Dingba Planning Visits
Samuel Dingba is a unique basketball player in more ways than one.
It was two years ago that the Cameroon native arrived at Salisbury School, only able to speak his native French.
“When he first got here he could say two things, ‘no problem’ and ‘ok’,” Salisbury head coach Jeff Ruskin recalled.
From a basketball standpoint, he made an immediate impact on the defensive end where his length and instincts made him an immediate presence, but his offense as initially raw.
“I had a tutor that I worked with every day,” Dingba said, “and I get up and get in the gym every morning at 5:30 and then again in the afternoon.”
His hard work has paid off both on and off the court as he now speaks fluent English and has done well enough in the classroom to warrant looks from Ivy League Schools. Basketball wise, he’s now able to shoot the ball with touch from the perimeter and has also evolved into a low post scoring threat.
His approach to his recruiting is similarly unique, as Dingba has very different concerns than most prospects his age.
“I’ve told coaches coming in here not to bother talking to him about level or facilities, because he won’t care,” Ruskin said. “For him, it’s just going to come down to where he believes there are the best people.”
After leading Salisbury to consecutive appearances in the NEPSAC Class A final, winning the school’s first title this past season, and then starring on the AAU circuit with the Westchester Hawks, Dingba accumulated approximately 25 division I scholarship offers.
He’s now started the process of trimming that list down and setting up his visits. He’ll take official visits to St. Joseph’s, St. Bonaventure, and Quinnipiac in the next three weekends and then visit Rhode Island and Boston University in October.
While Dingba has set these five visits, there are still a variety of other schools that continue to pursue him including the likes of Duquesne, Drexel, Siena, Manhattan and Robert Morris according to Ruskin. Boston College is also still involved.
Yale, Pennsylvania, Harvard and Dartmouth have been involved from the beginning and could potentially get right back into the mix depending on Dingba’s upcoming SAT score.
Dingba said he’s most interested in spending time with his potential teammates on his upcoming visits, especially during the night when the coaching staff isn’t around, but not for the reasons that most 18 year olds might.
“I want to see how the team hangs out during the night, see if they’re great teammates,” Dingba said of his upcoming visits. “During the night everything is different.”
“I’ve told all the coaches, the worst thing they could do with Samuel is to take him out and try to party with him,” Ruskin said.
Just another reason why Samuel Dingba is a truly unique and special person, both on and off the basketball court.
Samuel Dingba