Cheikh Mbodj Commits to the Cincinnati Bearcats

UC has been in the running for a JUCO big man for quite a while. The current class is heavy on wings and guards with one post player. That player, Octavius Ellis is a couple of years out from being productive in the Big East unless he can do the little things as well as Justin Jackson did this past season. Still a front line of Jackson and Yancy Gates and maybe Kelvin Gaines would be incredibly thin for this conference. So another big has been a priority, and that big was always more likely to come from within the JUCO ranks than from with out. Most of the conversation for that spot has centered around God's Gift Achiuwa. Achiuwa visited UC last weekend, but didn't pull the trigger on the offer. He is going to take visits to Washington and St. John's before making a decision. That timetable wasn't congruent with Cronin's because he pulled in Cheikh Mbodj today. While he doesn't register anywhere near as high on the spectacular name scale, he is a similar player in terms of dimensions and athletic ability, even if he isn't quite as polished offensively. The other really interesting thing, at least to me, was that the player that Mbodj is likely replacing in the lineup, Ibrahima Thomas, is someone who shares the hometown. Granted there are a lot of people are from Dakar Senegal, but still.