How UND men's basketball landed Guinea-born forward
Oct. 31—GRAND FORKS — UND men's basketball assistant coach Randall Herbst was going through his daily routine with recruiting this summer when he came across the highlight reel of Mambourou Mara.
On paper, Mara stood out: The 6-foot-6 forward graduated from Royal Crown Academic School, a prestigious international school in Toronto, in 2022. While there, Mara competed at the Biosteel All-Canadian game — Canada's version of the McDonald's All-American game — and was the slam dunk co-champion.
He returned to his home country of Guinea after graduation, in part to wait for a new visa. In his off year, Mara played for the Guinea national team and Seydou Legacy Athlétique Club, or SLAC, a team that plays in the Basketball Africa League in Mara's hometown of Conakry, Guinea.
Mara played in five games for SLAC, averaging 6.2 points in 16.3 minutes per game.
UND still had one scholarship remaining for this year. They weren't going to offer just anyone, but Mara was intriguing.
Herbst and coach Paul Sather talked with Mara and his guardian. They knew a few other schools were also interested in Mara, but UND wanted to take a chance on him.
"The coach saw my highlight, and they said they wanted me to be a part of the Hawks," Mara said. "So I said yes."
Mara was a late addition to the team, joining the program Aug. 24. He hasn't had a lot of time to learn UND's offense ahead of the team's exhibition game Wednesday against Northland College. UND opens the regular season on the road at Iowa Nov. 7.
"We've been really happy with what we're seeing from him," Sather said. "First off, he's an awesome human being, he's a great guy, a great fit. He's an exceptional athlete, and he has a chance to be a really good basketball player. He's a freshman, and he wasn't with us all summer. So there's a process to kind of instinctively learning how to play on both ends of the floor the way he needs to. But he shows every single day that he's got a chance to be really impactful for us."
It's hard to say what Mara's first season in Grand Forks will look like. He is one of nine new players on the roster. But UND does have two fifth-year players plus four other players who saw game action last season.
"With the abilities that he has, and the kind of person that he is, and the growth that he's shown us, I think as time goes on, he could definitely be a guy that is getting a lot of minutes on the floor," Sather said. "But it may not happen in the first month of the season. It's continually keeping the mind right, it's working on the things you got to continue to work on and not get distracted, if I'm playing 12 minutes or 22 minutes. There's a process to it. I just think the growth that he's shown us already, that timeline for him to make bigger contributions, that timeline keeps on shortening, so we're excited about it."
Fans who attended the Oct. 16 basketball fan fest saw a glimpse of what Mara brings to UND when he jumped over three teammates and dunked to win the dunk contest. Mara is a more complete player with more to his game than dunks.
"I would say I'm going to give my best," he said. "This is my first time here, my first time in college, so I don't really know what is going to happen, so I'm just going to give my best."
