2010 BU Recruit- Michael Ocherobia

[Future Walk-On]

I'm just gonna hope our guards shoot 95% from the floor.

[Da Coach]

Dave Reynolds writes about Michael Ochereobia at Highland junior college-

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x863072496/Ex-BU-recruit-at-junior-college

[tornado]

The head coach at Highland is Zac Roman, and the assistant is Devan Bawinkel
Long, long time head coach Pete Norman retired in 2009 and assistant Ronnie Dean coached
on an interim basis last year so Zac Roman is new this season...

http://www.highland.edu/news_events/announcements.asp?newsid=636

D'Mitri Riggs is a soph there and it's the juco Angelo Flanders attended

Highland is the 2nd winningest juco program in the nation behind Chipola over the past 5 years (153-22)

[Braveman]

Darn the NCAA for conspiring against BU- oh wait... DR said he didn't meet academic requirements at Bradley...

Well never mind- I am sure the NCAA had something to do with this....

[mexicobufan]

I must be missing part of the story? Does he mention still coming to BU after JC and will he need to be there two years?

[tornado]

here's an article from the Freeport newspaper..and even mentions Ochereobia as far back as more than two weeks ago...
(spelling his name correctly..)
That's about the time that we knew Ochereobia signed...and we've been talking about him going to Highland for the past week...

but note that the story mentions another kid going to Highland, a 6-4 wing player out of Dallas, TX...

http://www.journalstandard.com/sports/college/x4598708/Bawinkel-back-as-assistant-coach

[Da Coach]

I must be missing part of the story? Does he mention still coming to BU after JC and will he need to be there two years?

He will need to graduate with a degree in order to be eligible to go to a D1 school. That probably means 2 years at juco. Nothing has been said about him coming to BU then. Any commitment now is meaningless as we saw with the Xavier Crawford and John Wilkins situations.

[tornado]

There are examples of kids who go to juco and keep their commitment to BU but somehow nobody ever remembers those kids ..

[thefish7]

T, honestly can't come up with any who did... Who has?

[tornado]

Cellus, Dodie, Chris Roberts even verbaled long before his sophomore season started

[thefish7]

Uh what? Those guys didn't make a commitment to Bradley, go somewhere else, and then honor the old commitment to Bradley.

[tornado]

Cellus sorta did....but it happens all over the place....
didn't ISU lose a few, too....Dentmon, Dunson, Cornelius....and SIU lost Tabb when he went to prep school and then somewhere else...
and even one that ISU sent off to juco and DID get back in return, Bobby Hill, didn't exactly work out too well for them, did it?? Mighta just been better had he not come back to ISU, I'd say...
Hey -- if Ocherobia wants to come 7000 miles to go to juco in Freeport, then reopen his recruitment -- frankly I can't see a thing we can do about it unless you want to fret and worry...so go ahead.......
This is NOT like the story with Wilkins -- a few antics caused BU to back out before ISU was even involved...ISU (& JW) might think they have a future NBA star, but they might have more than they bargained for.

[thefish7]

I don't know where I said any of that...? I was just trying to come up with anyone who committed to Bradley, ended up at Juco or Prep School but still came to BU and couldn't think of anyone. I just figure it's unlikely that MO will come to BU at this point... No fault of anyone's, just based on what's happened with other kids we had that didn't qualify.

[tornado]

I know -- never meant to say you made any such claims -- just that it is COMMON for kids who don't qualify to suddenly get other, MORE, and maybe better & more interesting offers once they go to juco and finally get eligible...

So it stands to reason that a good percentage of them once they spend a couple years at juco have a different feeling about the whole recruiting thing and maybe choose elsewhere -- obviously knowing they are not bound by anything previously...
Buycks is a perfect example -- from the time he was a little kid he dreamed of playing in front of his hometown Milwaukee...but they didn't want him out of high schol so he verballed to BU -- a pretty decent choice given the options...
Once in juco -- his stock soared, he got the coveted offer from MU, and I can't imagine anyone would have expected him to turn it down and come to BU anyway - since neither he NOR Bradley were bound one iota by the previous scholarship offer and verbal.......
and as I pointed out -- sometimes, as in the Wilkins, Stemler, Dunson, Tabb cases....maybe the original school fills their rides and no longer is pursuing..

But -- Cellus is an example of one who went to juco - knowing his destination was going to be Bradley and he stuck to it and did not change, even though he had NATIONALLY prominent scoring stats and was getting other calls!

[real fan]

I expect to see Michael in a BU uniform after J.C. as it is a great fit for him and Bradley.