By Make5Media Staff
A guard can turn the corner off a screen and still come away with nothing if the big man rolling to the rim can’t finish. That’s where Yohane Kabongo fits at Alabama. The 6-foot-9 center from DME Academy in Daytona Beach, Florida, gave Nate Oats his third verbal commitment in the 2027 class on Nov. 8, picking the Crimson Tide over Tennessee and Mississippi State.
Kabongo averaged 17.3 points and 8.5 rebounds as a junior while shooting 68 percent from the floor. That efficiency is what makes him an intriguing fit. Put him in a ball screen with a guard who can get downhill, and the opposing big has a choice: step up to stop the ball or stay back with Kabongo. If the help comes from the corner instead, there’s a shooter open. Kabongo can help create that shot without touching the ball.
The tougher adjustment will come on defense. Kabongo averaged 1.6 blocks at DME, but the plays that earn him minutes in the SEC may be the ones that never show up as blocks. Can he hold his ground against an older post player? Can he contest a drive and still get back to finish the possession with a rebound? Those are the early tests for a young center.
Alabama’s class already includes Chase Lumpkin, a 6-foot-4 guard from McEachern in Powder Springs, Georgia, and Zion Green, a 6-foot-9 forward at AZ Compass Prep. There’s an easy picture to draw with those three: Lumpkin coming off a screen, Green waiting on the wing and Kabongo rolling hard down the middle. Now the defense has to decide who it’s willing to leave.