Great Osobor signed his national letter of intent on Friday with the University of Washington team, which means someone higher up can start putting his or her signature on the bottom of those name, image and likeness checks coming his way.
The Huskies’ $2 million man — a money figure confirmed by his agent when it was agreed upon and making him college basketball’s highest-paid player — is a player Danny Sprinkle personally developed, bringing him to the U.S. from the United Kingdom and using him as a sub for two seasons at Montana State before the 6-foot-8 forward had a break-though year at Utah State as the Mountain West Player of the Year.
Oh, how college basketball has changed overnight, especially now in Montlake, where mediocre has been the norm for the program for the past five seasons, necessitating the coaching change from Mike Hopkins to Sprinkle.
Osobor, who averaged 17.7 points and 9 rebounds per game, brings a combination of aggressiveness and finesse up front that has been offered at the UW only by Isaiah Stewart, a 17-point scorer 8.8 rebounder in 2019-20, over the past 25 years.
“He is a tough kid who loves physicality and wanted the opportunity to compete at the highest level, which is the Big Ten,” Sprinkle said of Osobor.
When we last saw Osobor, he was getting a hard lesson to digest in Big Ten play from Purdue and 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey in the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis, not far from the Boilermakers’ campus.
Osobor had a decidedly mundane effort that afternoon with 14 points and 6 rebounds to Edey’s 23 points and 14 grabs in Purdue’s 106-67 rout.
Yet Edey is off to the NBA now and, after all, who in the Big Ten has another 7-foot-4 center to throw at the London kid?
No, Osobor is a huge investment by Sprinkle and Company to make the Huskies presentable in the Big Ten right away, to help the new coach get his program off and running, and to make it attractive to the next Great Osobors coming up.
Sprinkle has had Osobor every year for the past three years and somebody’s $2 million NIL donation will make it four. The powerful forward has gotten better each season and there’s no reason at all to think he won’t be even more formidable the fourth time around with Sprinkle whispering into his ear.
“It has been rewarding to watch his development over the past three years,” Sprinkle said, “and our staff is excited to help him take another leap this year.”
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