester I’m taking a number of interesting courses, one of which is Liberation Theology. I’ve loved it so far. I am also in a class called Environmental Social Justice, which does a really good job of illustrating current world problems and how we can go about being change leaders rather than passively just letting things happen the way they always have. We’ve covered a wide range of topics – anything from global warming to systemic racism. At first, a topic like global warming seemed pretty distant to me. That may sound silly with all the awareness surrounding it these days, but coming from Harlem, I honestly grew up more concerned with social issues like poverty, gang violence, and school dropout rates. In reality, the two topics are more correlated than I ever imagined. For instance, poorer countries have significantly more exposure to pollution than developed countries.

On the recruiting front, I recently finished taking all of my college visits. In March, I’ll be huddling with my family about it and weighing all the pros and cons.

With March Madness upon us, two big men who have really been impressive to me this season are Lauri Markkanen at Arizona and Justin Patton at Creighton. I’m also pretty close with Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum at Duke and some of the freshmen at Kentucky. We’ve all taken several trips together for various basketball tournaments so it’ll be especially fun to watch them on the biggest stage – the road to the Final Four. I’ve been asking them questions about how their coaches are and how they view the overall experience, so I’ve probably been a bit annoying to them this season, but hey, there’s no substitute for first-hand research!

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Well, the long travel season is now officially in the books. During our trips to Florida, Delaware and Massachusetts, we went undefeated at every single national showcases, and showed we’re right up there with the nation’s best. It was great to get out there and compete against guys who were just as good, if not better than we were if we didn’t bring our A-game.

I’d give our team an A- grade so far, since there’s always room for growth but every single person on this team has done their job and elevated us to that next level. It’s been awesome to watch. Obviously I’m a part of it, but sometimes I take a step back and see the overall progress of the team and I’m like, wow, these guys have made some really great strides.

Being selected to play in the McDonald’s All-American Game was an unbelievable honor. The first time I heard of the game was when my older brother, Sidiki Johnson, was nominated to play. Throughout the years, I watched the Jamfest, the skills competition, and of course the game. I’m blessed to now be a part of it.

On the school front, we recently started a new semester and one of the classes I’m really looking forward to is Liberation Theology.

I also achieved one of my biggest life accomplishments back in December –forget about McDonald’s All-American or playing on ESPN – I scored a 30 on my ACT (94th percentile). I studied my butt off And I take pride in this because sometimes I would skip practice or class just to study for the ACT. I honestly don’t think the score really does any justice to us HS students because it doesn’t look at us holistically but I know it’s at least one important measure of aptitude.

Lastly, I decided to cut my college list to four: Michigan, Duke, Texas and Kentucky. The process was very thoughtful, and included a ton of in-depth discussions with my family. It’s been great to see the unique characteristics that each program potentially offers. Look forward to checking back in with you all after I’ve made a decision.

The post HS Diary No. 6: Mohamed Bamba appeared first on SLAM.

About that photo from last summer with A Boogie Wit The Hoodie…Last February, one of my good friends who played with my AAU team introduced me to some random rapper he said I should listen to. He said it was his cousin who was trying to do his rap thing, so out of respect I gave it a listen with an open mind.

So I’m listening to it and I’m like, “Yo! This dude is legit!” The song was “Game Winnerz,” and it featured A Boogie. My teammate’s cousin was Don Q from Highbridge the Label and he was just going at it, bars after bars. I was like, “Yup, I gotta do some more research on these fellas.”

My teammate was telling me they’re going to make it big. Before I heard the song, I thought to myself “Yeah, right, I’ve heard this story before, but after listening, I was a believer.” And now, less than a year later, they’re the hottest thing out of New York right now.

Boogie and I have since been staying in touch every now and then. Obviously he’s always on the road now so he’s very busy, but he took time to come to my SLAM shoot last summer. His music has such a broad, powerful arsenal – he can go from a love song to a pump-you-up song in a heartbeat.

