Prospect Spotlight: Mark Mboya Kotieno (2018)
I retweeted a video a few weeks ago from Chad Corey of KAAL-TV out of Rochester. It was highlights from a Pine Island win and alongside obvious prospect Broc Finstuen was a mysterious big man who was moving well and scoring with nice touch and coordination.
Then the texts came in… “who is that big guy?” was the common theme. After a little digging, I found out that it was Mark Mboya Kotieno, a 6-foot-9 German exchange student who was staying with Finstuen and his family.
“I signed up at a foreign exchange organization in Germany, and they looked for a family for me all over the U.S.,” Kotieno said. “The Finstuens were the first ones to show interest, and they decided to host me. It’s been a lot of fun; I found a lot of new friends, school’s great, too, and basketball has been a lot of fun as well.”
This wasn’t Kotieno’s first time on a basketball court. He has years of experience from a German club prior to Pine Island.
“I’ve been playing basketball in Germany for about 10 years,” he said. “I was on a very good team that played competition all over the country. I’ll probably play for the professional B team from my city ones I come back. There are some other teams that have shown some interest, though, and I haven’t really made a decision yet.”
The current plan is for Kotieno to return to Germany on June 15. Some AAU programs have asked him to play with them this spring, but transportation to and from Pine Island could be a roadblock. In addition, some curious college programs have also asked about Kotieno’s future plans.
“Coach just told me that colleges were wondering whether I would consider coming back for college or not,” he added. “I would consider it, but I am not completely sure whether I would like to do that or not. I’m still open to everything.”