Running His Own Race

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Five-thousand and one-miles east of Manhattan, Kansas, across the Atlantic Ocean, is the town of Guediawaye, located in the Dakar Region of Senegal, which is the westernmost country in continental Africa. The town of Guediawaye was officially founded in the 1950s. Its streets are barely paved. One photograph shows sheep on a narrow road lined with mucky two- and three-story buildings seemingly risen from dust. Another photograph shows young men smiling while appearing to sew clothes.

Guediawaye is the hometown of Baye Fall, who knows 10 languages and dialects, including English, French, Wolof, and a little bit of Spanish. Wolof is the most widely spoken language in Senegal. Tribal languages are plentiful in western Africa. It's a different world, Fall likes to say.

"Life wise it's just different," he begins. "There's not a lot of things like in the U.S. There aren't a lot of roads. You're just on the street playing soccer and going to school. That's pretty much it."

At age 13 he picked up a basketball for the first time. His father was 6-foot-8, his mother 6-foot-4. He was 6-foot-7. He was curious. He learned to dunk a basketball.

"People saw I was growing and suggested I played basketball," he says. "That first week when I learned it and could make a layup, it felt good. It was a good feeling. From there, I just fell in love with it."

He had no idea where basketball could take him.

"My neighborhood, these dudes played basketball on the street," he says. "They knew something about it. Then they told one of my friends, and we'd just joke about it. And then they said, 'Go get it.' I didn't understand what it meant. They told me it meant to play in the U.S."

A basketball trainer in Senegal gave him a gentle push.

And now?

The 20-year-old sophomore transfer from Arkansas could emerge as the one of the most talented post players in the history of Kansas State men's basketball.

The 6-foot-11, 215-pounder was named a 2023 McDonald's All-American, the fourth such honoree to ink with the Wildcats and the first since Wally Judge in 2009. The others include Tom Freeman (1977), Deryl Cunningham (1991) and Michael Beasley (2007). He arrives at K-State after playing the 2023-24 season with the Razorbacks, where he totaled just 45 minutes while appearing in nine games as a true freshman.

"I'm super excited, man," Fall says. "I can't wait to get to K-State. Every day I just think about it. I'm picturing it all in my head. I just want to get there and get to work."

Fall learned English by listening to his father and by tuning into American music. He came to the U.S. in 2018 at age 15 and settled in the Denver area with his uncle and cousin. From there, he averaged 19.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.8 blocks while shooting 67% from the floor as a freshman at Lutheran High School in Parker, Colorado. The next year, he led Lutheran High to the 2021 CHSAA Class 3A State Championship en route to earning Class 3A State Player of the Year and First Team MaxPreps Sophomore All-America honors. He averaged 22.1 points, 10.0 rebounds and 3.2 blocks while shooting 65% from the floor.

When did Fall realize that he was better than everybody else on the basketball court?

"Probably my freshman year in high school," he says.

When did Fall believe that he was one of the best players in the country?

"I was running my own race," he says. "I felt like I was there, one of the best players, but I didn't look into the rankings or anything like that. I felt like I was one of the best players out there because I showed it in camps."

The summer between his sophomore and junior seasons, Fall jumped onto the national scene at the 2021 Pangos All-American Top 30 Camp in Las Vegas, where he earned co-MVP honors.

He also stood out at the prestigious National Basketball Association Top 100 Camp where he led the event in scoring 14.9 points per game in seven games. He had a camp-leading 9.4 rebounds.

As a junior at Denver Prep Academy, he averaged 14.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game. He averaged 13.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks as a senior at Accelerated Prep in Denver. He was listed as the No. 3 player at his position in the country and a consensus top-20 player in the nation, and he was projected by NBADraft.net as the No. 9 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.

In January 2023, Fall was named to the McDonald's All-American Team.

"A great honor," he says. "I didn't know there was a McDonald's All-American game until 2018. That was just great that I was able to be a part of it."

K-State was one of Fall's finalists coming out of high school, along with Arkansas, Auburn, Colorado, Rutgers, Seton Hall and Texas, before he selected the Razorbacks.

What does Fall remember about K-State head coach Jerome Tang?

"Coach Tang, I wanted to play for him at some point in my career," he says. "He was genuine. He was nice. You could see that. He was at every game no matter what time. He was real."

Now Fall is reunited with the head coach who never missed a game.

"Man, he just talked about me," Fall says regarding his recent trip to Manhattan. "He just told me to keep working hard and to keep playing hard. He talked about winning."

What will Fall bring to the basketball court at Bramlage Coliseum? He brings a 7-foot-4 wingspan and a 9-foot ¼-inch standing reach. Experts at NBADraft.net state that he "covers a lot of ground on both ends with long strides" and that he is an "agile, well-coordinated, and fluid athlete" who is "quick off the ground and effortless finishing above the rim" while possessing a "high motor and activity level" and also "beats other big men down the court."

Fall puts his potential this way: "I mean, I'm just working. I'm for sure going to bring energy because that's me. They can expect that. I'm going to play hard."

Home is a small universe away, and unpaved streets of Guediawaye will transform into the native grass of the Flint Hills, as Fall arrives in Manhattan on June 1. Seems so much time has passed since Fall began his journey and yet he seems to just be getting started. He's a young star who has no idea how good he can be. He appears to be a major catch for the Wildcats' backcourt for the 2024-25 season.

As for what Fall wants to prove?

"I'm just going to keep playing hard and keep working," he says. "I'm just going to keep working. You can't stop getting better. You're just learning every day, and you learn new things every time you go to the gym, no matter how much time you spend in there. That's how I feel. I just keep working.

"I'm just running my own race."

Kansas State University Athletics

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