Ogbole Gets the Belt
- Thread starter MadRU
- Start date
Love how he challenged the guys, “Who’s gonna take it from me? I challenge all of you!”
There is a lot to like about Ogbole. Without question Cliff leaving left a huge hole. Love the way Ogbole is working hard to fill it. He could become a huge fan favorite!
We all know the kind of effort Pike expects from his players, so it’s good to see that the guy we hope will improve the most has earned this belt in week one. Very encouraging, to say the least.
We are officially big time when WWE has a belt for your University. 
I was talking this guy up all late season last year. I believe Shelby65 was too (if I have that wrong, I apologize, but I think he was). He's legit. He will bring bare minimum what Cliff brought to us last few years, and the upside is he may bring a lot more, given the talent. I am really pumped about this guy, and believe he will be the dark horse no one anticipated allowing Rutgers to maybe win the Big 10 and make a very deep Tournament run.
We have our own Kofi Cockburn
True. And he looks very motivated and confident. If Big E stays healthy…watch out!
It looks like Lathan has a love/hate relationship with Ogbole…and right now it is mostly hate (Lathan probably hasn’t gone up against someone like Ogbole and now must do so every day they practice).
Looks like 99 gonna be getting more total minutes than Lathan…at least out da gate.
Looks like 99 gonna be getting more total minutes than Lathan…at least out da gate.
So after 4 days of practice it “looks” ? Really? How Bout we let the team come together and practice 4 months and then see what happens. All the predictions about playing time mean absolutely zero . Just sayin. Enjoy the ride…
Ogbole, Jeremiah and JMike all stayed on campus after the spring semester to workout together, rather than going back home. They're all in great shape for the start of summer practice.
An object lesson to the new kids for next season. Not blaming a bunch of incoming Frosh for not knowing that (not saying you or anyone is…)
I’m sure the transfers are also in decent shape.
Of course, Ace and Dylan are in shape from playing in all the tourneys…
ah, the summer...it's encouraging but I think we still need to be realistic...
Dylan looked in high school like he had the physique of a college player. No doubt he saw what his brother did to get in college shape and trained accordingly. Glad the returning players and transfers have also put in effort so they can be examples of what is expected in a college athlete. With the depth on the roster and the work ethic of the returning players, I expect practice and workouts to be very competitive. Liked the comment from Martini that implied whenever he comes to workout, you can find a bunch of players working out too!
Just sayin’. Ogbole has been giving Lathan the business a little in these vids and Lathan doesn’t look thrilled. Lathan is used to bullying kids in the paint and that ain’t happening in practice against Ogbole. Now hopefully Lathan develops some “put your booty on the defender” and then step back fade away shots because he’s gonna need a bag of tricks like that…and he has the length to make it work. Lathan can be a point forward someday and if it happens sooner than later this team can be scary good.
If he works really hard, there is plenty of time before November for Lathan to grow his game, body and endurance.
This was a deficiency for Cliff as well. Aside from a year with Myles, who could possibly challenge him in practice?
Competition is good. Just hope that it’s interpreted in a good way and not in the “I’m going to take my ball and go home” way.
Of course we do, but if you can’t be optimistic now, when can you be optimistic?
Yeah, not a big deal. These guys were in high school a few weeks ago. Now they’re playing against grown men who have a year of college S&C. Good to see Lathan now getting a taste of what’s he’s gonna deal with all year, will only make him better.
Yup, totally. He’s going to be dealing with that all year in league. Reading about him, I get the impression he’ll channel it the right way to get better. As fans, we should be thrilled this is all happening now.
Shelby stated Ogbole is already better offensively and will be more useful on that end than Cliff and Muff Johnson 15 ever were. Shelby did concede that Ogbole won’t be an equal defender but that he can be a net positive replacement overall.
Like to see some twin towers action with Sommerville and Ogbole on the floor with JWill, Dylan and Ace.
Some food for thought:
Last year Ogbole only had two games where he played more than 8 minutes — 18 minutes against OSU and 16 minutes at Purdue.
In those combined 34 minutes, he had 15 points (on 5-8 from the floor and 5-10 from the FT line), 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls.
Small sample and some garbage time may have been involved, but what scrubs have you seen put up those stats, even in garbage time, against two B1G teams?
If Lathan has two games like that, we’ll say we have a budding star on our hands.
EO is fully recovered from his injury, he’s putting in the work, he’s energized and vocal, and will definitely be much improved after a full off-season of workouts and practices plus a full slate of OOC games leading into conference play.
If (a big if) we see significant improvement in his hands for securing the ball, we’ll see a major contribution from Big E, no doubt.
Last year Ogbole only had two games where he played more than 8 minutes — 18 minutes against OSU and 16 minutes at Purdue.
In those combined 34 minutes, he had 15 points (on 5-8 from the floor and 5-10 from the FT line), 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls.
Small sample and some garbage time may have been involved, but what scrubs have you seen put up those stats, even in garbage time, against two B1G teams?
If Lathan has two games like that, we’ll say we have a budding star on our hands.
EO is fully recovered from his injury, he’s putting in the work, he’s energized and vocal, and will definitely be much improved after a full off-season of workouts and practices plus a full slate of OOC games leading into conference play.
If (a big if) we see significant improvement in his hands for securing the ball, we’ll see a major contribution from Big E, no doubt.
Good points. And the team is built differently this year. As Richie pointed out during the most recent podcast, the 5 will be the last option on offense this year. Mainly looking for D and rebounding. Whatever these guys give us offensively is gravy.
I agree. I am sure if Pike believed this guy would be a zero he would have made it a top priority to get a serious 5 from portal. He didn't. Remember Ogbole will have a lot more relaxed game offensively given that this year, he will kinda be an afterthought offensively. If Ogbole contributed 10 a game, we might really be getting somewhere.
I am sure Latham trained back home, and he thought he was in good shape
And he probably was for a high school player
Comes to camp and then sees what a college player looks and acts like
A learning experience for sure
The pessimist in me is saying RU is overhyping Ogbole on social media so we won't be pissed about the fact they failed to keep Cliff or get a starting Center out of the portal. The realist in me is saying Pikiell did the best with the NIL money he had and really believes Ogbole can be a halfway decent replacement.
The people that continue to say Ogbole will be an improvement over Cliff are smoking the funny stuff.
I don't think there are too many people saying that he will be an improvement, but I don't think we need to rely on that position for offense this year as much as we did with Cliff.
While I think Ogbole starts the season and most games, and offers a serviceable 20 minute stat line, Ogbole will not be in the game in the final 5 minutes of a close game, Martini will be the 5. You can tell Pike trusts him there given his experience, bball iq, and FT shooting. Ogbole offers none of that