Friday's WAC hoops wrapup

Ryan James tweeted: "Prior Lake C Carson Shanks is taking his official visit to Utah State this weekend. Carson committed there last year"

Shanks is a 7-footer out of Minnesota.

Here's a January 30, 2012 interview.

USUStats has word on two other visitors coming to Logan.

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Coast2Coast Hoops tweeted: "UT-Arlington is now expressing interest in 2013 Belton (TX) shooting guard Thomas Barnes"

He's 6-foot-1, 165 pounds and listed as a combo guard.

In mid-July, it was tweeted that Louisiana Tech was evaluating him.

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Former New Mexico State backcourter Christian Kabongo is now at Morgan State, having departed from Southern Mississippi (it will take a bit of scrolling down).

Kabongo finds a new home

Jason Groves reports that ex-Aggie Christian Kabongo has landed at Southern Mississippi. The coach there, Larry Eustachy, is not exactly known for his warm and fuzzy player relationships but maybe that will work to Kabongo's long term benefit. It's also a team loaded with D-1 and especially junior college transfers and currently holds a 17-3 record, 4-1 in Conference USA play. SoMiss ranks third in scoring in the league.

Jason Groves blogs about NMSU hoops + our commentary

Jason Groves blogs about last night's game for the Aggies and writes a bit about the sidelined Christian Kabongo.

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PTW still believes Kabongo has WAC MVP potential but obviously his attitude and judgment are MAJOR impairments at the moment.

He is unstoppable at penetrating into the paint and also has the long lankiness that the best defenders possess but does his presence on the court enhance the effectiveness of his teammates?

Simply put, not at this point.

Additionally, Wendell McKines (especially) and Hernst Laroche depart after this season, meaning the Aggie leadership mantle(s) will be open for the earning. This will be a critical transition for Coach Marvin Menzies and his program. Yes, conference play is now front and center but the real question Menzies is facing is does he believe Kabongo will be a positive or negative factor in next season's evolution? Will he help or hinder the development of the team's personality and mindset? Will whoever steps forward as leader want Kabongo on the court?

Whether this aspect is applicable or not is open to question but Myck Kabongo, Christian's cousin, is the starting point at Texas as a freshman. He's averaging 9.9 points per game, leads the Longhorns in free throw attempts with 80 and possesses a 71/41 assist-to-turnover ratio. Here's a November 20 Jeff Goodman-written article on him.

Surely the two have talked, many times. May the younger influence the elder. Quickly.