“Um, that is not true,” responded Anyigbo. ”I was talking to a bunch of guys and they were like ‘which schools are you planning on visiting?’. I said, ‘I visited Western Kentucky last weekend, and I plan on visiting Memphis and Houston’. But, I haven’t talked to coach Pastner about my visit yet.”

 According to his ESPN Scouts Inc. profile, Anyigbo is a 6′6″ 220 pound power forward with an 87 rating. The following is Scouts Inc’s write-up of Anyigbo:

Anyigbo is a strong, tough and physical combination forward that dominates games with his tremendous athletic ability. He finishes with authority above the rim in a variety of ways. In transition he is at his best when he receives the advance pass and has a clear path to the basket. In a half court set Anyigbo is a threat to slash from the wing and along the baseline and he also slams home offensive rebound put backs. Anyigbo is an extremely explosive leaper. He has the power to score through contact with ease and exploits less physical players throughout the game. He competes and is that type of player that a coach must have on the floor in the heat of the battle because he will not back down from anyone. Anyigbo will need to hone his ball skills and extend his shooting range in order to make himself a complete offensive threat. Defensively he has the ability to defend positions 2-4. Anyigbo is more of a power forward than a small forward at this time but has great upside and is fun to watch compete.

Anyigbo played for the Houston Hoops AAU program this summer. With Memphis head coach Josh Pastner’s well-documented relationship with Houston Hoops, it is not a surprise to see a Houston connection show up in Memphis’ recruiting. Speaking on the University of Memphis and Coach Pastner, Anyigbo said that he is looking forward to hearing from them more.

“I am really hoping that Memphis will recruit me more. I haven’t spoken to the much lately,” Anyigbo said. “I am trying to see if the Memphis coaches, coach Pastner and Coach Willis, if we can get some kind of understanding about my visits and what they are looking for with me. That should be my next step.”

Other than Memphis, Anyigbo said that he did, in fact, visit Western Kentucky this past weekend and plans to visit Houston in the near future. When Memphis Roar’s Brooks Hansen spoke with Anyigbo a few weeks back, he said the he was going to take his visit to Western Kentucky no matter what due to an obligation to his coaches.

“The visit to Western was fun,” Anyigbo responded. ”I know the coach personally, so I already knew what to expect out of that.”

For now, Anyigbo says that they just finished up the Houston area fall league and he is preparing for his upcoming senior season.

“Our fall league just ended this past week and we went undefeated,” Anyigbo said. ”I did pretty well every game but there’s always room for improvement. We’ve been doing conditioning since the summer. Our season starts sometime in November, like the second week in November. I am ready.”

Kene Anyigbo Highlight Video from One Entertainment:

Terrence Boyd, a recent decommit from Western Kentucky, has become a hot topic among Memphis fans the past few days. Hoping to pick up a highly ranked prospect for 2009 to add to a thin roster, Tiger fans were looking for some promising news. After a brief conversation with Boyd on the phone Monday afternoon, MemphisRoar was informed that due to his situation at Western Kentucky, Boyd will have to chose between sitting out a year for a Division 1 team or Junior College for a year.

“Right now, with the predicament that I was put in, to get my release after the end of summer school. So that already checks off one thing with the NCAA that wherever I transfer regarding a D1 school, I’ll have to sit out a year. Or I could go to a JUCO and play a year and look at all the options that you had before.”

Despite this setback, Boyd has remained positive and is focusing on what’s next for him. “Basically I have to sit down with the people who care about my situation and try to figure out the next step, whether it’s D1 or Juco.”

Boyd informed MemphisRoar that he has not made a list yet of possible destinations.  He also informed us that he is not talking to any college coaches right now.

Although Boyd is not listing any schools, he does know a few changes he’ll make when selecting his next destination. “Definitely a situation that’s going to back up it’s word. Maybe a situation, as far as location wise, nothing wrong with Bowling Green, but being a city kid, sometimes you just don’t adapt to your surroundings as quick.”

