The first year program that is Conrad Academy is fully stocked with talent at every spot  on the floor. It is headlined by Auburn bound and five-star center Austin Wiley while he is aided out on the perimeter by the likes of available lead guard David Sloan and top-25 junior scorer Luguentz Dort. However, it was a new name seen on the stat sheet that intrigued the greatest during the first day of the Charlotte Hoops Challenge.

Getting the nod off the bench, Malishaw Niang entered the game with practically nothing known about him. Go ahead, Google him. There is nothing. That should and will change as the 6-foot-7, sinewy and lanky bodied prospect, displayed unbelievable upside and a great talent base to pull from in scratching his basketball ceiling.

While he needs to put on the proper strength gain in the years ahead as Niang was hindered some on drives to the basket and on rebound secures in traffic, the Conrad product is deceptively tough and unafraid of contact. He has good instincts on loose ball chances, moves well off the ball, doesn’t force the issue much within the half-court offense, and can really score the ball off of the intermediate jumper.

So, who really is Malishaw Niang? He is a 6-foot-7 forward that can play either spot in the frontcourt outside of the center position, depending on the lineups thrown out onto the floor, but is best attacking off of the catch and rip from the wings. He hit on three elbow jumpers during his team’s first outing in Charlotte, his inaugural game on American soil, as Niang just entered the states a week ago from his native Senegal.

Posting 12 points and nine rebounds off of 6-of-9 shooting from the field, while there is nothing known of the Senegalese forward at the time being, that all should change and soon. A member of the 2018 class that immediately drew comparisons to Louisville star sophomore Deng Adel, if all goes right, Niang might just see a similar recruitment to that the top-30 Cardinal once saw during his very own high school playing days.