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September is not a month where a lot of basketball recruits commit. It’s very close to the regular season and most rosters are full up by then. This year, the Cincinnati Bearcats went against the grain and finished filling out their roster in September with the commitment of Prince Gillam Toyambi.
A reclassified recruit from the 2019 class, Toyambi has four years of eligibility and could play right away this season. It’s more likely that he will be asked to sit on the bench and possibly redshirt, but if Mick Cronin feels like he needs more depth from his reserves, Toyambi could fill in.
The 6’7”, 225-pound freshmen from the Congo played his high school ball in California at Fresno High School. Toyambi projects as a power forward who can rack up double-doubles like you read about. He put up big numbers during the summer when he played in the Peach Jam Invitational and Nike EBYL, netting 17.4 points per game to go with 9.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals. He also connected on 58.7 percent of his field goal tries.
As a player who decided to forgo prep school, Toyambi is going to need plenty of time to develop. He will be trained in the ancient arts of Bearcats defense and will hopefully be able to craft himself a strong offensive profile. Those things will require patience, but the Bearcats already showed they can wait for Toyambi.