I’ve seen the younger brother play a few times and he’s a scorer. Smaller than his brother which might keep the bigger schools away

Ola Ajiboye, not surprisingly, committed to central Michigan.

JC transfer Sam Manu from College of San Mateo has committed to the Aggies.

Good find.

He’s listed as a 6’7” wing and looks to have a good 3 pt shot. Might need some time to adjust to D1 speed but he certainly fills a void.

16.6 PPG
51% / 42% Shooting / 3-point shooting
5.7 RPG
1.5 APG

https://www.coastconferenceathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2021-22/players/sammanuuz6l

We recently had a big transfer in with very good numbers who rarely played and eventually transfered out, one possibility is weak JC competition?

Originally from Taiwan. Played one year at SFCC.

https://ccsfathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2019-20/bios/manu_sam_ygef?view=bio

6 PPG and 3.8 RPG as freshman with City.

https://www.cccaasports.org/sports/mbkb/2019-20/players/sammanusvxm

It looks like he had offers from CS East Bay, SF State and Holy Names also.

https://verbalcommits.com/players/sam-manu

Certainly we’ve had JC transfers who’ve come here and don’t get off the bench. I do think that at 6’7” and ability to hit over 40% from 3, you’ve got a shot to contribute (maybe not right away). But it’ll be up to the young man to earn court time.

Comes from a basketball family. His father and siblings coach and play at Aragon High School, Dad walked on at Cal Poly. He may be 24 years old. Point guard listed as his #1 position.

https://twitter.com/simplyy_bball/status/1496589274715602946?s=20&t=VQlbPl3IdS7BFEz0QjfxaQ

Official announcement: https://twitter.com/ucdavismbb/status/1527363461218459648?s=20&t=u6cQ4cAomCi4C0c5q_W-LQ

Official announcement:https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2022/5/18/mens-basketball-uc-davis-adds-front-court-depth-with-signing-of-deandre-henry.aspx

Spring 2022 Commits (6):

Juniors
PG Sam Manu 6'7" via College San Mateo

Sophomores
PG Robby Beasley III 6'3" via Montana **
PG Ty Johnson 6'3" via Loyola Chicago

PF DeAndre Henry 6'7" via Nevada Reno

True Freshmen

SF Joaquin 'JQ' Strong 6'7"
PF Jac Mani 6'8"

Out (8):

Graduating / Grad transfers:
G - BJ Shaw
G - Fuller **
G - Ba - G

Undergrads:
PG - Haynesworth, Sr? - PG
PG - Manjon, Jr **
G - Niles, Soph
F - McGill, Soph
F - Murphy, Soph

** Impact players.

[Please tell me if I missed anybody.]

Thanks for the summary. We lost a lot in Manjon, and potential in Murphy and McGill. But it does seem like we filled in nicely. A lot of unknowns will make this coming season interesting/exciting to watch.

We're Manu's only DI offer. Size & smarts help. Hopefully we found a gem.

Who will be the starters for this team, any ideas

so just fyi… I’m usually always wrong with these types of prediction. I’m guessing Pepper, Milling, and Anigwe return to starting spots. Beasley seems like a lock for the starting PG. that leaves the 4 spot (Fullers spot from last year). I guess we could go smaller with Adabayo. Or a little bigger with Henry. There’s always a chance that another newcomer could force his way in.

Do you think anyone from the portal who isn’t picked up will return. New to Davis so looking forward to watching this team. Are their games on a local Sacramento channel?

welcome aboard Liz. I’m guessing no one will return. I think we are at the max number of scholarships with the recent signings. That could change with maybe someone being a walk on but I believe this is the roster we will have next season. Games aren’t generally on tv but you can stream them on espn plus. Most are carried on the radio on 1140 am.

Murphy enrolled at another school. The 3 graduates are out. I wouldn’t expect the others will be back

Beasely is proven and Ty Johnson allegedly a defensive find. Our year may depend upon the young bigs and Sam Manu. Another year of Smallball.

manu is certainly intriguing. At 6’7” with good 3 pt shooting percentage, he could really fill a whole. It’s a little interesting that he didn’t have any other D1 offers (that we know of) but we’ve had some success with under recruited (Chima and TJ) players.

Yes. Intriguing player... first year at SFCC. 24, should be physically and mentally tough.

Actually Sam's dad Rex played for Pepperdine during the Doug Christie era! Sam's uncle (also named Sam Manu), was a walkon at Cal Poly and later coached at Aragon. His dad and uncle both were stars at Aragon in the 80's. Sam's dad Rex ended up playing professionally in Asia after Pepperdine and ended up staying in Taiwan for a number of years after his playing career wrapped up. That's why Sam (the recruit) was born in Taiwan and raised there. He came to the states in high school and played 2-3 years at Aragon HS before moving on to SF City College and then College of San Mateo. I expect he will have great fundamentals and skills because he probably had a ball in his hand at a very early age!

↪Oldbanduhalum Comes from a basketball family. His father and siblings coach and play at Aragon High School, Dad walked on at Cal Poly. He may be 24 years old. Point guard listed as his #1 position.

https://twitter.com/simplyy_bball/status/1496589274715602946?s=20&t=VQlbPl3IdS7BFEz0QjfxaQ — movielover

24 years old? What's the story behind his age?

Unsure. International education, time off? This profile said he was 21 in 2019... unless my logic is wrong and he's 21. FTR, SFCC had him listed at 215 / 220 pounds, a "big body" with guard skills.

https://www.ncsasports.org/mens-basketball-recruiting/california/san-mateo/aragon-high-school1/samuel-manu1

So usually I figure freshman will be red-shirted by coach Les, but there have been exceptions, Manjon and Pepper both started as true freshman I believe. I re-read the signing article about Joaquin Strong from last November and saw this quote from Les: "JQ' has as much upside as anyone we have recruited in recent years. It's rare to find someone with his size, athleticism, and shooting ability. And the reality is – he is still only just scratching the surface of how good he could be." It'll be interesting to see if he earns his way into meaningful minutes his freshman year.

That's pretty high praise from Les. I sure hope he'll be able to contribute this fall as a true freshman.

Sac State continues to add to their haul of transfers. Sharp shooting Austin Patterson 6'3 185 SG, has transferred to Sac from Wofford. Patterson had offers from the Aggies, UCSB, Montana State, Riverside, IUPUI and South Alabama out of high school before choosing Wofford.

https://verbalcommits.com/players/austin-patterson-ca

Averaged 6 PPG as a freshman, started 10 games. Solid pickup.

Sac State men's basketball is fast becoming the land of misfit toys. One of the keys to the team's success will be if the new coach manages to work with all the transfers maintain or improve Katz' system of making sure the players succeed in the classroom. They don't need to backslide into the pre-Katz era problems of academic problems.

Looks like the roster is set for 22-23