Morgan State's Coly decides to go pro

Photo: NBA draft prospect Boubacar Coly.

Boubacar Coly, Morgan State's 6-foot-9 defensive enforcer, will forgo his last year of NCAA eligibility to pursue a pro basketball career, Bears coach Todd Bozeman said this week. Coly, who played this season as a 24-year-old graduate student, leaves as reigning Defensive Player of the Year in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. He led the MEAC in rebounds (10.9 per game) and blocked shots (84).

A native of Senegal, Coly transferred from Xavier University, where he played in only a handful of games while undergoing two knee surgeries. He earned a degree in mass communication there, and that enabled him to play his first season at Morgan in 2006-07.

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Morgan State Bears Earn Three Top Honors at MEAC Tip-Off Banquet in Raleigh

Photo: MSU's Jamar Smith, 2008 MEAC Player of the Year, doing his thing against FAMU in Tallahassee.

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) announced its 2008 all-conference teams Monday evening at the Tip-Off Banquet held at the North Hilton Raleigh Hotel. Morgan State’s Jamar Smith earned the 2008 MEAC Player of the Year award, as voted by the league’s head coaches and sports information directors. Todd Bozeman, also of Morgan State, was named the MEAC Coach of the Year, as voted on by his peers and Boubacar Coly was named as the 2008 MEAC Defensive Player of the Year.

Todd Bozeman guided the Morgan State Bears to their best regular season finish with a 14-2 conference record and a 20-9 overall mark. In only his second year at the helm, Bozeman’s Bears earned the school’s first regular season championship and will enter tournament play as the number one seed.

Coly recorded an unprecedented nine Defensive Player of the Week honors this season, including six in a row. He led the MEAC in blocked shots and rebounds, both of which he ranked nationally. He also led the MEAC in double-doubles with six and has grabbed 10 or more rebounds in 17 games. As a senior, he finished the season averaging 9.6 points and 11.1 rebounds a game. He has also amassed 76 blocked shots.

Smith, the third best scorer in the MEAC, led his team in scoring all season averaging 17 points a game. A senior, he has also posted 10 double-digit scoring performances, three double-doubles and three games with 10 or more rebounds. He has started in 27 games this season, averaging over 30 minutes in each, and has tallied 35 assists, 17 blocked shots and 29 steals.

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Not an average 'Morgan State' Bear

Photo: Though his family in Senegal wanted him to pursue soccer, Boubacar Coly came to the United States to develop as a basketball player. He had to come back from three surgeries to return to the court in college.

Drive has carried Morgan's Coly on long journey

He devoted much of his childhood in Africa either to playing sports or watching television, but Boubacar Coly can speak eight languages with ease. He is Muslim by faith but attended Catholic schools much of his life and even a Catholic university for a time. He grew up on a continent where soccer is king, but his heart led him to basketball and the United States.

Incongruous as those facts seem, they are mere snapshots of a young man who forged a life in the United States when everyone back in Ziguinchor, Senegal, told him not to leave seven years ago.

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Boubacar Coly’s effort fuels Morgan State Bears

Photo: Top-50 recruit out of Laurinburg (N.C.) Institute, Morgan State University's senior forward/center Boubacar Coly is playing like one of the best in the country at his positions.

BALTIMORE - After consulting with family and Amadou Gallo Fall, the director of scouting for the Dallas Mavericks who found 6-foot-9, 220-pounder in Ziguinchor, Senegal, Boubacar Coly transferred to Morgan State. “I needed a second chance,” Coly said. “Coach Bozeman has been given his second chance and he understood more than anyone else.”

This year, he’s playing like one of the best centers in the country, as he’s led the Bears to a 9-8 record and second place in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference at 4-1. Coly is averaging 9.6 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, which is 10th-most in Division I. His 2.6 blocks per game rank 9th in major college basketball.

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Morgan State (9-8, 4-1 MEAC) is tied for second in the MEAC thanks in part to the play of forwards Marquise Kately, junior (California) and Boubacar Coly, senior (Xavier); Combined points: 22.1. Combined rebounds: 16.

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