Christopher Obekpa - PF - Our Savior New American - Centereach, NY - ST. JOHN'S

Quote from: gman on May 07, 2012, 09:20:27 AM

Quote from: Marillac on May 07, 2012, 08:16:23 AM

Quote from: Chilleb on May 06, 2012, 10:23:49 PM

Quote from: Moose on May 06, 2012, 09:37:11 PM

Quote from: Chilleb on May 06, 2012, 08:44:34 PM

Quote from: Happy on May 06, 2012, 08:39:51 PM

I know Providence fans are feeling good again about Obepka since he played with Kris Dunn all weekend.

If its not us it's cincy, he plays with Felix everyday of his life yet we know it's not looking good. Providence fans...

Give Prov fans credit.  At this point there are looking for any inch of a good sign.  Until the rug gets pulled out from under them again

There just plain old greedy, they have a top 7 recruiting class already

Ledo will be a diaster if he ever steps foot on the court for them.

Why do you say if? Grades?

He is not a team oriented player.  From the many times I've seen him play he is selfish and does more pissing others off than good.

Ledo may be reason #1 why Jakarr did not go to PC

Sounds like Melo. At the college level, however, he wasn't so greedy.

Back to Obekpa.  Sounds like the UC fans are getting restless.  From the UC Rivals site:

In ten days the Spring Signing Period will pass too. Most likely Obekpa will not sign by the May 16th deadline.

Christopher has every right to decide on his own time. It is his life that will be impacted the most by the decision.

But extracting any information from the Obekpa Camp gets to be exhausting.

It is known that Cincinnati is very involved.

"He is very interested in Providence,' said Our Savior New American High School Assistant Coach Eric Jaklitsch. "He has been talking with them. And he has been talking with DePaul."

DePaul, Cincinnati, and St. John's have hosted the 6'8" senior for official visits. Schools including UConn and Providence have had the young man on campus unofficially.

The wildcard in the process becomes Oregon.

Coach Jaklitsch and Christopher wanted to take an official visit to Oregon April 22nd, but it did not materialize. They still want the trip to take place.

"Hopefully," said Obekpa. "They are still trying to fix it."

Oregon's program has the unique link to NIKE, giving them a branding edge over every school in the nation.

"He is visiting Oregon," affirmed Coach Jaklitsch. "The dates didn't work out."

Since the Oregon trip keeps getting postponed an early May signing appears increasingly unlikely.

http://stjohns.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1362714

Sounds like Melo. At the college level, however, he wasn't so greedy.

Stupid and lazy. Not Melo, but your previous comment.

Does the fact that Anthony Bennett is down to Oregon and UNLV and has eliminated FLA and Kentucky affect the scholarship numbers?

As I said in my post about Felix, I'll say upfront that the 2 games I saw Obekpa play in yesterday were blowouts so I would love to see him vs. better competition.  Here's my take though:

First off, I think services that put him as 6'8" might be undercutting him a bit.  Looked about 6'9"ish but his body is pretty developed.  Not a twig by any means at all.  Broad shoulders and you can tell his arms are developing.

In terms of his shot blocking ability, Obekpa's timing is second to nobody.  He recorded double-digit blocks in both games.  What makes it even more remarkable is:  he's not 6'11 or 7' and also he doesn't have very good leaping ability.  His timing is just unbelievable.  As Jon Rothstein tweeted, in terms of pure shot-blocking he maybe on the same level as Nerlens Noel.  Nerlens has at least an inch on Obekpa as well, I'd suspect.  Chris is an absolutely unbelievable shot blocker.

Here was a first though: Obekpa is basically the opposite of an offensive cherry picker.  During both games there were many times in which he cherry picked while his team was on offense.  He would either be very slow getting back or would hang in the back court, waiting to run back and protect his basket.

In the first game, Chris didn't seem to run the floor hard at all.  It was tough to tell whether he wasn't playing hard because of the competition he was facing or whether his motor was really bad.  He played harder the second game although he certainly wasn't sprinting the floor most of the time.  Again, this is why I want to see him vs. better comp.  I suspect he has a better motor than what was shown because scouting report keep listing his motor as being one of his stronger attributes.

Whats interesting is that because of his AMAZING timing abilities, Chris will go pursue the block most times an offensive player is in his area.  This leaves him vulnerable on the boards because he is often out of position if he doesn't get a rejection.  He should've had more rebounds than he wound up with and I think his pursuit of blocks is part of the reason why.  He also didn't seem to have great hands as he had a tough time bringing in some rebounds and passes.

Offensively, the kid needs a lot of work.  His baskets pretty much came from put backs.  One person inside the basketball industry that has seen him a bunch of times has said Obekpa has "DIII offensive skills".  He certainly didn't show much yesterday. 

If I had to compare Obekpa and say, Orlando Sanchez, I would say that Orlando certainly has a leg up on his in terms of offensive ability.  Orlando also has great hands so he has that up on Obekpa as well it seems.  However it is tough to ignore the fact that Obekpa is an INCREDIBLE pure shot blocker.  I think he can be a VERY good player on the next level with the right guy to push him and develop him offensively.

This delay has to be tough on UC.

He loved his visit to DePaul.

I still hope his time playing ball in Queens pulls him in the right direction.

This delay has to be tough on UC.

He loved his visit to DePaul.

I still hope his time playing ball in Queens pulls him in the right direction.

