2021 Bez Mbeng discusses recruitment

It’s been an active summer in the high school basketball recruiting world despite the complicated circumstances surrounding COVID-19. With restrictions on live evaluation periods putting Division I coaches in a bind, they’ve resorted to film from the high school season, live streaming events and leaning on the advice of others to solidify recruiting prospects. From the prospects point of view, we’ve seen players in the rising senior class make their commitments earlier than ever. In our current 2021 MD/DC player rankings, just two of the top 10 prospects remain undecided.

One of those players in 2021 Good Counsel/DC Premeir guard [player_tooltip player_id="712742" first="Bez" last="Mbeng"].

The 6-foot-3 guard offers many aspects that college programs like in their backcourt. Defensively he can guard either guard position while using his athleticism and length to contest shots around the rim when in help position. Offensively he’s at his best attacking driving lanes where he can rise over the defense and finish with soft touch on floaters or finish strong at the rim. He’s a threat every time he’s in the open floor thanks to his finishing ability.

If there has always been a blemish that comes up when discussing Mbeng’s game it’s been his jumper. However over the last calendar year he’s put in a lot of time working on mechanics and repetitions to improve the results. You can certainly tell the difference in his release since entering the high school ranks.

"You have to be able to shoot at the next level so it’s something I’ve really focused on all summer. My left hand tended to slip closer to my right so it looked as if I was shooting with two hands. The shot would look funky on the release, so me and my coaches have really worked on keeping my guide hand straight and my follow-through better. I can tell with my release everything looks better and the ball rotates better," Mbeng told Prep Hoops.

Mbeng, who was recognized as an honorable mention for the Washington Post’s 2020 All-Met team, hasn’t narrowed in on a specific date as to when he’ll make his college decision and still remains open to other schools joining in, but he continues to have constant dialogue with specific programs.

James Madison: Coach [Xavier] Joyner hits me up almost every day. I’ve known him for a while now and used to play against Coach [Calvin] Baker when he was at PVI. They both got on staff recently so once they realized they could jump into my recruitment they jumped right in. I’ve done zoom calls with all of the coaching staff and they’ve showed me the campus and they seem to really love me. It’s a nice campus, a nice school, the team is really good so there’s a really good relationship there." 

Robert Morris: They call from time to time just to see how things are going. I hear from them weekly and it seems to be a really nice school.

Stanford: Stanford got involved this summer once they realized I have the grades. They haven’t offered me yet, but they don’t extend offers out to too many guys quickly. It’s such a prestigious school so to even be recruited by a school like that is great in general. The opportunity would be crazy. I have a good relationship with the associate head coach Adam Cohen and have been on zoom calls with Coach [Camryn] Crocker. 

Columbia: I had a zoom with them after we scrimmaged Takeover. It’s a Ivy League school, so obviously a really great school and a great program. I have a relationship with Coach Carberry who just joined the staff from Yale and he was recruiting me a little bit there. They haven’t offered yet also, but I think a lot of it is them waiting on my grades and transcripts and stuff like that."

Mbeng also holds offers from Bryant, LaSalle, St. Francis (PA) and Towson.

What can programs expect to get with Mbeng? Here’s his take:

"Energy. Being able to get up and down the floor. Getting everybody involved and playing defense. A lot of transition buckets, fast-paced basketball and team basketball."