Malaki Branham is Ohio State's latest one-and-done, but Brice Sensabaugh could be next. Here's what Branham thinks of the freshman forward.
Seated inside the Billy Joel Star Room just down the hallway from the visitors’ locker room at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Branham folded his formidable frame into a folding chair and smiled. An Ohio native who starred at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, he arrived at Ohio State as a four-star prospect ranked No. 38 nationally in the 247Sports.com composite database and then averaged 17.
“I’d probably say after the Michigan State game,” he said. “It was a lot of mock drafts and stuff like that. I didn’t really look at it, but after that I’m like, if I keep doing this for the last couple games I can definitely make this jump. And I made that jump.”. By the end of the season, ESPN projected him as the No. 18 pick in a late-March mock draft, and by late April he officially declared for the NBA.
“He’s a great athlete,” the former Buckeye said. “Great player. Off the court, he’s even good. I texted him a couple games just saying how I thought he played on the offensive and defensive end, so we talk here and there. I said if you ever need anything, just ask me. It’s been good just watching him perform at a high level and him being consistent.”
“I know it’s definitely harder for him than it was for D’Angelo or JT or me coming out because it’s easier when you’re winning and the NBA talks are coming versus the NBA talks are coming and you’re losing,” Bates-Diop said. “I’ve only known him for a little bit, but he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who will shift to, ‘Oh, I don’t care about this, I don’t care about the team.’ ”
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