Kansas State men’s basketball is in desperate need of big men for the 2024-25 season, but one recent portal addition may go a long way to filling that need.
Baye Fall is a 6-foot-11 center who committed to K-State on April 27. He played his true freshman season at Arkansas where he saw limited playing time. Fall entered the portal on April 4 after former Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman was hired at USC.
He is a native of Senegal who came to the United States when he was 15 to live with his cousin in Denver. Fall was a four-star recruit and a top-30 player in the On3 consensus rankings coming out of high school and K-State was listed in his top-seven schools. As a transfer portal player, Fall is a four-star recruit and the 198th-best player in the portal.
What the stats show
Fall played sparingly this season at Arkansas, appearing in only nine games and averaging five minutes per game. He averaged 0.8 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks per game, shooting 50% from the field and 33% from the free-throw line.
His best game was against Alcorn State where he had four points, four rebounds, two steals, and two blocks in nine minutes of game action while shooting 50% from the field. The most minutes he played in a game this season was ten versus Gardner-Webb in the non-conference and he only appeared in six conference games.
Fall was an impressive player in high school where he was named a McDonald’s All-American. He stood out at the National Basketball Players Association top 100 camp in 2022, with 14.9 points and 9.4 rebounds across seven games. Also during the summer of 2022, he averaged 18 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks per game for his AAU team the Colorado Hawks on the Adidas Circuit.
He was also named the Co-MVP of the Pangos All-American Camp Top 30 game where he had 30 points, eight rebounds, and two blocks. All of this is to say, the stats at Arkansas don’t tell us much and Fall has immense potential based on what he did in the high school.
What the film shows
There isn’t much film from Fall’s time at Arkansas and you have to go back to his high school film to get a true sense of who he is as a player. He was a dominant player in high school which is what led to his prestige.
Fall has good length with a 7-foot-4 wingspan, but is still undersized from a weight perspective. Bigger players tended to push him around in high school, even if he wasn’t afraid of the contact. He struggled with getting rebounds in traffic and opposing players would take the ball away from him too often.
Fall was one of the best rim protectors in high school and his ability to block shots without fouling was elite. He can block shots on the perimeter as the weakside defender, or the primary defender on opposing bigs. He moves his feet well on the perimeter to where he has some switchability and can defend multiple positions.
He has a high motor on defense and plays with pride on that end of the floor. On offense, he does well as a cutter and roll man. He has good hands and finishes well above the rim. He didn’t showcase the ability to post up very often, but he did it successfully. He had some success as a pick-and-pop big in high school but wasn’t allowed to do that at Arkansas. His jump-shooting wasn’t consistent at the high school level but the form looks solid and there is a good foundation for the coaches to build off of.
Fit with K-State
The talent that Baye Fall has is immense and the sky is the limit for him. The length that he has along with his defensive instincts gives you the hope that he can be a dominant center when he is a junior or senior in college. He will need to gain some weight to battle with the centers in the Big 12, but K-State has a need at the center position. If Fall can consistently knock down shots as a pick-and-roll big, he has the chance to play valuable minutes for K-State this upcoming season. If he continues to work on getting stronger hands and moving well on the perimeter, he will surprise some people.
The ideal role for Baye Fall this season is as a reserve big who plays 10 to 15 minutes per game. David N’Guessan is the other big currently on the roster and K-State is looking for another big in the portal. The player that Baye Fall reminds me the most of is former Baylor center Isaiah Austin who was an All-Defensive Player in the Big 12, averaging 12 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks for his career.
