A Familiar Name

Beas Hamga is a name that's familiar to many. He is a strong 7-0 center who had played on teams internationally, then came to the US to play for prep schools, including the Decatur Christian School prep squad in 2007-2008.
They played several games in the Peoria area and even looked very good at the Tournament of Champions in 2006, when they played at the old BU Fieldhouse and the Civic Center.
Beas Hamga was their starting center and he had several good games, and impressed many college scouts. He was ranked by NUMEROUS scouting services in the 5-STAR range and as high as Top 20's nationally.
He really looked like he had a ton of potential even to the point where some predicted he'd step right in and be a solid starter from his first season in college.

He was obviously lots older...looking to be in his mid-20's although the schools officially danced around the age issue saying he was not too old to play even if he was under IHSA rules, but we all know how valid such a statement is, as it's since been proven that several of the Decatur Christian kids had their ages posted on Euro web sites when they played on pro teams over there,
and that they were indeed, in many cases, way older and outside the eligible age range for IHSA.

Which of course is why they were playing a prep schedule and NOT playing under IHSA. So even though they say he's in his early 20's evidence points to him being several years older, and an obscure release in 2005 from the agency that brought him to the US noted that since 9-11 it has become very difficult to get visas for these kids and the process takes years...so if Hamga has been in the US since 2005, then the picture below from Cameroon before he got his visa must be at least 6-8 years old...

In 2005, while still in high school, Beas was playing for Stoneridge prep (CA) and even then looked to be in his 20's.
http://www.a-hope.org/images/gallery/dscn0110.jpg

There are also obscure links that suggest Beas was playing on club teams in Africa as early as the beginning of this decade...and was 7-ft tall back then...
http://www.a-hope.org/images/gallery/beas.jpg


Anyway, Steve Alford at Iowa liked Hamga, offered, and Hamga verballed to the Hawkeyes.
Then when Alford was run out at Iowa, Beas reneged on his verbal and chose UNLV instead....selecting from many offers, as there was a significant recruiting frenzy over Beas with many top schools like Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, Iowa State, etc. chiming in.
Once he got to UNLV, he had to sit out a whole year because of the NCAA's penalty against the kids who played on international teams.
So in an entire year of sitting out (not really redshirting since he was not going to be eligible due to NCAA penalty, and that year is lost and not regainable), you'd think Hamga might have had lots of time to develop his skills or his work ethic.

BUT- word out of UNLV from both the media and from the fans on their message boards was that Beas was still an enormous project and was years away from being able to contribute. But his size and strength still led to some optimism.
So, in Beas' 2nd season at UNLV, after his "redshirt" season, he played in their preseason exhibitions and in 5 regular season games.
He was given decent opportunity to play and show his skills, but it was widely said that instead he just stood around and did virtually nothing.
The fans discussed how lost he looked and how he was so out of sync with the rest of the team that he was a severe hindrance to the team while he was on the court.
In the end, the sum total of his contributions was 5 points in 5 games played for the UNLV Runnin' Rebels, and he barely even grabbed any rebounds as they all seemed to clank off his anything-but-soft hands.

He was cut loose, and sent packing. Not much was said officially but the fans who discussed it said he was at least a 4-year project and that UNLV needed help sooner.
He then transferred and enrolled at Valparaiso, but before he even finished out the year (he wouldn't have been able to play in 2008-2009, and would not have even been eligible until 2nd semester of 2009-2010), he left Valpo and began a search for yet another school....and has finally landed at Weatherford College, a Texas junior college...the 5th school he's either pledged to or enrolled at in the past 2.5 years.
There is still good potential and still some time left for Hamga...

But even then, the saga is puzzling...
he was so out of shape when he arrived at Weatherford and troubled by knee problems, that he didn't even suit up for the first several games.

However, he was cleared by the NJCAA to play immediately, even though the NCAA disclosed Beas Hamga's undeniable professionalism, as he played on such overseas teams, and was penalized the entire season of 2007-2008 at UNLV......so how he was able to be cleared immediately by NJCAA to play at Weatherford is quite a striking question that it has to be raised in light of the astoundingly severe penalty handed down to John Wilkins at Southeastern (Iowa) CC.
Wilkins played scant minutes in only 5 games with a Euro team that was NOT a pro team but included a couple of professional players.

The disparity in the penalties between Wilkins and Hamga is almost as HUGE as the disparity in their professional connections...with Hamga having the far greater professional ties while receiving absolutely NO NJCAA penalty compared to the LIFETIME ban given to Wilkins.

Well...back to Hamga....
Just enroling at Weatherford gets some people drooling, and the guys at Jucojunction ranked Beas Hamga as the 35th best player in all of junior college, and the 4th best center!
This ranking came out BEFORE Hamga ever played a minute at juco, and remember, he's only played a handful of minutes anywhere since spring of 2007, and hasn't played anywhere in over a year.
Jucojunction even lists that he's getting some "medium" recruiting interest from Western Kentucky.
http://jucojunction.rivals.com/viewrank.asp?ra_key=2526

...He has finally begun playing for Weatherford...after a few weeks resting and treating an injured knee.
By the way, Kevin Durant's cousin is on the Weatherford squad, Kendall Durant...
Kendall Durant scored 29 a week ago Thursday in Beas Hamga's debut with Weatherford, although Hamga played only sparingly and didn't score.
They played a really weak JV squad from Bacone College and won 112-65.

In his 2nd game back against another weak college JV team, WC won 100-58 to go 8-4, and Hamga played a bit better...scoring 9 (Durant had 21).
http://www.weatherforddemocrat.com/sports/images_sizedimage_338102802/resources_photoview

So maybe there's still some optimism that Hamga can develop the skills to make it to D-I.
This is his sophomore season at Weatherford, and he's already lost two years of "clock" and eligibility while at UNLV, so he may have only a single year remaining to play at the D-I level when he graduates from junior college.
His first year at UNLV was NOT a redshirt year, it was a full year of D-I eligibility lost due to the professionalism penalty from NCAA.
He then lost his 2nd D-I year playing five games in 2008-2009 then leaving UNLV.
So even though he's raw and still just developing, and even though he's got only a single year left at the D-I level - after he uses another year at juco, there are still teams that NEED a big man bad enough that there's still talk...
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=170&f=2353&t=5165206

I am rooting for Beas to develop and make it, as I watched him play head to head in 2006 in a game between his Decatur Christian squad and Anthony Thompson's Klein Forest High School squad.
In that game, Hamga dominated and Thompson didn't even play much due to foul trouble.
Nobody in that Tournament of Champions had much success containing Hamga, and in that tourney he looked good. I really thought at that time he had a lot of potentioal, so I really don't know what happened.....why a player with such size & mobility failed to reach the level of success that many talent evaluators, fans, and college coaches thought he's reach. There's still time for Beas.