In the 11 months since Baye Fall moved from Senegal to Denver, the 6-foot-11 Lutheran freshman has established himself as perhaps the most intriguing basketball prospect in Colorado.
So much so that college coaches flocking to scout Fall at the Class 3A school in Parker are already wondering whether the 16-year-old will be hearing his name on NBA draft day in a few years.
“One college scout said the consensus is, ‘Baye may not see a college court,’ considering the NBA is talking about likely changing their policy to allow players to declare right out of high school in 2022,” fifth-year Lutheran head coach Bill Brandsma said. “He came here skilled, and scouts are seeing his ultimate potential… He’s 6-foot-11 but jumps like he’s 6-2 and moves like he’s 6-6.”
Minnesota has already offered Fall a scholarship, with Texas, CU, DU and Arizona State also showing significant interest as the power forward tears up the competition in his first season of CHSAA action. Fall is averaging 21.3 points per game for the second-ranked Lions, which puts him first in the state in scoring among freshmen in all classes. He’s also averaging 11.2 rebounds and 3.5 blocks.
But hype, double-double stat lines and scholarship offers aside, Fall is quick to remind everyone why he came to American from Dakar — the Senegalese capital where he didn’t start playing basketball until he was 13.
“Most people think I’m just here for basketball — no, I’m here to study,” Fall said. “I’ve only been playing basketball since the sixth grade. Back home, everyone plays soccer, and I was a pretty good goalkeeper for a long time growing up.
“There’s a lot of opportunities coming — scholarships and everything — but I’m not trying to use basketball to be someone in life. I’m doing it for fun for now because I don’t know where the game is going to take me. I’m focusing on my studies and hopefully that will lead me to something great one day.”
Fall’s cousin, 6-foot-7 junior forward/wing Mamadou Sow, is also playing for Lutheran after emigrating from Dakur. The duo’s uncle brought them over, with Sow arriving first in October 2018, in order to get them a shot at a better education. The players live together with the same host family in Denver and also play on the same club team, the Colorado Hawks.
They commute about 45 minutes each way to Lutheran every day, another aspect of an acclimation that’s already tested both players on the court and in the classroom.
“All Baye’s known up until this season was AAU-style basketball, which is roll it out, go play, no practice,” Brandsma said. “It’s been an adjustment for him just like it was an adjustment for Mamadou in the sense of practicing all week and buying into the program and the rigors of school.”
Both Senegalese players have leaned on social media and their love of rap music to bridge the language barrier, especially in the case of Sow. He knew only a few phrases of English when he arrived at Lutheran, and was limited to six games as a sophomore.
“But because of the timing of when he got here from Senegal and the credits he didn’t have — because the Senegal school year doesn’t start until October — Mamadou showed up with no credits to apply,” Brandsma said. “We self-reported it at the end of winter finals, and after that CHSAA deemed him academically ineligible because he didn’t have enough classes.”
In addition to Sow’s personal adversity, the Lutheran program also experienced its own disappointment last season, prior to Fall’s arrival on campus. After losing in the state title game to Bayfield in 2018, Lutheran got the top seed in the tournament in 2019, only to be upset in the Great 8 by DSST Montview.
With the addition of Fall to an already-potent starting lineup featuring Sow and junior guards Tommy Apodaca, Josh Greiving and Sam Hoops, the team’s hopes of winning a state title — which would be the fourth in program history, but first since Denver Lutheran and Parker Lutheran merged before the 2011-12 school year — have only grown.
“The past couple years, we’ve been really good, but just not quite good enough,” Greiving said. “We’ve come up one game short, two games short. We know, especially with the addition of Baye, what our true potential is this year and we’re looking to make a statement.”
While Lutheran has cruised to a 6-0 mark in the Metro League so far, Brandsma explained that blending the Senegalese talents into the team’s existing framework has been “an adjustment for all of us, because I’ve got very talented guards and a lot of players who could be ‘the man’ on so many teams in 3A.”
“It’s about making sure (Fall) knows that he’s loved,” Greiving added. “He knows against many teams he’s not going to get the ball every possession, even though with his skill level he probably should. So we’re helping him realize that we’re working for him, and we’re here to complement his talent and Mamadou’s, too.”
And while Sow, who has received interest from CSU-Pueblo, is outspoken about his hoop dreams — “I want to be a pro,” he said — he also emphasized his younger cousin is just beginning to come into his basketball self.
“He’s talented, he’s tall, he makes you respect the boards and his dunks,” Sow said. “He thinks about basketball every morning when he wakes up at 5:30 to start getting ready for school. (Along) with his skill, that tells me he is going to do something great in this game.”
