Bamba chosen Big 12 preseason freshman of year

Five-star prospect picked UT over Duke, Kentucky, Michigan.

Texas Longhorns power forward Mo Bamba has been selected as the Big 12 presea- son freshman of the year, the conference announced Thursday.

A five-star prospect, Bamba picked Texas on May 18 over Kentucky, Duke and Mich- igan. Bamba, the nation’s No. 3 overall prospect, according to the 247Sports composite rankings, is the highest-ranked recruit to commit to coach Shaka Smart and the Longhorns to date.

Bamba, a 6-foot-11 native of Harlem in New York City, is also one of nine preseason honorable mention selections. The preseason AllBig 12 first team consists of Devonte’ Graham of Kansas, Jeffrey Carroll of Okla- homa State, Vladimir Brodziansky of TCU, Zach Smith of Texas Tech and Jevon Carter of West Virginia.

After guiding the Westtown School in Pennsylvania to a 32-2 record and a second consecutive state title with 12.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game as a senior, Bamba was one of five finalists for the Naismith national high school player of the year award.

Bamba was a McDonald’s All-American, participated in the Jordan Brand Classic and represented team USA in the 2017 Nike Hoop Summit.

Women’s basketball: Jatarie White, projected to be UT’s starting center, has been named Big 12 preseason newcomer of the year, the league announced Wednesday.

The 6-4 junior transfer from the University of South Carolina sat out last season due to NCAA rules. She was a 2014 McDonald’s All-American and two-time Miss Basketball North Carolina. She was the No. 1 post player in the country during her senior year in high school, according to ESPN.com.

Texas seniors Ariel Atkins and Brooke McCarty were named to the All-Big 12 preseason first team.

Guard Chasity Patterson was named Big 12 preseason freshman of the year. The 5-5 Longhorn from Houston was ranked as the No. 4 overall recruit in the nation and No. 1 point guard for the Class of 2017 by ESPN Hoopgurlz.

McCarty was last season’s Big 12 conference player of the year, becoming the first person in program history to earn that distinction. She led UT in scoring with 14.1 points per game and was the Big 12 Conference leader in 3-point field goal percentage at .430 (77 of 179).