The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE fluctuating collegiate basketball career of Wanaah Bail adds another chapter as the former ESPN top 100 recruit will join a Division II programme this fall.

After sitting out last season, Bail was added to the incoming recruiting class of the Midwestern State University Mustangs and will be immediately eligible for the 2016-17 campaign.

Head coach Nelson Haggerty said he expects Bail to have an immediate impact on the programme.

"Coming out of high school, Wanaah was one of the top players in the country," Haggerty said in a release by the Mustangs. "He has great explosiveness and length. He can put it on the floor at 6-9, can make pull-up shots and he has played at the highest level of college basketball. We are really excited for him to grow as a player in our programme. We are looking forward to him reaching his full potential here. He has a great attitude and just wants to win."

Bail joins a Midwestern State programme which advanced to the NCAA Division II postseason in nine of the last 11 seasons including Elite Eight appearances in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The Mustangs have won a league best 10 Lone Star Conference titles since joining the league in 1997.

Midwestern State is located in Wichita Falls, Texas, and competes in the Lone Star Conference of NCAA Division II.

Bail's last appearance was during the 2014-15 season, his second of two seasons with the UCLA Bruins. In April 2015, Bail decided to transfer after he sat out the second half of the season due to academic ineligibility.

In 11 games he averaged 1.5 points and 2.6 rebounds in 9.0 minutes per game.

As a freshman, he appeared in just 13 games during a season which was hampered by nagging knee injuries and averaged 1.5 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. At 6'8", 210 pounds, the versatile Bail was one of the top frontcourt prospects out of the state of Texas for the class of 2012 and eventually decided on Texas Tech, but never suited up for the Red Raiders.

Bail was one of 15 players or staff members to leave the Red Raiders programme under controversial former head coach Billy Gillispie. He left the programme following the first summer school session, just before the start of fall practice and spent the following season at a prep school in the Canary Islands.

He then signed with the Bruins and was able to play before the home crowd at the 2014 Battle 4 Atlantis.

Bail had been a blue chip prospect on the high school basketball scene in Houston, Texas, for the past few years since he joined the Frank Rutherford Elite Development Programme.

He selected to stay "in state" after being suited by recruiters nationwide and sought after by a virtual who's who list of NCAA programmes. He received offers from Houston, Arkansas, Auburn, FSU, Texas, Baylor and Kansas. He was ranked 89 out of a possible 100 points by ESPN.com, 35th among players at the position and 22nd overall in the state of Texas.

In his senior year at Lamar Consolidated High School in Rosenberg, Texas, he posted 18.5 points and 12 rebounds per game and was named All-District 23-4A's Most Valuable Player.

Bail left the Bahamas and attended a number of schools in the Houston area, ultimately landing at Lamar Consolidated in Rosenburg, Texas. He attended Trent Internationale School but had to transfer to Fort Bend in Austin, Texas, at the start of his senior season where he was ruled ineligible to compete in the Houston area and settled on Lamar.

He played on the AAU circuit for the Franchize All-Stars and was a member of the Bahamas' 2011 FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship team where he averaged 17.4 points and 14.2 rebounds per game.