<\/p>\n
Flory Bidunga averaged 13.3 points and 2.6 blocks per game for Kansas as a sophomore. (Photo by Ed Zurga\/Getty Images) <\/p>\n
St. John’s\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Red Storm fell to Duke<\/a> in the Sweet Sixteen, a season-ending loss that was star center Zuby Ejiofor’s<\/a> final college game. With Ejiofor graduating, there’s a gaping hole in the center of St. John’s<\/a> team on both sides of the ball. With his endless motor, Bidunga would bring a similar energy to Ejiofor, and could protect the rim at the same \u2013 or even better \u2013 level.\u00a0<\/p>\n Following in Ejiofor’s footsteps would be very fitting as he transferred to St. John’s from Kansas back in 2023, before Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino helped develop him into a two-way star. Bidunga has the defensive side of the ball down, and Pitino has proven he can improve his center’s offensive game. Bidunga is one of the top players in the portal and will be looking for a place where he is featured. St. John’s offers the platform, coach, and has a need at its position. The Red Storm are also reportedly one of Bidunga’s final choices, per The Field of 68<\/a>.<\/p>\n Michigan\u00a0<\/p>\n Another one of the programs Bidunga is considering is the defending national champions. The Wolverines will likely lose all three starting frontcourt members \u2014 Aday Mara, Morez Johnson Jr.<\/a> and Yaxel Lendeborg<\/a> \u2014 to the NBA Draft<\/a>. Bidunga would begin the replacement of those departures, and help Michigan<\/a> recreate the No. 1 rated defense in KenPom’s rankings<\/a>. He would also be a great lob partner for point guard Elliot Cadeau<\/a>, who is entering his senior year.<\/p>\n Head coach Dusty May has a history of winning with elite big men, but Bidunga doesn’t match the build of players May has coached. Mara and former Wolverines’ center Vladislav Goldin are both taller than 7 feet, while Bidunga is more of an undersized athletic freak. That said, there’s no reason to doubt May’s ability to adapt and build a defense around a center who, despite his differing stature, is as capable of a rim-protector \u2013 if not a better one \u2013 than Mara and Goldin.\u00a0<\/p>\n Duke<\/p>\n The Blue Devils are also a top choice that Bidunga is weighing. Duke offered Bidunga a scholarship during the summer of 2023 before he chose Kansas, so there was prior interest. The Blue Devils will likely lose forwards Patrick Ngongba<\/a>, Cameron Boozer<\/a> and Maliq Brown<\/a> to the NBA Draft, so Bidunga would be a solid and necessary replacement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Duke, however, did not have a transfer on their roster last season, and only had one in reserve forward Mason Gillis, last year. Maybe it’s against coach Jon Scheyer’s best interest to follow his peers and dip into the portal. But after a second consecutive season enduring a devastating tournament-ending loss, will Scheyer snap his trend in sight of a breakthrough? It seems that could be the case as the Blue Devils were also a reported finalist for Bidunga according to The Field of 68.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Flory Bidunga could anchor the next championship defense.\u00a0 After playing two seasons at Kansas, Bidunga entered the transfer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":706719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,691,3730,1043,231,772,1544,218],"class_list":{"0":"post-706718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-duke-blue-devils","11":"tag-kansas-jayhawks","12":"tag-michigan-wolverines","13":"tag-ncaa","14":"tag-ncaa-basketball","15":"tag-ncaab","16":"tag-st-johns-red-storm"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116375692512030803","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=706718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}