After a month of searching, former Washington men’s basketball signee Niko Bundalo has chosen where he will begin his college career. 

The 6-foot-10, 215-pound four-star power forward from Prolific Prep in Napa, California, committed to Ole Miss on Tuesday, according to a report from ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, giving Rebels’ coach Chris Beard his third top 100 recruit in the 2025 class. 

Bundalo, ranked as the No. 40 overall prospect in the class, originally chose UW over offers from UConn, Michigan State, North Carolina, and Ohio State back in late November, a decision that at the time came as a surprise to many throughout the college basketball recruiting world. The four-star forward committed to Huskies’ coach Danny Sprinkle in late November and immediately signed with the program. 

However, with the transfer additions of senior forward Jacob Ognacevic from Lipscomb and Sprinkle signing Hannes Steinbach, who is ranked as one of the top European prospects in the 2025 cycle, Bundalo elected to request and was granted a release from his agreement with the Huskies on April 29 to seek a new home with a better chance of playing as a freshman. 

“Bundalo is an inside-out lefty four-man with good positional size, athleticism, and deceptive strength. He has good bounce around the rim, a great right hand, and while his frame doesn’t boast a ton of visible muscle mass, he plays through contact fairly well. He’s a legit low-post scoring threat who understands angles and is especially effective sealing off defenders prior to the catch for easy buckets,” 247Sports’ Adam Finkelstein wrote in an evaluation of Bundalo. 

NEWS: Niko Bundalo has committed to Ole Miss, his agents Taquan Dean and Niko Filipovich of BDAI Sports told ESPN. The 6’10 power forward and Prolific Prep product was named a McDonald’s All-American this season. pic.twitter.com/ufSEh11bTt

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) May 20, 2025

Despite the loss of Bundalo, the Huskies still have a strong incoming crop of freshmen with three top 100 recruits: four-star guards JJ Mandaquit and Courtland Muldrew, and four-star small forward Jasir Rencher, the latter of whom was also a late addition, having backed off his original pledge to Texas A&M as Bundalo did with UW. 

Sprinkle will also have the aforementioned Steinbach and junior college standout Mady Traore, ranked as the No. 3 overall junior college prospect, along with a strong transfer class as he looks to build upon a modest first season in 2024-25.