2025 Recruiting: - Niko Bundalo | Page 2 | The Boneyard

2025 Recruiting: Niko Bundalo

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Izzo has consistently been stacking recruiting classes full of 4 and 5 star recruits that mostly stay all 4 years and don't wind up as NBA players(in hindsight Max Christie declaring too early probably looks smart), has been underachieving in the regular season, and now isn't pulling out the miracle tourney runs out of his ass either. I remember reading a few months ago that MSU was an early favorite for him but I would like Hurley's chances given Izzo/MSU's recent history.
 
Huskyforlife said:
I never watch Karabans highlights because he does nothing flashy or physically impressive. I think Bundalo is a substance over flash guy as well.
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Will wait until after his freshman year at UConn before my next eval!!
 
Long scouting report on Bundalo in this article.

The most important variable for Bundalo is his overall intensity. He's hyper-competitive, and when he can harness that while maintaining full control of his emotions, he's extremely effective on both ends of the floor. When that fire burns too hot though, it can be detrimental, with implications on his shot selection, decision-making, and overall mentality.

247sports.com

Summer Scouting Series: Koa Peat & Nate Ament headline a strong class of 3SSB forwards

Five-stars Koa Peat and Nate Ament lead the way in a breakdown of the top Adidas 3SSB circuit forwards.
247sports.com 247sports.com
 
bendm said:
As we approach closing time, is staff zeroing in on:

Guards: Lewis/Thomas
Wings: Mullins/Tounde
Bigs: Reibe/Bundalo

Will happily take one of each
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Also still have visits planned with Greer and Adams in October. Lewis hasn't released his fall visits yet, not has Ament. The latter is hard to know where we stand. The rest have either already been here or will be here in the next month or so.
 
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bendm said:
As we approach closing time, is staff zeroing in on:

Guards: Lewis/Thomas
Wings: Mullins/Tounde
Bigs: Reibe/Bundalo

Will happily take one of each
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I'm curious how the staff is defining Bundalo. He's a wee bit too small right now to play our 5, and a little under-athletic to play our 4. My gut says he is a new breed of stretch 5 for us primarily.
 
bendm said:
As we approach closing time, is staff zeroing in on:

Guards: Lewis/Thomas
Wings: Mullins/Tounde
Bigs: Reibe/Bundalo

Will happily take one of each
Expand ...
One from each would be nice. It doesn't seem that the staff has many backup plan recruits that rank in the 50 to 100 range. Most of the one's they've offered are between 1 and 40.

My guess is Hurley hopes to land at least a couple of these recruits and just fill whatever needs are left next spring with portal transfers and any highly ranked high school or prep recruits that are either uncommitted or have shaken free.

I like when they find a diamond in the rough in the latter part of the top 100 or beyond, like Jayden Ross (#113 per 247). Seems like there is so much coverage nowadays, that late bloomers get moved up in the rankings quickly followed by multiple blue chips jumping on creating lots of competition. So far it doesn't seem the staff has identified and offered anyone who fits that description, and they're just swinging for the fense. With so many big time programs that have huge NIL coffers we're competing with for these targeted recruits, I am a tad concerned that most of them will get picked off without any domino effect landing in our lap.

I would like to believe that a solid NIL offer, our culture of winning, B2B NCs and player development would be enough to win some of these battles over some ridiculous NIL offers. This is uncharted recruiting territory, so let's see how it all plays out. I simple don't have any strong sense that we'll land the ones Hurley wants most. Hopefully that will happen, and our confidence in such in the years that follow will be the new norm. We can't ignore the early results last year where Nowell was the only top 40 fall signee they landed, missing out on the two they wanted who chose Dook. Note McNeeley was a spring pickup who reopened his recruitment. Since most of the top 100 have not committed, there's a lot of time to see how it plays out this fall.
 
AllHusky said:
Hmm… watched the long highlight, didn’t pull me out of my chair
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I'm with you on that. I wasn't wowed either. I kinda liked his teammate, #22, whoever he is, who is long, athletic and seemed to play with more energy than Bundalo. Solid handle as well.

Now Bundalo, has a nice handle for a big his size. He's creative in and around the paint. Seems to see the floor well and was good at finding open teammates. Didn't seem to finish all that well with contact and didn't see any lights out deep shooting. He sort of floated on D and wasn't as aggressive as I'd like to see, though he was good at closing quickly in the paint off the ball picking up a few nice blocks.

Just didn't look like a 5 star to me, but he moves well and I see some potential to work with. Just didn't wow me from the clips I watched, though didn't watch all of them. Maybe he's shown more in other games.
 
navery12 said:
That's Royce Parham, he's a top 100 recruit and a freshman at Marquette this season
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Not nearly the same ceiling, but I expect he'll be a very productive upperclassman. He was more important to the team than Bundalo. Overall Bundalo is the better prospect though long-term, by far.
 
navery12 said:
That's Royce Parham, he's a top 100 recruit and a freshman at Marquette this season
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Thanks. Looks like they got a good one. We'll get to see him when we play the Golden Eagles.
 
husky429 said:
Not nearly the same ceiling, but I expect he'll be a very productive upperclassman. He was more important to the team than Bundalo. Overall Bundalo is the better prospect though long-term, by far.
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Bundalo is a younger player than Parham and based on his ranking many must see a lot of growth and development to be had. It will be interesting to see how he develops during his senior season.
 
DogMania said:
Bundalo is a younger player than Parham and based on his ranking many must see a lot of growth and development to be had. It will be interesting to see how he develops during his senior season.
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He's also just taller and learning a perimeter and interior skillset. Parham is in a more limited role as that energy, high % shot type. Bigs learning perimeter skills always take a while to develop
 
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