I’ve always enjoyed different kinds of music, and occasionally I take some heat for my eclectic taste. Recently, I was in the gym with my teammate Anthony Ochefu and I’m letting all my music play on shuffle. Started with a pretty standard workout pump-up lineup – Future, A Boogie, 21 Savage –then all of the sudden 112’s “Cupid” comes on. I sprinted to change the track but it was too late. It was embarrassing. People call it soft, but hey, I’m just a fan of good music – I stand by it!

Lastly, a quick update on the season – we’ve started off strong and the team is really starting to come together in advance of some major games against top competition on a national level here in Florida (City of Palms tournament), Delaware (Slam Dunk to the Beach) and Massachusetts (Hoophall Classic). This stretch will definitely be a significant test for us but I’m looking forward to rising to the occasion.

The post HS Diary No. 5: Mohamed Bamba appeared first on SLAM.

We’re in the midst of intense practices, gearing up for the season. I’m working hard to get ready while continuing to think about my future.

In October, I visited the University of Texas, which was awesome. My whole family got together and it was a solid visit. It was great to experience the warm weather of Austin in an otherwise cold October up north. I have three official visits left and hopefully if the timing is right, I’ll be able to get those done when I don’t have school or basketball commitments here.

Another thing that I got off my chest this fall was the ACT. I put a strong effort into studying and felt very prepared. It’s still a long test though! Putting my pencil down the final time and knowing I finished strong was one of the most satisfying moments I’ve had in a long time.

On the basketball front, Westtown has some talent this season. There are some irreplaceable guys from last year but this season we have a lot more size, which will test my leadership skills as a mentor to anyone who rotates in at the 4 or the 5.

There are also some teammates who are new to the school, who need guidance to navigate things on and off the court. More than anything, I want to be remembered for my leadership.

This season we’re traveling a lot for our national schedule with games in Delaware (Slam Dunk to the Beach), a couple of games in Florida (City of Palms), and a couple in Maryland. Then we’re also going to the Hoophall Classic in Springfield (MA)—I’m especially excited for that one. These will be against schools that are all top-ranked nationally, so there’s going to be a lot of buzz leading up to the games.

My main goal for this season is to find three new things to teach and three new things to learn every day. That’s just me wanting to learn more about the game, which I truly love. I don’t really have goals as far as stats or numbers. Those will take care of themselves if I do what I need to as a team leader. See you guys this winter!

The post HS Diary No. 4: Mohamed Bamba appeared first on SLAM.

School has been great so far. This year more than any other year, I was eager to get back.

My favorite class right now is Designing & Engineering. When I was younger, I used to always think about engineering, but it kind of faded as my plate became increasingly full with basketball and all the other life obligations that go along with being a high schooler. But this class has triggered some memories and the learning experience has really been fun. My two group members, Brandon Randolph and Cole Berger, and me, we’re working to invent a prototype that improves a player’s jumpshot. We put a circular sensor around the rim and that tracks misses and have it use the data we collected to hit more shots.

I can’t go too much deeper into that right now – we might be patenting something here!

We’re still in the process of figuring out the program and the coding, but I think it’s something that will be awesome.

I’ve also been updating a binder I put together over the summer with files on each school in my recruitment. Some might see me as being nerdy about it but this is the best way to go about it. In theory, this is one of the biggest decisions I’m going to ever make. If you saw how big this binder was, you’d be like, ‘Who are you?!’ I’ve named it THE BLUEPRINT.

The categories in the excel spreadsheets under each school measure success in various majors, total university endowment, how many Fortune 500 CEOs each school has, total enrollment, living alumni worldwide, percentage of alumni in management positions – things that will be important to me for my business career that will hopefully extend far beyond the 94×50’ dimensions of the basketball court.

