Brad Underwood Lands Seven-Foot International Center Lucas N’Guessan

Canarias Basketball Academy prospect Lucas N’Guessan, a seven-foot center from the Netherlands, has committed to play for Brad Underwood in Stillwater according to a report from his team.

He made his commitment on Wednesday evening per his team twitter account, and explained his decision about choosing OSU:

I’m very thankful to Rob Orellana and to all CBA’s coaches for helping me during my three years at the Academy. Here I trained daily with the ex NBA Champion and ex Euroleague player Richard Petruska for countless hours and that really helped me in my development. Now, I want to enjoy this opportunity at Oklahoma State and work as hard as I can for Coach Underwood and his staff.

Also in the report, Brad Underwood reportedly saw N’Guessan’s film and “fell in love with his potential.”

The big man does have some serious upside.

For a center his size, he has excellent athleticism and uses his length as a very good defender who can step out on multiple positions, with elite rim protecting skills.

Not surprisingly, it takes little effort for him to finish around the rim. Although he could certainly add some pounds to his seven-foot frame, he seems to find his way nicely around the paint with no issues of being pushed around or bullied, which shows in his tenacity to rebound well on both sides of the ball.

More importantly, though, N’Guessan shows he has the effort and speed to run the floor in an uptempo motion offense Brad Underwood will run. And his touch from outside, although it won’t be required early, looks as if it has some potential, too. Which could add an intriguing layer to Underwood’s offense perhaps later in N’Guessan’s career.

Lucas is an 18-year old prospect (born Nov. 6, 1997), so he should be able to join the program as early as next season. Although that is speculation at this point, and I have not yet confirmed if he will be a part of the 2016 class.

I reached out to Hoops Insider Adam Zagoria of zagsblog.com for comment on the report, who said the commitment is “close but not done yet.” Perhaps some logistical details yet to be worked out, but all signs, including indication from N’Guessan’s team account and comments from N’Guessan himself, suggest he will be a Cowboy barring any unforeseen circumstances.

thank you Adam

— Kyle Boone (@Kyle__Boone) May 12, 2016