A 6-foot-6 athlete with a 7-foot-1 wingspan who has versatile offensive weapons and can guard multiple positions?

Sounds an awful lot like a prototypical San Diego State basketball player.

And Aguek Arop will be, orally committing to the Aztecs on Sunday shortly after completing his recruiting visit.

“They’ve had a lot of players like me,” Arop told the Union-Tribune by phone from the airport, “and they’ve always developed them. I couldn’t think of a reason not to go there. It’s the perfect fit. It’s one of the schools I always wanted to go to.”


Arop also was considering Wichita State, where he had planned to visit but has since cancelled. Texas had pursued him as well.

He becomes the third incoming freshman for coach Brian Dutcher from the class of 2018. And the third who is 6-6 or taller born in African.

Joel and Nathan Mensah, both 6-10, are from Ghana. Arop was born in Khartoum, Sudan, but his family comes from the Dinka tribe in the Christian south. They left when he was 1 for Egypt amid a bloody civil war and ultimately immigrated to Houston in December 2003 before settling in Omaha, Neb., where he attended high school and was the state player of the year as a senior.

He initially committed to Nebraska as a high school sophomore, then decommitted and spent last season at a prep school in Atlanta. For most of the season Dutcher and his staff had been in contact with Rob Johnson, Arop’s coach at The Skill Factory, but their recruitment heated up only in the past month.


Here’s how Johnson describes the guy who led a team with seven Division I prospects in scoring (21 points), rebounding (12) and field-goal percentage:

“A super high IQ player, offensively and defensively. He has a 3.9 GPA and it shows on the court. Really smart, great instincts, just a knack for the ball, always in the right spot at the right time. He has a great motor and he’s a hard worker, a gym rat. He can play in any style of game, in a halfcourt game or a transition, up-and-down game.

“He’s somebody who knows how to play the right way. He played 1 through 5 for us. When you see him play, you see why he’s been part of winning teams wherever he’s been – the type of guy who will slide over and take a charge in a close game for you.”


After committing so early to Nebraska and then heading to a prep school in the South, then missing 10 games in February with a heel injury (after landing hard from a dunk), Arop had in some respects fallen off the recruiting grid – just the type of player the Aztecs have a long history of uncovering.

Part of that anonymity was by design.

“I don’t like to just pump them out, pump them out,” Johnson said. “I like them to be seen when they’re ready.”

The SDSU coaches had been looking at a pair of junior college players to fill an immediate need at wing, then jumped at the chance to land Arop, who, like Jalen McDaniels and others before him, is considered a player with big upside given his varied tools and willingness to work. Johnson said Arop told him, after arriving at his Atlanta prep school, that SDSU was one of the places he wanted to consider.


“I play multiple positions and I guard multiple positions,” the 210-pound Arop said, “and that’s how they like to play. You’re not stuck in one role.”

Another positive: The growing South Sudan community in San Diego, which served as an extended family for former Angelo Chol at Hoover High and then for three years at SDSU. Arop said one of his mentors lives in the area.

“It’s a plus,” he said, “to have that extra support.”

He will know at least one player in the Mountain West. An hour before Arop pledged his allegiance to SDSU, 6-7 Aguir Agau committed to Fresno State on Twitter. He’s also from The Skill Factory, via Omaha’s 22,000 population of South Sudanese immigrants.


“My brother,” Agau tweeted once Arop’s commitment became official. “See you in conference next year.”

That leaves Dutcher with three available scholarships for next season – four if McDaniels doesn’t remove his name from NBA Draft consideration before May 30. Jordan Campbell, a 6-3 guard, was granted a release from his letter of intent last month and committed to Oregon State.

Washington State transfer guard Malachi Flynn, who is said to be down to SDSU and Creighton, is expected to announce a decision any day, although he would have to sit out a season before using his remaining two years of eligibility. The Aztecs are also believed to be in the market for a fifth-year graduate transfer who would be available immediately.


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mark.zeigler@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @sdutzeigler