Time to take a look at incoming freshman for the 2020-2021 California Men’s basketball team!
Monty Bowser.
Quick Bio: 6-foot-6 forward from Oakland, California. Went to Bishop O’Dowd High School, the same high school as former Cal basketball players Ivan Rabb, Paris Austin, and Asha Thomas. A 4-star prospect that was ranked as the 20th best SF prospect in the country and the 11th best overall prospect in the state. Held offers from Cal Poly, CSUN, GCU, Hofstra, Howard, Mercer, San Diego, UC-Davis, UCI, UC-Riverside and UC Santa Barbara.
Plus: Size and Athleticism
Bowser looks to be a very solid athlete with great size for his position. Standing at 6-foot-6, you could play him on either forward positions with his athleticism also translating very well from being a perimeter or interior player. His tape shows a willingness to play above the rim and he is eager to finish at the rim with dunks or lay-ups. He’s got great bounce which is evident in dunks in transition or even just standing dunks from under the basket. Simpler to say that he jumps with a lot of ease.
Plus: All-Around Player
Bowser has a versatile skill set. He’s able to shoot from outside and can finish in transition. He’s also good in the post and finishing in the midrange. He’s also a very willing passer who doesn’t need the ball in his hands to elevate his team play.
Minus: Ball Handling
Bowser seems to struggle at times with his dribbling in traffic and when facing up. He loses the ball at times in his gather or when driving to the basket in the halfcourt. This doesn’t hold true when he’s posting up or in open space.
Minus: Rebounding
A caveat here is that he is playing with the best center in the 2023 class and top-5 recruit in Jalen Lewis, but there are times where Bowser does not look to attack the rebound. Some instances on film catch him ball watching instead of proactively looking to box out or attack the rebound.
Bowser could be a star in the making for the Bears if he continues his trend of development. My projection for him would be a more physical version of Jorge Gutierrez. A player who is willing to do everything to help his team win and an absolute thorn in the side of opponents, with a skill set that allows him to naturally mold around every game. He’s a skill set tweener, but his size is tailor-made as a college 3/4.
He looks like a very smooth athlete - no wasted motion to get places. He doesn't jump out of the video, but it doesn't look like he has a lot of problems getting to places he wants to on the court - and from highlights, it looks like he can shoot it from deep too - I didn't go back and check his percentages. Hopefully Fox will invert the offense and start from the outside.
Thanks for the report, Keep the O'Dowd pipeline open so we can get Lewis in a couple of years, too.