Sun Devils first to offer Florida Southwestern center

Junior college prospects often have a more challenging path to playing for a Division I school than high school recruits. The path cannot be formed prior to getting an offer from such a program, and that’s what happened to 6-11 Florida Southwestern College center Mohamed Sylla late last week when Arizona State contacted him.

“This is a big opportunity,” Sylla (pronounced see-la) said, “and it’s an honor to be offered by a big school like Arizona State. I know I have room to grow, and I’m always looking to get better. I’m always wanting to put in the work, and that is my mindset.”

The connection between the two was made by a trainer in the Phoenix-metro area who much like Sylla, is an Ivory Coast native. The individual who knows the ASU coaching staff introduced the center’s highlights to the Sun Devils, and the process picked up steam from there. It was an unexpected development according to Florida Southwestern College head coach Eric Murphy.

“He is really a hard-working player,” Murphy said. “He just brings it every single day. He plays hard and is a good offensive rebounder who runs the floor extremely well. Since he came here two years ago, his touch has gotten a lot better. He came back to campus in phenomenal shape because he was working out in quarantine the whole time. The more he plays basketball, the better he’s going to be. I noticed that his ball skills are getting better, and his instincts around the rim are getting better too.

"You could ask him to get in the gym at any time and if I don’t (ask him) he will be asking me."

Sylla arrived in the U.S. from the Ivory Coast in the 10th grade and attended Putnam science prep school in Connecticut before coming to Florida Southwestern College located in Fort Myers. Since his basketball skills were still raw at the end of his prep career, he took the junior college route. As a freshman, he averaged 11.5 minutes, 3.9 points, and 3.8 points a game for the Bucs. He posted a field goal percentage of 64.4 and collected 24 blocks in 26 games.

Murphy indicated that Iona, St. John’s. Florida Atlantic, Tulsa, South Florida, and Florida Gulf Coast were the schools who expressed interest in his center in recent months, and he was quite surprised that a school located thousands of miles away in Arizona State was ultimately the first school to offer Sylla.

“Arizona State came out of nowhere,” Murphy admitted. “Mohamed was excited because you’re always excited about your first offer. This will go a long way because he heard from other schools, but this was the first one who actually offered him a scholarship, and that means a lot more than somebody just talking to you and keeping tabs. I didn’t think a school from the West Coast will be one of the first teams to offer him, especially with all the schools that we have here in the South and the East. But I’m happy for him. I think that he can play at that level. I first talked to Arizona State a couple of days ago (last Thursday). I spoke to (associate head coach) Rashon Burno.

"He said they needed a defensive presence, a rim protector who can rebound well. On offense, they wanted someone who can set ball screens and catch and finish. I told him Mohamed could do all those things, and the one thing he really does well is that for his frame, he can really run the floor.

“He always rebounded the ball well, that was never in question. We used him the same way (as Burno described) on offense, and that’s where he needs to improve on. But his defense is already there because of his length, the way he moves laterally, and the way he runs the floor.”

The Bucs, along with the rest of the junior colleges in Florida will begin play in January 2021 due to COVID-19, and there is a chance that Sylla could sign with the school of his choice before his tip-off his last season at Florida Southwestern. Yet, Murphy isn’t concerned of this affecting his center’s approach this coming season.

“He’s starting to see that some of that hard work he’s put finally is starting to pay off a little bit,” Murphy remarked. “But I told him, ‘Hey, it’s just an offer, and we still gotta work on getting better, and it’s only official until you sign the paperwork with that school.’ And he understands the process because he’s watched guys go through it on our team last year.

Another thing Sylla watched months and months before ASU even started to pursue him was some of Arizona State’s contests. Aside from the obvious basketball reason, he also has a personal connection to the school.

“I didn’t know much about them, and I was looking them up online,” Sylla noted. “It’s a beautiful campus, and their (basketball) facility is dope, man. When I saw them play, I was very impressed, and I’m hoping I get a chance to play for a school like this. It’s a big-time program, and I know that if I go there, I’ll be better as a player and also as a person. They got everything you need.

“My cousin went to Arizona State about five years ago, and she told me what a great school it was. She told me it’s a great place to be at, and she knows that I will like it there.”

Sylla’s parents still love his native Ivory Coast, but he said that they are involved in his recruitment process as well as his legal guardian in New York. He knows that some of the schools that have been showing

interest may now follow Arizona State’s lead and extend an offer as well. Thus, he wants to be diligent in his approach to choosing a school.

Nonetheless, Sylla admitted that he could see himself committing to the school of his choice without visiting them first although he’s excited about the opportunity once the recruiting dead period is lifted to check out Tempe in person.

“If I can go out there on a visit, I will definitely do it,” Sylla stated. “But I already know that Arizona State is a big-time school, so I don’t have to visit them before I commit if I do decide to commit to that school. I’m not saying that if I get an offer in the future that it will be a better offer than what I have right now. I’m still talking to other schools, and maybe they will offer me too. I don’t want to put any pressure on myself and just keep on getting better. That’s my main focus, and when the time comes to commit, then I will do that.

“I’m going to go to a school that really wants me. if you go to the school that wants you, then you know you are going to have coaches that are going to push you every day to be better.”

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