With uncertainties surrounding Boyd and where he’ll end up, one thing is certain, Boyd is a gifted athlete. When asked to describe his style of play, Boyd said, “Transition, 94 feet of defense, perimeter shooter, good team player and get everyone involved. I just want to take my game to the next level.” When asked where he sees himself playing in college, Boyd responded with, “Right now the position I am filling is the 2 guard position because I can score, have good handles, and see the whole floor. The 3 position, I’m a good rebounder, like to pass the ball. But at the 4, I don’t think that would be a spot for me. That’s more a 6’8, 6’9’’, but with my toughness and tenacity and will to get after is something that could maybe relate to a power forward.”

Boyd would have been a steal for any team this late into the summer, with college classes starting soon all over the nation. With everything happening so late, Boyd admitted that it has been challenging. “Just finalizing my decision. Being on the clock. That’s the hard part because like I said, just trying to figure out what’s the best fit for you. It’s something that takes time and sometimes you just don’t want to rush into stuff, so obviously I’m just checking everything off and going by every single guideline.”

Wherever Terrence Boyd ends up, he is definitely someone to keep an eye on and we wish him and his family the best of luck in his decision making process.

According to those we spoke with this morning, the Memphis coaching staff has NOT been informed that this announcement is coming and that some things are being done to try to help the outlook of Latavious’ standing at the University of Memphis next season. Without going into much detail, the basic understanding we have is that the coaching staff is in scramble mode to keep Williams in play.

Williams previously told MemphisRoar that playing overseas was still an option as of late May right after the NCAA allegations were announced.

“If things get messed up with Memphis, going overseas is a big option for me,” replied Williams. “I did a lot of work to get straight on my school. I made a 17 on my ACT and finished 14 classes in a year. I worked really hard and would only be scared that I could get messed up too.”

Stay tuned to MemphisRoar as we continue to gather details on this breaking news.

9:35am UPDATE:

We have tried reaching Latavious by phone and text message multiple times to no avail. With Jerry Meyer’s recent update to his article here, it appears as though this is a done deal despite the efforts of the coaching staff.

“It’s a done deal,” said Williams. “We’re trying to work something out in China.”

Opening up the first game on a hot streak, Williams and Penny began “embarrassing” the team full of current Memphis Tigers. With a 6 to zilch start (in a game to 10), Williams got a chance to show some of his skills in a short amount of time. Flashing some really quick moves in the post, a good mid-range game and the ability to get out in the open court, Williams made his mark on game number one. With the score at 9-3, Penny Hardaway called Williams out to the top of the key saying, “Hey, you…get up here and finish this.” Williams proceeded to take Angel Garcia off the dribble on a “sick” spin move leaving Garcia with no choice but to foul Williams. Game over.

In addition to the things he showed in the first game, Williams showed that he has nice handles and can maneuver really well in the open court. According to those in attendance, Williams is definitely not a power forward, more like a small forward that can take someone in the post. In terms of his shot, it seemed as though he is a “CDR” level shooter, in which he can knock down the mid-range really well and does not rely on the three at all.

Using an aggressive style of play in which he really seems to initiate and expect contact, Williams used his explosive athleticism to drive and finish in both the open and half court. He had a couple of dunks, an alleyoop and a tomahawk dunk, that really showed off his athleticism as well. Williams also seems to be an underrated rebounder, as he was consistently snatching up rebounds. Finally, Williams showed that he has a high basketball I.Q.  and is a very adept passer out of the post.

Wild, Wild West

As of Monday, USC basketball recruit Derrick Williams received his release from his national letter of intent and announced he plans on attending another school. While Williams has not publicly spoken about his plans yet, MemphisRoar was able to confirm that Memphis will, in fact, be on the highly-touted 6′7″ forward’s list. Other mentioned, according to our source, are Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA and UAB.

