5-star center Flory Bidunga talks recruitment

Five-star center Flory Bidunga is the No. 3 overall prospect in the 2024 class, according to the On3 Industry Rankings.

The 6-foot-9, 210-pound prospect at Kokomo (Ind.) High updated his recruitment over the weekend at Adidas 3SSB Chapter 2. Bidunga has been on several college visits, including unofficial trips to Purdue, Michigan, Cincinnati, Butler, Indiana, and Michigan State. He’s also been on official visits to Auburn, Florida, and has one scheduled with Michigan at the end of the month.

Bidunga played in front of several college coaches over the weekend. Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, as well as assistants from Cincinnati, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Florida, and others were spotted scouting him. He discussed what it was like playing with in front of so many high-level coaches.

“That’s pretty good because it shows they have interest in you to come watch you play,” he says. “You just have to keep developing, playing hard, so it’s pretty exciting.”

While time didn’t allow for Bidunga to discuss each of the schools in his recruitment, he was able to discuss several.

Bidunga discusses his college recruitment

Up until just over a month ago, many teams were still in season, playing games. Combine that with the transfer portal cycle this offseason, and many high school recruits get pushed to the backburner. But not Bidunga. He’s maintained being a priority recruit for many of the top programs nationally.

When asked about the latest in his recruitment, he says “it’s just kind of the same. The same schools that were recruiting me before. I have Kentucky, Michigan, Florida, Auburn, all those schools.”

I would also like to make it clear that Bidunga’s recruitment is still open, and he has not narrowed his list to any specific list of schools. He discussed a handful of the visits he’s been on.

Michigan: “It was pretty good. I like the coach, the coaching staff. I like the players. It was pretty good.”

Michigan State: “I like Tom Izzo. He’s a very good coach. One of the big coaches. It was pretty good too.”

Auburn: “I liked the facilities, the coach, the coaching staff, and the players. They were all great when I went there. That was exciting.”

Cincinnati: “The coach has done a good job recruiting me, as the other colleges have been doing too.”

Bidunga on receiving an offer from Kentucky

The Kentucky coaching staff extended a scholarship offer to Bidunga in October of last year. While he hasn’t been to Lexington to visit yet, I’ve been told from a source that a visit is in currently in the works. Bidunga discussed what it was like to receive an offer from UK.

“It was big time,” he says. “It was really exciting to get an offer from them. That’s great for me.”

Timeline for a decision, what he’s looking for in a program

While Bidunga doesn’t have an exact timetable for a making a decision, he says he would like to make one before his senior season. He says he’s looking for “a good place. Some place that feels like home.”

Scouting Report

“Flory Bidunga is a physical specimen. At 6-foot-10, he has long arms, broad shoulders, and a lot of burst. He is an excellent shot-blocker, both on the ball and from the weak side. He has natural timing and can get up to the square quickly, even through contact. Bidunga runs the floor quickly and purposefully. He can push the break with his handle but does not get too deep and out of control. The jump shot extends out to about 10 feet, so we would like to see him work on stretching that out some. But he has touch as a roll man to finish with floaters and short corner jumpers. He needs to improve his free throws as he gets to the line a lot. Offensively, Bidunga has a good IQ; he is smart in dribble hand-offs and can post wide and deep on the block. If help comes, he is able to find the open man and deliver a good pass. He is a good offensive rebounder. Bidunga is left-hand reliant, but his IQ and explosion allow him to get away with that for now. Physically, he is like a college upperclassman and is already one of the premier explosive athletes in high school basketball.” – On3’s Jamie Shaw

The post 5-star center Flory Bidunga talks recruitment appeared first on On3.