MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia received the signed national letter-of-intent from Remi Dibo on Wednesday, one day after the French jump-shooting forward committed to the Mountaineers.
After playing the past two seasons at Casper (Wyo.) College, the 6-foot-9 Dibo will have two years of eligibility remaining. He is on pace to receive his associates degree later this month.
“Remi gives us outstanding size and perimeter shooting from the wing position,” said WVU coach Bob Huggins. “His size and length should also help us at the defensive end and obviously on the backboards, where we struggled mightily last year.”
Dibo was a National Junior College Athletic Association second-team All-American last season, averaging 18.2 points and making 41.9 percent of his 3-point tries. That shooting range is welcomed after WVU ranked 271st nationally in 3-point percentage last season (31.6 percent).
Dibo, who averaged 4.9 rebounds as a sophomore, becomes the sixth signee in West Virginia’s 2013 recruiting class — all of whom are 6-7 or taller.
He joins Nathan Adrian of Morgantown (W.Va.) High; Jonathan Holton of Palm Beach (Fla.) State Community College; Elijah Macon of Brewster (N.H.) Academy; Brandon Watkins of Decatur (Ga.) Grady High; and Devin Williams of Montverde (Fla.) Academy.
JucoRecruiting.com ranks Dibo the 24th-best junior college player in the 2013 class, though the website’s Brad Winton said Dibo needs work on the defensive end.
“He’s very skilled, he really stretches the floor and creates matchup problems on offense. … But in the low post, defensively, he’s not really a grind-it-out forward,” Winton said. “He’s more of a finesse guy. He’s not a huge fan of mixing it up around the basket.
“He’s capable, though. He has the body for it, and obvuously playing for Huggins he’s going to have to have some toughness. I think that when he gets to West Virginia, they’ll bring it out of him and make him more physical.”
Winton said Memphis, Kansas State, Gonzaga, Washington State and TCU were among the 30-plus Division I programs making a push for Dibo this season.
Born in Ivory Coast before moving to Paris as a child, Dibo played on the Under-16 French national team. He also competed at the 2008 adidas Nations Camp that assembled the world’s top 18-and-under players.