On the basketball side, some of the categories I’ve looked at are how many first round picks each school has had over the past five years, how many were one-and-done, the number of NBA owners and managers that are alums, etc. A big part of the binder has information about compliance and I’ve added articles and case studies to it along the way. Every week there’s been something to add.

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What’s up #SLAMfam!

I traveled a lot this summer.

In July, it started with Nike Peach Jam in South Carolina. It was my last event in the AAU circuit and probably one of my best ones as far as getting out there and playing well. It felt good being back since I missed the third and fourth EYBL sessions prior to Peach Jam—out with an ankle injury. We made it to the championship game and played the semis and finals on national television, being broadcasted on ESPN. But if I could go back and change anything, I would guard Trae Young and Michael Porter just a little bit harder!

When I saw that my AAU career had ended, I had mixed emotions. Some people feel sad and some are happy that it’s over. I felt ecstatic. I couldn’t be any happier. AAU is fun but we’re also playing a bunch of games in a window-span of a day basically and so it takes a toll on your body. AAU taught me to take care of my body and I learned that when it’s time to shut it down, you got to shut it down. Now I’m happy to move on and experience new things.

I literally flew back to New York the same night of the Peach Jam championship game. I tried to see my girl that night, who came over from Australia, but I couldn’t since I only had like a 4-hour window in New York before I left to Houston for USA U18 FIBA World Championship team training camp.

And keep in mind at training camp the practices were with Young and Porter, who we lost to in the Peach Jam championship game, so you know I was stink-eying them the whole time. We were in Houston for about a week of practice before we went over to Chile for the FIBA games. Our three coaches were Shaka Smart, Kevin Ollie and Mark Turgeon, who are three of my favorite college coaches, just relationship-wise.

Chile was a great experience. We were in a small city called Valdivia. I learned a lot about myself and from being around different people. I played in front of the wildest crowd I’m probably going to ever play in front of. After one of my games, the whole crowd began chanting my name. I don’t even know why. They were going crazy. The fans there were very engaging.

So funny side-story: after they were chanting my name, I kind of got gassed a little bit and so I gave away my sneakers to fans.

Inside the sneakers were my specialized soles, which I didn’t notice I left them until I got back to the hotel. I went through heaven and earth to get those back. I was able to get a hold of one of the kids through Instagram and so I was able to get that one back a couple of hours later since he was in the same small town. The kid DM’ed me and was like, ‘Hey, thanks, I’m a huge supporter of yours!’ And I was like, Thank you. However, do you have my sole?!

He came to the hotel, and I was putting together a bag with a bunch of gear to give to him in gratitude for bringing back my sole. When I opened the door, like 30 people rolled into my room. The kid brought his whole community back.

But the other shoe was with a grown man, who I literally saw fight a kid for it, which was pretty funny. So this guy happened to be on the bus with Max Lorca, who’s from Chile and plays with my AAU team. So Max sends me a Snapchat of the sneaker. I called and texted him a million times but he was asleep the whole time. When he finally woke up, the guy was off the bus already. So I think FIBA put something out on Twitter and I was able to get my sole back like two weeks later when they mailed it to New York.

I then came back straight to LA for Nike Skills Academy. I talked with Rasheed Wallace a whole lot at the camp and he gave me powerful insights on just the game because he’s been through it all.

And then I finally came back home after traveling for like 3 weeks. It was very tiring, however it was something I knew I’m going to have to deal with repeatedly throughout my career.

To finish off the summer, I went to the Bahamas with the Nike EYBL Select Team in August. But before we went to the Bahamas, Nike actually got us a visit to the White House. No, we didn’t meet Obama, but just from a historical standpoint, it was still a great experience. We didn’t spend too much time there because we had to catch our flight but we saw enough—we went to the basketball courts, the front lawn, and I think one of the treasury rooms.

Overall, summer was fun!

—

Related:
The World Is His: Introducing 2016 SLAM Diarist Mohamed Bamba

The post SLAM 202: Mohamed Bamba’s High School Diary appeared first on SLAM.