Recruiting Report: Mark Mboya Kotieno (2020)
Pine Island surprised us this year with a 6-foot-9 explosive frontcourt player named Mark Mboya Kotieno. Mark impressed and is now back in Germany.
“All my Pine Island coaches and teammates helped me develop as a player and there have been a lot of experiences that I will always remember,” Mark told Prep Hoops.
“The two most memorable games were probably my last two games in the sections. After our best player fouled out with about five minutes left against Rochester Lourdes we slowly started to lose our lead, but all the other players stepped up and we ended up winning the game.
“And the other one was the Subsection finals, were we lost against Caledonia. One thing that I loved about playing for Pine Island was our fan section, which supported us at every single game.”
Mboya Kotieno was a foreign exchange student at Pine Island so he is only allowed the one year to compete in basketball in Minnesota. Now he is back in his home country and focusing on his basketball future.
“Mainly I want to focus on improving my ball handling, defense, and three point shot to become a more versatile player and to be able to score from the perimeter as well,” Mark said.
So what is next for the Pine Island/German big who was a junior? More high school hoops.
“I’m still going to have two years of High School left in Germany, because this year doesn’t count for me,” Mark said.
“My goal is to make the German Youth National team and maybe start playing professionally in Germany in the next year or two.”
Will he come back to the United States for college basketball?
“Yes, if the right college would offer me I would definitely consider it. That is why I want to play for the German National team, because colleges are going to see me.”