Williams, who is a combo forward and can play a mix of the three or the four, has a very high basketball IQ, good body frame, long arms, effective jumper and is a high level athlete. Knowing the type of player Williams is automatically brings up some questions about how he fits into the current Memphis roster for next season. 

Putting Willie Kemp at starting point guard and realizing that no 2009 PGs are available to back him up, you know have to consider a PG by committee type of season in which players like Wesley Witherspoon and Roburt Sallie would fill some minutes at that spot. After adding some additional bulk and with the need for someone to fill minutes at the five behind incoming JUCO center Will Coleman, it is likely that you will see the staff try to develop Angel Garcia to be able to play some minutes inside the paint. Based upon past performance, the staff will not being able to rely on Henderson-Niles for meaningful minutes at the four or five. Latavious Williams is the only player mentioned so far that will not be venturing out of his position “comfort zone”. Latavious is expected to chip in minutes at the SF and PF position. Additionally, Martin Ngaloro, while a steal so late in the game, is not the type of player who will greatly impact the roster at the three or four position. All this said, there are plenty of minutes for Williams. His versatiility would likely lend to him seeing early playing time.

Stay tuned on this issue, as it will likely be a quickly developing story.

  Check out this write-up of Williams from last summer.

 The Coney Island Carousel

After reports surfaced this week that Maryland is no longer interested in Lance Stephenson, many other media outlets came to the conclusion that Memphis and Florida International are the only two schools remaing as options for the Brooklyn native if he chooses to play in college.

Dan Wolken of The Commercial Appeal wrote a piece on Tuesday confirming that Memphis is still interested in the ESPNU#12 rated player stating, “according to a source close to the program, the Tigers are still open to taking Stephenson and have let it be known to the Stephenson camp that they are interested.”

After doing some digging, we are on the same page as Wolken, with some reservations. While our sources did confirm that Memphis is still interested in Stephenson, it was made very clear that the lines of communication are not currently open. The general feeling is that the Memphis staff has made it clear to Stephenson and those around him that they are interested and will take him, but that there has been very little reciprocity. Citing unanswered phone calls and unreturned voice mails, those that we spoke with made it seem like it would take “a phone call out of the blue stating that Lance wants to commit” in order for anything significant to come from this.

In other words, don’t count on it. It’s almost like finding that $20 bill in a jacket pocket that you haven’t worn since last winter. In no way were you expecting it and it’s not very likely to happen very often, but when it does, it sure does brighten your outlook and give you a little more to work with.

Memphis MyFaves

With the recruiting season for the 2009 winding down to an almost complete stand-still, things are just now starting to heat up with the 2010 and 2011 classes. With the contact period opening up for telephone calls on June 15th, the staff has hit the phones hard. With a focus on 2010 and 2011, there are certain players that stand out that most certainly received telephone calls.

Mobile-to-Mobile (Tri-State Area)

Joe Jackson – 2010

Casey Prather – 2010

Tarik Black – 2010

Ky Madden – 2011

Andre Hollins – 2011

Mychal Ammons – 2011

Hunter Michelson – 2011

Johnny O’Bryant- 2011

Rakeem Christmas – 2011

Nino Johnson – 2011

Kedren Johnson – 2011

Jarnell Stokes – 2012

Cameron Golden – 2012

Johnathan Williams (J3 for short) - 2013

Top 5 MyFaves for 2010

Joe Jackson – PG - hometown hero???

Tarik Black – PF - physical freak about to blow up this summer

Cameron Clark – SF - will Coach Pastner’s connections with Team Texas give Memphis the inside track for the SF from Texas???

Roscoe Smith - SF - how much of an impact will having current Memphis commit Will Barton in his ear have?

Michael Bradley – PF/C – throwing in a surprise, here’s a sleeper from Chattanooga that attended the Memphis Elite Camp (good size and raw but has a chance to develop quickly…hasn’t played long)

The “good thing I have free long distance” Call Log

Cory Joseph

CJ Leslie

Justin Martin

Wayne Martin Jr

Quincy Miller

Perry Ellis

Johnson graduated from high school Friday, so he’s available to conclude his recruiting process relatively quickly, which is evidenced by a visit to UNC-Charlotte on Monday and Tuesday of this week and an upcoming visit to UNLV this weekend. His high school coach, Andre Flynn of Fayette County High, said Tuesday that he hasn’t talked to him in a week.

