Prince Ibeh BDN/Andrew Slater Photo
Three years after trying organized basketball for the first time, 6’11″ Prince Ibeh played in a very lightly attended AAU evening game on the outskirts of Las Vegas. There were sixteen coaches in attendance, however, including three Duke coaches: Mike Krzyzewski, Jeff Capel, and Steve Wojciechowski. Ibeh, who wields a 7’4″ wingspan, has landed on the radars of high-major programs like Texas, Florida, Maryland, and Vanderbilt by possessing a tantalizing mix of size, athleticism, and upside.
For the majority of this AAU season, the 2012 prospect has been the defensive stalwart and veteran presence on a young Texas Titans team, where Ibeh, who has added more than twenty pounds of muscle, was a teammate of both Dallas-area Duke 2013 recruits Julius Randle and Matt Jones. The Garland, Texas product’s performance at the Amar’e Stoudemire Skills Academy earned him an invitation to Akron’s LeBron James Skills Academy. His length, lateral quickness, and quick-twitch second jump has made him into one of the better shot-blockers among the rising seniors.
Recently, he spoke with Blue Devil Nation about Duke’s recent interest, his unique first name, playing with Randle, and the keys to being a good shot-blocker.
For those that may only recently have seen you play, touch on your growth as a player over the past few years?
Yeah, a couple of years ago, I was pretty bad. (laughs) I was just starting and I guess I just got used to my body. I practiced a lot more and things started to fall into place.
In terms of your offensive growth or progression, where do you view it now and how far do you feel that you have to go? Where do you think it needs to be?
I think it needs to get a lot better, but it’s actually improved a lot.
Yeah, I think that your comfort level on offense and filling out your body have been the two biggest things that you’ve improved on since last year.
Yeah, absolutely.
With respect to recruiting, what schools are after you right now?
Duke, Texas, Florida, Florida State, Vanderbilt, Ohio State, Maryland, and then Baylor and a couple of other schools.
Sorry, but you must become a premium subscriber to view the rest of this post.
Join now by visiting the PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP link at the top of the page, where you can learn more about the benefits of a Blue Devil Nation Premium membership.
This post is also available for individual purchase, but you need to login or register first.