Guy on the Rivals main board insists that Obekpa wants to go to UC but his "handlers" are insisting he go to a Nike school.  UC is an Adidas school.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever consider that a student-athlete would choose a school based on Nike or Adidas.  Can someone explain to me why this is a factor?

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever consider that a student-athlete would choose a school based on Nike or Adidas.  Can someone explain to me why this is a factor?

$tudent-athletes choo$e $chool$ ba$ed on $hoe companie$ for various legitimate reasons, none of which are related to under the table deals organized by their handler$.

In all seriousness, it may not always be totally illegitimate, but may have something to do with the sponsorship of an AAU program or grasroots team and them wanting to continue getting shoes/clothes/etc. but I have no idea if it is ever this "innocent".

Quote from: Lapchick65

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever consider that a student-athlete would choose a school based on Nike or Adidas.  Can someone explain to me why this is a factor?

$tudent-athletes choo$e $chool$ ba$ed on $hoe companie$ for various legitimate reasons, none of which are related to under the table deals organized by their handler$.

In all seriousness, it may not always be totally illegitimate, but may have something to do with the sponsorship of an AAU program or grasroots team and them wanting to continue getting shoes/clothes/etc. but I have no idea if it is ever this "innocent".

If I was a student I'd be looking for whatever school had an overseas campus in columbia with incentives with the girls the secret service got involved with

Which makes sense why Oregon, the center of the kingdom for Nike, seems to be getting a visit.  It's a tough situation.  I don't want the kid if he doesn't want to be here though.  We are a Nike school so have that in our corner.  That said, I'm really hoping Chandler comes through as it would make it moot. 

Again, if Bennett goes to Oregon, don't see it as an option for Chris.

I never cared if we were Nike or Adidas or Chuck Taylor until now!  If Nike puts us in a position to land our recruits, go Nike!

Nike owns chucks now lol they brought converse in 2003. but i get your point. Dam shame though

Quote from: Tiznow on May 07, 2012, 04:03:07 PM

This delay has to be tough on UC.

He loved his visit to DePaul.

I still hope his time playing ball in Queens pulls him in the right direction.

Guy on the Rivals main board insists that Obekpa wants to go to UC but his "handlers" are insisting he go to a Nike school.  UC is an Adidas school.

This does make a lot of sense - it does seem to fit the situation here.  The kid should be able to make his own decision. 

With all this B$ it's easy to why half these kids transfer.

Again, if Bennett goes to Oregon, don't see it as an option for Chris.

Guess Oregon out for Bennett.

“@AdamZagoria: .@findlayprep F Anthony Bennett is leaning "90 percent" toward UNLV over Oregon, source tells @SNYtv”

Quote from: fordham96 on May 07, 2012, 04:19:13 PM

Quote from: Tiznow on May 07, 2012, 04:03:07 PM

This delay has to be tough on UC.

He loved his visit to DePaul.

I still hope his time playing ball in Queens pulls him in the right direction.

Guy on the Rivals main board insists that Obekpa wants to go to UC but his "handlers" are insisting he go to a Nike school.  UC is an Adidas school.

This does make a lot of sense - it does seem to fit the situation here.  The kid should be able to make his own decision. 

With all this B$ it's easy to why half these kids transfer.

Eric Bossi and others made a good point about how this maybe a little paranoia on the part of UC fans.  First off the AAU team Obekpa runs with is affiliated with Adidas.  In other words he already has a relationship with the shoe company his handlers supposedly want nothing to do with. 

Secondly, Obekpa is a nice player for sure.  But let's not act like he is a surefire can't miss Anthony Davis like big man.  In other words why would a shoe company go thru this much trouble (presuming they plan to benefit from the kid and in turn benefit his handlers) to push a top 100/top 75 kid to a certain school?

Quote from: paultzman on May 07, 2012, 06:49:55 PM

Again, if Bennett goes to Oregon, don't see it as an option for Chris.

Guess Oregon out for Bennett.

“@AdamZagoria: .@findlayprep F Anthony Bennett is leaning "90 percent" toward UNLV over Oregon, source tells @SNYtv”

Pretty stunning development over the last week for Bennett.  Everybody assumed he this was a Florida v UK battle.  Then he drops Florida, then he drops Kentucky.

Apparently he had some visit to Vegas recently.  Dave Rice is trying to build UNLV into what Tark had it in the 80's and early 90's.  Be right there with UCLA and Arizona as the premiere destination out west for top recruits.

Quote from: paultzman on May 08, 2012, 08:48:04 AM

Quote from: paultzman on May 07, 2012, 06:49:55 PM

Again, if Bennett goes to Oregon, don't see it as an option for Chris.

Guess Oregon out for Bennett.

“@AdamZagoria: .@findlayprep F Anthony Bennett is leaning "90 percent" toward UNLV over Oregon, source tells @SNYtv”

Pretty stunning development over the last week for Bennett.  Everybody assumed he this was a Florida v UK battle.  Then he drops Florida, then he drops Kentucky.

Apparently he had some visit to Vegas recently.  Dave Rice is trying to build UNLV into what Tark had it in the 80's and early 90's.  Be right there with UCLA and Arizona as the premiere destination out west for top recruits.

Well maybe Bennett felt comfortable in Vegas since he went to high school in nearby Henderson. I guess he was also serious about playing with Birch. The conference lur for top recruits to play for UNLV is puzzling though.

Truly I am shocked he passed on KY. There was at least 20 minutes a game waiting for him and after 2 years he would have been a top 10 pick.