The connection to UNLV for Johnson is between his father, Lynbert “Cheese” Johnson, and Rebels assistant Lew Hill. The elder Johnson and Hill are longtime friends, both attending and playing for Wichita State. Johnson played for the Shockers from 1976-79, while Hill played from 1985-88.

The assumption by some has been that Johnson is to wind up picking between two schools, Georgia Tech and LSU. Most assume that Georgia Tech is the favorite to pull Johnson in; however, at present there is currently no room for Johnson on the Yellow Jackets’ roster. Georgia Tech forward Gani Lawal, who averaged 15.1 points and 9.5 rebounds a game, is now talking about withdrawing from the NBA Draft and coming back to school – and with a six-man signing class in place already including wings Kammeron Holsey, Glen Rice and Brian Oliver, and the current official 2009-10 roster from Georgia Tech’s official site has no less than nineteen players on it. In order to pull off a roster makeover miracle like that, Georgia Tech would have to be renamed University of Kentucky-Atlanta.

LSU has a shot at him for three reasons:

1) Head coach Trent Johnson’s relationship with USC head coach Tim Floyd- reportedly, Floyd is giving Johnson a strong recommendation to LSU.

2) Johnson’s relationship with Chris Jackson- Johnson has a good relationship with several current and former NBA players including former Tiger Chris Jackson, now known as Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Abdul-Rauf has worked with Johnson on his outside stroke and shooting off the dribble and has also surprisingly made recommendations to Johnson that he consider LSU.

3) Johnson’s relationship with current/former LSU players- He was an AAU teammate of two members of last year’s LSU team, Dennis Harris and Delwan Graham – and while Graham is no longer on the LSU roster Harris is, and Johnson and Harris are good friends.

Returning from his visit from Charlotte yesterday, Johnson said there are still other schools he’s considering and that he hopes to have a decision made within the next three weeks.

“I like to play on the perimeter,” Johnson said. “I’m trying to play a lot of minutes right away, go somewhere where I can contribute.”

He did not give a list, but MemphisRoar continues to hear that Memphis is involved with Johnson. Whether the news of the NCAA allegations or the signing of Martin Ngaloro will have any effect on Memphis’ involvement is not something that we have been able to determine. Stayed tuned as we try to bring you more on the latest in Noel’s recruitment.

Martin Ngaloro

UPDATE of the UPDATE

Friday, when Ngaloro was interviewed by MemphisRoar, he said, “I signed with Memphis and look forward to playing with them next season.” If you go back and read the interview when MemphisRoar broke the story about the visit, you’ll notice that quote was missing. According to our sources, it was better that we leave that portion of the interview out. Needing to see Ngaloro first hand, this gave the staff opportunity of a potential escape plan if need be. Apparently that is no longer the case. Since the news is starting to leak in other places, we are happy to now quote Martin Ngaloro when he said, “I will be going to Memphis.”

Kristen Tallent of Fox 13 is reporting on her Twitter that Martin Ngaloro has signed with Memphis. The full interview will air tonight on Fox 13.

*** *** *** ***

UPDATE FROM THE FINCH

According to multiple sources, 2009 SF prospect Martin Ngaloro participated in a few pickup games today at the Finch Center on campus at the University of Memphis. Ngaloro, who is listed anywhere between 6′7″ and 6′9″, should remind some of Wesley Witherspoon.

