Next up on Duke basketball’s transfer radar, a shot-blocking center from Senegal
Duke’s patient approach to adding a transfer big man to its roster left it in position to pursue a late entrant this week.
Aziz Bandaogo, a 7-foot, 230-pound center who starred at Utah Valley last season, entered his name in the NCAA transfer portal on Monday and has already drawn attention from the Blue Devils staff.
Named the Western Athletic Conference defensive player of the year last season, Bandaogo averaged 11.5 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.9 blocked shots per game in his first season at Utah Valley after transferring from Akron.
Last month, Duke hosted Virginia transfer Kadin Shedrick, a 6-11 center from Holly Springs, on an unofficial visit and had an official visit planned before Shedrick committed to Texas.
Duke is seeking a rim-protecting big man for next season’s roster after 7-1 freshman Dereck Lively declared for the NBA Draft after leading the ACC champion Blue Devils in blocked shots (82).
A native of Senegal, Bandaogo has shown he has the talents to help a Power 5 team like Duke in that area, so the Blue Devils’ coaching staff is taking a close look at his game.
Synergy Sports Analytics rates Bandaogo as an excellent defender because he allowed only 0.78 points per shots taken against him. That’s in the 85th percentile nationally.
As a display of Bandaogo’s rim-protection skills, layups attempted against him were made only 39.7% of the time as opposing players were 27 of 68 on them. By comparison, the shooting percentage on layups against Lively was 37.8% (14 of 37).
Duke seeks a veteran big man that would allow 7-footer Kyle Filipowski, last year’s ACC rookie of the year, to remain at the forward position. Playing that position last season with Lively at center, Filipowski led Duke in scoring (15.1 points) and rebounding (8.9 rebounds) and won the Everett Case Award as the ACC tournament’s top player.
The Blue Devils also return two other freshman starters from last season’s team, 6-8 forward Mark Mitchell and 6-5 point guard Tyrese Proctor. A fourth starter, 6-2 guard Jeremy Roach, entered his name in the NBA Draft pool but has the option of returning to school.
On the inside, 6-10 graduate student Ryan Young said he plans to use his final season of eligibility with the Blue Devils after he played in 36 games, with nine starts, last season. While playing an average of 17.6 minutes per game, Young averaged 6.4 points and 5.5 rebounds.
Bandaogo played 29.4 minutes per game last season at Utah Valley, which went 28-9 and made the National Invitation Tournament semifinals in March. Duke’s existing post depth, with Young and 7-1 sophomore Christian Reeves, should mean Bandaogo wouldn’t have to play that many minutes per game. That could allow him to be even more effective.
While starting all 37 games at Utah Valley, he avoided fouling out all season. Conversely, he drew 4.5 fouls per game, according to KenPom.com, and made 63.6% of his free throws.
Since he is transferring for the second time in his college career, Bandaogo doesn’t qualify for immediate eligibility for next season unless he receives an NCAA waiver.
He decided to transfer after Utah Valley head coach Mark Madsen left to be come head coach at California. That’s one situation where the NCAA usually allows transferring players to be immediately eligible at their new school.
In addition, Bandaogo was open about the mental health struggles he has endured.
On April 11, Bandaogo posted a Twitter statement saying he was “alone and away from my family/friends, dealing with unimaginable amount of mental stress, pressure, emotional suffering, anxiety and lack of sleep.”
His social media post on Monday announcing his transfer portal entry also referenced that aspect.
“I would like to start off,” Bandaogo said, “by thanking God and sharing my love and gratitude for the people in my life that support me, UVU fans that embraced me and everyone that took the time to help me as I work toward healing and overcoming the challenges I’ve been dealing with mentally. Please pray for me as I continue my journey.”
That situation could also convince the NCAA to grant him immediate eligibility.
According to a tweet by The Portal Report, Bandaogo has received interest from Cincinnati, Kansas, Illinois and Vanderbilt. Cal, where former Utah Valley coach Madsen now coaches, is also interested in him.
Bandaogo trained at the NBA Global Academy Africa, in Saly, Sengal, prior to beginning his college career at Akron in 2020. He has two years of NCAA eligibility remaining.
