BYU Basketball Prospect: Willy Kouassi (Class of 2015)

Update June 25, 2015 Kouassi has announced he will transfer to Arkansas

Willy Kouassi was a prospect for the BYU basketball Class of 2015 as a graduate transfer from Kennesaw State University. He told the Bowling Green Daily News that “He wants to be a part of a winning program for his last year and experience the NCAA tournament, and continue to develop as a player.” Darien Knox, his AAU coach and legal guardian, called Kouassi a “mean rim protector and tremendous shot-blocker” who takes pride in his defense and can score with his back to the basket. This could be a good fit for BYU who needs a little more defensive pressure as well as some depth in a front court that has been plagued by injuries. BYU has an open scholarship due to the transfers of Frank Bartley IV and Isaac Neilson. Fortunately, it has been reported that Kouassi’s “Top 5” (which didn’t include BYU) has now been narrowed to three: Arkansas, Memphis, and BYU.

List narrows for @WillyOfficial50 down the home stretch: Arkansas, Memphis, BYU

— Team ALABAMA ALUMNI (@TeamAlabamaCBA) June 2, 2015

He started his collegiate career as at Auburn, playing 25 games as a freshman, averaging 10.2 minutes per contest. He transferred to Kennesaw State and after sitting the 2012-13 season (per transfer rules) and became a starter at KSU. In 2014-15 he led the team with 36 blocks and became the KSU career leader in that category. His Per 40 line for 2014-15 was 9.4 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.8 blocks, 3.1 turn overs, and 6.1 personal fouls. He was named the Atlantic Sun Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

Collegiate Game Stats (*From www.ksuowls.com)

Year	Team	GP	MIN	FG%	FT%	RPG	BLK	PPG
2011-12	Auburn	25	10.2	.485		2.6	0.6	1.6
2012-13	KSU	Redshirt
2013-14	KSU	31	17.6	.538	.460	4.2	1.1	4.6
2014-15	KSU	27	19.3	.467	.426	5.0	1.3	4.6
Total		83	15.9	.500	.455	4.0	1.0	3.7

Kousassi attended Central Park Christian Academy in Birmingham, Alabama, where he led his team to two straight National Association of Christian Athletes (NACA) National championships (2010, 2011) and earned NACA All-Ameriacn honors as a senior. Rivals rated him 4-stars and ranked him the 66th best recruit of the national Class of 2011 and the seventh best center. ESPN gave him 3-stars with a 90 grade and ranked him 90^th nationally while Scout also gave him 3-stars. He was recruited by Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgetown, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Memphis, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Tulsa, UAB, Vanderbilt, and Wake Forest.

High School Recruitment Profile:

Hometown:

Dimbokro, Ivory Coast

High School

Central Park Christian

Last Team:

Kennesaw State

AAU Team:

Team Alabama

Position:

Center

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