Long and lanky, Ngaloro reportedly showed a very good shooting touch during the games today. In addition, those in attendance said that he is athletic, has a good body (although it is said he will need to gain some weight), good handles for his size, has huge feet, long arms and appears to still be growing. On the down side, we were told that Ngaloro needs work on the defensive end and has a tendency to play soft. Ngaloro teamed up with Pierre Niles, Willie Kemp, Angel Garcia and Preston Laird in a couple games and faced up against a team made up of Penny Hardaway, Thadeus Young, Jeremy Huny and two unknown guys.

This late in the game, there are going to be downsides to almost any player out there, whether it is on the court or off of it. With the need for bodies, especially ones that have talent or show the potential for development, those downsides become less and less of a factor. That said, it would not shock MemphisRoar at all if Martin Ngaloro were on the roster going into next season. Showing tremendous upside, Ngaloro is the type of player that could potentially blossom under a coaching staff driven by two guys (head coach Josh Pastner and new assistant coach Jack Murphy) who have shown the ability to develop talent. Stay tuned to MemphisRoar, as we will be bringing you the latest on Ngaloro as we get it.

SIDE NOTES:

- Former Memphis Tiger Jeff Robinson was in attendance today. Robinson is in town working Josh Pastner’s camp.

- Local talent Ferrakohn Hall played in the pickup games today as well. Reports from the Finch have Hall leaving with one less tooth than he came with.

- Don’t be surprised if a commitment or announcement on Ngaloro happens before he leaves (see update at top now).

MemphisRoar will keep you updated as we learn more on Ngaloro’s ongoing visit.

* This one was for you, Greg.

“I’ m  from France,” said Ngaloro. “I started [playing] basketball at the age of 6. I have two older sisters and one younger brother. I play the three. I like to play a fast style, run, shoot and jump.”

In a rough time for fans and those closely associated with the program, the word of the year has been patience. During the first few months of coach Josh Pastner’s tenure, he and his staff have scoured high and low, near and far for prospects that can play at a high level. Pastner and his staff feel like they have one in Ngaloro.

“I like the teams who run and shoot the ball,” said Ngaloro of his preferred style of play. “I think my athleticism is the best part of my game.”

So, after a week of ups and downs, here is another up for you. Ngaloro will be on campus at Memphis start tomorrow and will last two or three days.

“I’m going to visit Memphis university, I’m coming tomorrow over to the USA,” said Ngaloro. “I’m visiting Memphis tomorrow. I will stay there like 2 or 3 days.”

Martin also added that he is coming by himself. Since he is rather unknown to most fans, MemphisRoar wanted Ngaloro to explain a little bit more about how he started playing basketball.

“I started at the age of 6, so it’ s been like 13 to 14 years since I started playing ball,” Ngaloro said. “I need to work on every aspect of my game to really get better. Keep working on my left hand and my shot.”

According to Ngaloro, he played basketball in Spain last season at an academy and averaged around 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists per game.

When asked what he thought of new head coach Josh Pastner, Ngaloro replied, “He is young, but I think it’ s a good thing because he can relate. He seems cool.”

OTHER QUESTIONS

Q: What are your other interests besides basketball?

A: “I listen a lot of music. I like to party sometimes just to relax a little bit but i don’t go out a lot. I’ m also watching the series “My Wife and Kids” and “Malcom.”  I like to go to the cinema. I also spend time on internet to see what’s up with my friends.”

Q: Who is your favorite player?

A: “I like scottie pippen!”

Q: How do you feel about the possibility of playing in the United States?

A: “I ‘m very excited about possibly playing at Memphis. I know they run and shoot the ball, so it’ s all good. It’ s a great team and i think i can really get better playing for Memphis.”

This news is quite confusing seeing as though Williams told MemphisRoar less than 24 hours ago that he was still committed to the University of Memphis. In response, we hit the phones. According to Williams, this is not true at all.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I didn’t talk to anyone on the radio or say I wasn’t committed,” said Williams. “It’s a lie. Yes, I am still committed [to the University of Memphis] right now.”

Just be patient folks. Let this process play out. Latavious has made it clear that he wants to take his time, determine what will happen with the June 6th meetings with the NCAA and make a decision from there.