Nyagudi joins the Herd

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This article was published 20/06/2025 (338 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A six-foot-nine, 220-pound forward from Winnipeg with NCAA experience don’t come around very often.

So, to say the University of Manitoba Bisons men’s basketball program just landed themselves a game-changing prospect is no hyperbole.

The Herd officially announced this week that Ramogi Nyagudi has transferred from the St. Thomas Tommies, an NCAA Div. I school based out of St. Paul, Minn., to his hometown Bisons.

The former St. Paul’s High School standout was one of the most sought-after talents to come out of the Keystone Province in the past decade, but after only playing six games as a freshman down south, he was eager to pursue a new opportunity, and Bisons head coach Kirby Schepp was waiting happily with open arms.

“Right now, I just want to play basketball. I just want to hoop, and play as much as I can and get as good with the amount of years that I have to play because I know basketball is going to end for myself at some point,” said Nyagudi, who left the city in Grade 12 to play prep basketball at DME Academy in Wisconsin, in front of a room of reporters at the Investors Group Athletic Centre on Friday.

“But I just want to be the best player that I can possibly be. And, right now, I’m making the decision to come back home… There was a gut feeling that I had, with a lot of prayer and talks with my family, this was a decision that I had to make. So far, I’m very happy that I did.”

Things didn’t go according to plan at St. Thomas as he played a grand total of 33 minutes and scored just six points. It got to a stage where Nyagudi contemplated quitting the sport altogether.

Nyagudi helped guide St. Paul’s to back-to-back provincial titles in 2022 and 2023 and represented Canada at the FIBA U18 Men’s AmeriCup in 2024.

“But I would always wake up the next morning and be back in the gym again because I love this sport so much,” said Nyagudi. “The support system that I have with my family, with constantly being able to call different coaches back at home, like Dan Becker (provincial team coach) that I am always able to have a conversation with about basketball, and coach Kirby, he was a mentor. He wasn’t trying to recruit me or do any of this stuff that other coaches are trying to do, he was really just trying to get me to the next level and be as successful as I can.”

If things go well, Nyagudi is open to the idea of returning to the NCAA. But for as long as Schepp has Nyagudi in his building, he’s going to squeeze everything he can out of him.

“I think he has the ability to be an elite, elite defensive player at all positions. That’s a really big piece of him,” said Schepp. “Where he has to grow, and I think he has tremendous talent in this area, is on the offensive end and making reads as all young players do and that’s going to be our focus moving forward. I think he can play at the highest levels of professional basketball, but we try not to focus on that so much. How do we just take the next step in helping him get better right now this year?”

Nyagudi joins a Bisons squad that’s already loaded and didn’t lose a single player to graduation this off-season. They went 17-6 last year en route to dropping the Canada West bronze medal game to the Victoria Vikes.

Nyagudi will likely slot in at power forward in a starting five unit that will feature guards Mason Kraus and Daren Watts, small forward Manyang Tong, and forward Cieran O’Hara.

“I think we were a national contender even before (Nyagudi) walked in the door,” said Schepp. “Last year, we lacked some size and depth, our forward positions were probably our only real weakness, and he certainly adds to that piece. I think we were the No. 2 rated defence in the country last year and I think we’ve just gotten significantly better in that area.”

An additional bonus for Nyagudi returning home is that he would now be eligible for next summer’s CEBL U Sports draft which would allow him to get a taste of the pro game while still at the U of M.

“It’s definitely interesting to think about. Playing pro in your own city, people dream of doing that,” said Nyagudi.

“I didn’t really think about it until I was told that I’d have the opportunity to do it. I’m definitely going to be looking forward to it.”

“But it wasn’t a pull (for me to come to Manitoba), I was pulled because the coaches are great people, the team is great, they know what I’m trying to do and they want to develop me.”

The Canada West schedule for the upcoming 2025-26 campaign is expected to be released next week.

BISONS ADD SPANISH COMMIT

Friday afternoon the Bisons also announced the signing of six-foot-eight guard Felipe Diaz of Spain.

Diaz represented his country at the 2024 FIBA U18 EuroBasket and averaged 6.0 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.4 assists in seven games.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca