BEVERLY HILLS (MI) -- Welcome to the fifth and final chapter of
"What Do We Know About...?" the
"FTS" series on the five new players who will don the Red and Blue for the first time this Saturday at the newly renovated UD Arena. This one is all about the "Mali Mystery Man" Moulaye Sissoko, altho he is much less of an unknown quantity after putting up 12 points and 9 boards in the exhibition game vs. Cedarville.
You can find the profile on Ibi Watson here:
http://www.udpride.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33353
Click here for the column on Chase Johnson:
http://www.udpride.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33373
The post on Jordy Tshimanga:
http://www.udpride.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33388
This one is all about Rodney Chatman:
http://www.udpride.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33421
Moulaye Sissoko is a 6'9", 248 pound freshman from Bamako, Mali by way of Lincoln Academy in Georgia, where he averaged 9.5 points and 7.5 rebounds his senior year.
Here are some videos of Moulaye in action:
From his days at Central Park Christian in Alabama:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=A3_1Ca5GBz8
A double-double against Rise Prep:
https://www.hudl.com/video/3/1034623...26fa026405b0b2
At the Tarkanian Classic:
https://www.cbssports.com/college-ba...anian-classic/
From his Twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/moulayesissoko/s...531968?lang=en
If you have a lot of time on your hands, here is a complete game video of Lincoln vs. Combine Academy where Moulaye scored 15 points to co-lead his team:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuCUEKbBPkg
His Twitter video when Sissoko announced his signing with UD:
https://twitter.com/moulayesissoko/s...60871717924864
UD press release on Sissoko's signing:
https://daytonflyers.com/news/2018/1...px?path=mbball
Outgoing Strength & Conditioning Coach Ed Streit had this to say about the big fella:
“He’s one of the most genetically-inclined freshmen I’ve every worked with. We chatted with him before he got on campus because we wanted him to hit the ground running because he was going to be our only new face. We had somewhat of a program for him, but it was kind of open for him. We weren’t keeping tabs on him or anything. He did his work and showed up in great shape. I would say a lot of that is pure genetics. I would love to be the guy to take credit for that, but I’m not going to.”
What's amazing to me is that Sissoko had never lifted a single weight before coming to UD! Especially when you see this picture of him with his teammates (that's Moulaye on the far left):
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzf_nbGD...ource=ig_embed
Or in this Twitter post from Ed Streit (that's Moulaye with the medicine ball):
https://twitter.com/StrengthCoachEd/....5388%2Fpage-4
This is an in-depth article on Moulaye by David Jablonski at
The DDN: https://www.daytondailynews.com/spor...5LHA5U2yELsHM/
Jablo also provided his (and Moulaye's teammates') impressions of Sissoko after the Cedarville game:
The team’s one freshman was a pleasant surprise: Moulaye Sissoko, a 6-foot-9 center from Mali, scored 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting and led the team with nine rebounds. He played 19 minutes.“Moulaye’s a monster,” Watson said. “He’s learning more every single day. Once he learns even more mentally, he’ll be ready to contribute. He’s a beast down there, and he gives us problems in practice every single day, and he’s really willing to learn. That’s big.”
The following is Sissoko's profile from
Bustin' Brackets:
Sissoko is a 3-star freshman that received offers from the likes of Florida, Cincinnati and Xavier. At 6-9, the forward has potential down the road but could be redshirted due to his inexperience and the depth of the roster.
I think we can forget that part about Moulaye redshirting, don't you?
Unlike his fellow newcomers--Jordy Tshimanga, Chase Johnson, Ibi Watson and Rodney Chatman--Sissoko is pretty much of a question mark, as all we fans have to go on is what we saw in the Cedarville exhibition. The prediction here is that Sissoko will be a valuable component of this Flyer squad, coming off the bench to provide rim protection and rebounding.
That's it "From the Swamp."
You can email me at:
swampy@udpride.com