What Syracuse is Getting in Mounir Hima
One day after his official concluded, 6-11 Duquesne transfer center Mounir Hima committed to Syracuse. The Orange was in need of a backup center to starter Jesse Edwards. Hima's high school coach, Mark Taylor of St. Benedict's, says the message from Syracuse was an honest one.
"I talked to Gerry (McNamara) probably three, four, five days in a row about everything," Taylor said. "So we were working very closely together. They were very straightforward about the role that Mounir would play. Pretty clear with Mounir about it and Mounir is confident in ability. He was like, 'yeah coach, I can definitely earn time and get more and more time.' Very confident in the style of play and him fitting into what Syracuse needed and what he does. It just made a lot of sense for everybody."
Hima is not the first St. Benedict's player that coach Taylor has sent to Syracuse. Tyler Ennis and Bourama Sidibe are two past examples. Taylor says Hima and Bourama Sidibe are not the same type of player.
"Different players," Taylor said. "Mounir is more of a five and bigger, longer and thicker than Bourama. I think he's a little bit different. I think Bourama was a little bit better offensively when he showed up than Mounir. I think Mounir might have more potential based on his length. He's got like a 7-8 wingspan. In the middle of the zone, that's going to help a lot."
Taylor believes Hima has a tremendously high ceiling and Syracuse is the perfect spot to develop.
"He's a pro if he works at it," Taylor said. "There's no question, based on his length and his size and his athleticism, he's got a real chance long term. He's gotten a lot better. He was hurt in his junior year of high school, which hurt a little bit of his development. In his senior year, he really started to come on. I didn't see a lot of him over the last two years at Duquesne. But I have seen him play recently and he's definitely improved. Offensively, he's better around the basket.
"His timing is great. He's going to block shots. He's going to rebound. He runs the floor like a gazelle. All of those things are going to translate in Syracuse's zone and the way they run and push. I think he's going to be really successful at Syracuse. Development wise, he's going to get better every year. He's a great kid, works really, really hard, and wants to get better. Those are all really good qualities. Kids that come from overseas like he did, from Africa, seem to just take off when it clicks."
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