Dana Altman has landed yet another five-star recruit to his roster.
6-foot-11, 230-pound center N’Faly Dante verbally committed to Oregon via a story in The Players Tribune. Dante, who had multiple offers from other basketball programs, chose Oregon over the likes of Kentucky, Kansas, and LSU. Dante becomes Oregon’s third highest-rated recruit in program history.
“Throughout this process it’s been important to me to choose a place that I know you’d be proud of,” Dante wrote in a letter written to his mother in Africa. “A place where I will get a strong education and that has a family atmosphere. I’ve put a lot of thought into it, and I’m excited to tell you that next year I’m going to be attending college and playing basketball at the University of Oregon.”
Dante, who played high school basketball at Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita, Kansas, is known for his shot-blocking ability that contributes to his elite defense presence. He also showed his offensive game in the Nike EYBL league by averaging 14.5 points per game on a 76 percent shooting clip, to earn the second session’s Most Valuable Player.
After the loss of Kenny Wooten, Bol Bol and Louis King to the NBA, Dante, who was a top-15 prospect in the class of 2020, will reclassify to join the Ducks in the 2019-20 season. Dante will compete for frontcourt playing time with sophomore Francis Okoro, freshman C.J Walker, Chandler Lawson and Lok Wur and graduate transfer Shakur Juiston.
Altman, after just having three scholarship players following the 2018-19 season, now has 12 players on scholarship. He will have room to add just one more scholarship player for the upcoming season before he reaches the NCAA limit.
Follow Gabriel on Twitter @gabe_ornelas
