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But new Cal Men's Basketball coach Cuozo Martin already has his first commitment.
7' center Kingsley Okoroh just announced via twitter that he was switching his commitment from Tennessee to California.
TOO MUCH IS HAPPENING RT @Kingokoroh: I announce my commitment to the University of California Berkeley. I'm very excited to be a BEAR !
— GoldenBlogs (@GoldenBlogs) April 15, 2014
Okoroh hails from across the pond in England where he starred at Findlay Prep. Listed at 7'1, 250 lbs, he's rated by various services somewhere between two and three stars. Being overseas definitely puts him under the radar and he might be undervalued by the recruiting pundits.
Per this recruiting article,
"Martin goes after players he knows will work hard and fit his style of play, not based on stars alone."
Another write-up describes him as:
"Enter Okoroh, a raw prospect who averaged 18 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and six blocks per game and shot better than 75 percent on his free throws, according to Westwind coach Jai Steadman."
"Offensively, people say he's raw, but I think that's a bad terminology," Steadman said. "I just think he's getting better. He's got a nice right-hand and left-hand hook shot. Of course he needs to score more and finish and all that fun stuff, but for somebody who's 18, I don't care if you're 6-foot or 7-foot, you're still going to have some stuff to work on."
As the saying goes, you can't teach size. A defensive-minded shot-blocker who is willing to work hard? Fantastic.
Monty has had a hell of a run at Cal, but if he's had any real weaknesses, it's find true centers who can come in and really pound on the low block. The Bears really struggled to get any interior production and had a lot of trouble on the offensive glass as a result. Okoroh will hopefully be able to buck that trend and give Cal some real grit on the interior.
Welcome to Cal, Mr. Okoroh!
In less than ideal news, Idrissa Diallo is reconsidering his commitment to Cal, per his head coach.
The recruitment for Idrissa Diallo will be reopened. New Cal staff will have equal opportunity to recruit Idy. @chs_phantoms @Compton_Magic
— Coach Middlebrooks (@coachmiddlebrks) April 15, 2014
The original letter of intent has already been signed, but it seems like there will be a wait-and-see attitude taken here. Diallo has offers from schools like Colorado, Oregon State, UNLV, UCLA, USC and Virginia Tech.
Thoughts on these recruiting updates?