Larry Bergh. Willie Sojourner. Damain Lillard. Joel Bolomboy?
With his senior season underway the 6 foot 9-inch power forward is looking to establish himself as a draft prospect as well as looking to lead Weber State back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since his sophomore season in 2014. With NBA teams dispatching their scouts all across the country to find the best gems in college basketball Bolomboy’s name has been picking up steam.
Scouts from multiple high-profile teams have been in attendance to watch Bolomboy here in his final collegiate season. Despite the loss against BYU, Bolomboy now has recorded a double-double in all eight games in this young season, four shy of his double-double total for his entire junior season.
This has also been a career year for Bolomboy as he is averaging career highs in points, with 16.1 per game as well as recording a career high in rebounds, with 12.1 per game. As these areas have been shining, he has also recorded the best shooting percentage he’s had in a season since his freshman year when he played in only 21.7 minutes per game as opposed to the 32.9 minutes per game he is averaging this season.
In addition to all of that, he is the current school record holder in blocked shots and recently this season entered the 1,000 point club having scored over 1,000 points in his collegiate career.
After coming into the season as the #56 draft prospect on DraftExpress, he has fallen as he is now the #81 draft prospect, though he also comes in as the #14 senior in college basketball.
As the season wears on, Bolomboy should get attention from more NBA teams across the country as he has established himself as a bruising defender with a more versatile offensive game since he has added a 3-point shot to his vast repertoire of post moves and in-the-paint scoring. These features were shown in full in the team’s most recent game against BYU where Bolomboy recorded 12 points and 12 rebounds while making two 3-point shots.
This season, he has also shown his ability to win on the big stage. After he and Junior Guard Jeremy Senglin dominated the Gulf Coast Classic, Senglin came back with an in-season tournament championship. In addition to getting NBA attention, he has also inspired the awe of others in the Big Sky Conference
“If you look at our league and say, ‘Who’s the one NBA prospect?’ It’s obviously [Bolomboy],” Portland State head coach Tyler Geving said in a statement to the media.
With this kind of respect from other coaches in the conference it should just be a matter of time until NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stands at the podium and announces the name of the next draft pick out of Weber State, Joel Bolomboy.
Though this article is published by Charles, all material was written by Harrison Epstein
