The state's hottest prospect this spring has certainly been Desert Vista High School's promising 6-foot-9, 185-pound junior post Osasere Ighodaro. Since the end to the high school basketball season, the gifted and rapidly developing stretch four-man prospect has aboslutely blown up with division-I college coaches. Recently, while already possessing double-digit division-I offers for himself, "Osa" received another big offer for himself, as a rising program in the SEC Conference made their commitment to the surging and lengthy prospect.
While recently receiving a huge offer from Stanford University, his biggest offer at that point, now many high major division-I programs are following suit and showing serious interest in the gifted versatile prospect. As a result, late last week Ighodaro received a visit to his high school program by Vanderbilt University and new Head Coach Jerry Stackhouse and new Associate Head Coach David Grace. The Vanderbilt staff liked what they saw of Ighodaro enough to extend an offer to him - his 11th scholarship offer to date.
Currently, he also possesses offers from Pepperdine, Grand Canyon, UC-Riverside, San Diego, San Jose State, UC-San Diego, Southern Utah, Montana and Northern Arizona.
Ighodaro entered his final spring and summer as one of the hottest prospect in the West, and the spring evaluation period was very good for him, as he should only continue to draw much more division-I interest throughout the remainder of the spring and summer.
Ighodaro is a nice recruiting target as a result of his promise as a college prospect. He has a long, lengthy frame that looks like it can mature a great deal still, and he also should add some serious size and strength over time. He has almost unlimited potential as a player and prospect, and he already possesses a good overall skill level and approach to the game, which is very attractive to college coaches.
While Ighodaro showed some of this potential as a sophomore with the Desert Vista program last season, he was in a limited role. This past season as a junior, he was relied on heavily by head coach Gino Crump to lead the program, which had lost a lot to graduation and transfers. He averaged 9.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per/game as a junior - numbers that will definitely gain a major boost next year in his final senior season.
I will continue to follow his recruitment very closely over the next (6) months, and look forward to bringing you any recruiting updates about him as well.
Arizona Hoop Review Scouting Report: Osasere Ighodaro is a unique physical talent, since he has excellent size and length and is still growing a great deal into his young frame. He has a long, lengthy frame that looks like it can mature a great deal still, and also add serious size and strength over time. He has almost unlimited potential as a player, and he already possesses a good overall skill level and approach to the game, which is very attractive to college coaches. He has a good shooting stroke with a pure touch out to 15 - 18 feet, but he is at his best from mid-range and around the basket, where he uses his soft touch to convert scoring opportunities. He has good low-post footwork and a nice jump hook. He is crafty around the basket which suits him nicely, and, as he matures physically, he will relish physical contact much more over time. While he will never be truly physical, added maturity will make him a much better finisher over time. He runs the very floor well and has good hands, but needs to get much physically stronger to maximize his potential as a player. An active rebounder as a result of his length. A very capable shotblocker that keeps balls in play. Has excellent upside. Potential is almost limitless.
