Whenever I scan all of the published lists of the top player in each class I begin to think of Eddie Murphy's character in the movie The Distinguished Gentleman. In the Movie Murphy's character (Jeff Johnson) wins a seat in the US Congress simply because he has the same name as the previous congressman who had just died. He ran on the campaign slogan " Vote Jeff Johnson, The Name You Know." The voters did not really know the difference and they elected the later Jeff Johnson because they knew the name, and besides, they always voted for Jeff Johnson. That movie was a classic, comedy at its best, but as I scanned several lists I realized that there are a lot of Jeff Johnsons in the rankings, and like the movie it is pretty comical. It seems as if Once you are identified as a prospect early on it takes an act of god to unseat you. Newcomers have a hard time getting their just due. We feel that this is the case with Mt. Zion post player Mohamed Tangara. I mean, sure he is ranked on everyone's list, but most of the time you will find him in the 15-30 range. We feel this is robbery. We will be the first to go on record and say that Mohamed Tangara is the best post player in the 2004 class, and the second best talent in that class period behind Sebastian Telfair. Right now he plays for a very good Mt. Zion team and he has some very talented older players on his squad so sometimes he may get lost in the shuffle. We are talking about 6'11 post player Martin Iti. Martin is one heck of a talent and he is one notch of intensity away from being a pro, but this really does not say much. Does anyone remember the last player at Mt. Zion that had older players on the roster during the same time that he was there? Yes we are talking about Amarie Stoudemire. With the exception of
Breakdown Magazine and a couple of other insiders people really did not know who this kid was. A couple of months later at the Nike Camp Amarie goes and tears things up and the rest is history. We feel that Tangara is that same type of player. He has a pro body, good skills, and tons of athleticism. We are not ready to say that he is ready for the NBA out of high school, but we will say this. If any player in that class is ready we think it is him. Players like are Al Jefferson, Dwight Howard, Joshua Smith, and LaMarcus Aldridge are all very good post players in the 2004 class, but I would take Tangara over any of them. As a matter of fact if I had to choose between Ndubi Ebi, the guy that most consider the best big man in the 2003 class and Tangara, I would take Tangara. Sure, Ebi may be a little better right now but in three years us taking Tangara would seem like a page right out of the Jerry West Biography. Right now he is bigger, stronger and just as athletic as Ebi. He also has a true position at the next level. Sooner rather than later people need to make Mohamed Tangara the name they know.
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Mohamed Tangara
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