Ike Obiagu
7-0
240 Lbs
C
Sophomore redshirt
ESPN Rating
84
4 Star
2018 stats: 10.7 MPG FG% .579 FT% .316 BPG 2.1 RPG 2.6 PPG 2.3
The first contribution from newly hired SHU assistant coach Tony Skinn and hopefully far from the last.
On a sunny Thursday in mid May, especially in South Orange, Seton Hall announced the transfer of Ike Obiagu from Florida State and instantly the Pirates had something on their roster they had not had since the days of Tommy Amaker, a rim protector in the 7 foot young man from Abuja, Nigeria.
Obiagu is a long, mobile athletic big man with a wing span of 7-4. His forte is on the defensive end where he protects the paint and the rim disrupting the opponent's offense by his mere presence.
Obiagu also rebounds well, both in and out of of his area and although he does not have the ferocity of the man he'll be compared to in a year, Angel Delgado, he has physical gifts that the past Pirate big man did not possess.
On the other end of the court the Nigerian import will need a lot of work. At Florida State he averaged 2.3 PPG and shot a woeful 31 percent from the foul line. Numbers that must surely improve if he is going to make the impact that all Pirate fans hope for. Fortunately for Seton Hall the 19 year old transfer has a sit out year to work on his game with Grant Billmeier, Seton Hall's big man coach, and of course Kevin Willard, known for his individual work with players.
Bottom Line
It's rare for the Hall to recruit a player with the size and ability that Ike Obiagu possesses. He's not Samuel Dalembert, but maybe you could call him a poor man's version of the former SHU star center who played 18 years in the NBA.
Obiagu's potential is immense as shown by the schools that offered him coming out of Greenforest Christian Academy. Just a partial list includes Florida State, Arizona, Baylor, Butler, Cal, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Kansas State, Louisville, Maryland, Memphis, Purdue, TCU, Virginia and Wake Forest.
Look for the Nigerian giant to have an immediate impact at the Hall even in his sit out year. He'll practice with the team and instantly create a competitive situation with Romaro Gill who will see minutes off the bench behind SHU's starting center Taurean Thompson. Gill actually 2 inches taller presents a similar situation to the one Obiagu faced at his previous school, Florida State. There when he arrived in Tallahassee, 7-4 teammate Christ Koumadje was already on the roster and the two players improved each other's games. Something that should happen in South Orange as well.
And it won't just be Gill who is aided by the presence of the shot blocking center. The rest of the Pirates will benefit as well as they will not play many teams this upcoming season with anyone having close to the disruptive impact on the floor that Obiagu brings.
Finally, and maybe in the long run the biggest impact the signing of Ike Obiagu means to the Hall is that it opens up a pipeline in Nigeria, a recent hotbed of recruiting talent. Nigeria is not only the home of Obiagu but it also is the country that Tony Skinn represented playing for the national team in the Olympics. That potential pipeline when added to the contacts the newly appointed SHU assistant has in the DC area and in AAU basketball bodes well for the Big East school in New Jersey.
Ike Obiagu is a great start and the first positive on the resume of Tony Skinn. Seton Hall fans now breathlessly wait to see what else Tony Skinn has in store moving forward.
Comments?
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
7-0
240 Lbs
C
Sophomore redshirt
ESPN Rating
84
4 Star
2018 stats: 10.7 MPG FG% .579 FT% .316 BPG 2.1 RPG 2.6 PPG 2.3
The first contribution from newly hired SHU assistant coach Tony Skinn and hopefully far from the last.
On a sunny Thursday in mid May, especially in South Orange, Seton Hall announced the transfer of Ike Obiagu from Florida State and instantly the Pirates had something on their roster they had not had since the days of Tommy Amaker, a rim protector in the 7 foot young man from Abuja, Nigeria.
Obiagu is a long, mobile athletic big man with a wing span of 7-4. His forte is on the defensive end where he protects the paint and the rim disrupting the opponent's offense by his mere presence.
Obiagu also rebounds well, both in and out of of his area and although he does not have the ferocity of the man he'll be compared to in a year, Angel Delgado, he has physical gifts that the past Pirate big man did not possess.
On the other end of the court the Nigerian import will need a lot of work. At Florida State he averaged 2.3 PPG and shot a woeful 31 percent from the foul line. Numbers that must surely improve if he is going to make the impact that all Pirate fans hope for. Fortunately for Seton Hall the 19 year old transfer has a sit out year to work on his game with Grant Billmeier, Seton Hall's big man coach, and of course Kevin Willard, known for his individual work with players.
Bottom Line
It's rare for the Hall to recruit a player with the size and ability that Ike Obiagu possesses. He's not Samuel Dalembert, but maybe you could call him a poor man's version of the former SHU star center who played 18 years in the NBA.
Obiagu's potential is immense as shown by the schools that offered him coming out of Greenforest Christian Academy. Just a partial list includes Florida State, Arizona, Baylor, Butler, Cal, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Kansas State, Louisville, Maryland, Memphis, Purdue, TCU, Virginia and Wake Forest.
Look for the Nigerian giant to have an immediate impact at the Hall even in his sit out year. He'll practice with the team and instantly create a competitive situation with Romaro Gill who will see minutes off the bench behind SHU's starting center Taurean Thompson. Gill actually 2 inches taller presents a similar situation to the one Obiagu faced at his previous school, Florida State. There when he arrived in Tallahassee, 7-4 teammate Christ Koumadje was already on the roster and the two players improved each other's games. Something that should happen in South Orange as well.
And it won't just be Gill who is aided by the presence of the shot blocking center. The rest of the Pirates will benefit as well as they will not play many teams this upcoming season with anyone having close to the disruptive impact on the floor that Obiagu brings.
Finally, and maybe in the long run the biggest impact the signing of Ike Obiagu means to the Hall is that it opens up a pipeline in Nigeria, a recent hotbed of recruiting talent. Nigeria is not only the home of Obiagu but it also is the country that Tony Skinn represented playing for the national team in the Olympics. That potential pipeline when added to the contacts the newly appointed SHU assistant has in the DC area and in AAU basketball bodes well for the Big East school in New Jersey.
Ike Obiagu is a great start and the first positive on the resume of Tony Skinn. Seton Hall fans now breathlessly wait to see what else Tony Skinn has in store moving forward.
Comments?
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
