Decision Time for Goodluck Okonoboh

We're getting down to the wire again here with another recruit and this time it is 6'9" post player Goodluck Okonoboh. Like Robert Johnson, Okonoboh is another east coast kid hailing from Woburn, Massachusetts (Boston). Though "only" 6'9" Okonoboh is more of a center prospect than a power forward. A lot of that is due to his defensive presence on the court.

Okonoboh is relatively raw from the offensive standpoint. Though he has improved quite a bit this summer in that aspect there is still some ways to go before he'll be a major scoring threat at the college level consistently. Instead, Okonoboh gets all of his value from his defensive abilities. His lofty ranking of 24th in the nation on average comes from his ability to affect the offense from all over the floor.

Goodluck's shot blocking ability is second to none in this 2014 class. He's long, athletic and does a lot by just keeping players out of the lane. I've seen him on a few occasions, once in person and another time in some online game film and it's impressive how often a guard gets by his man on the perimeter only to hesitate in the lane as Okonoboh comes over to help. The fact in a lot of games quickly become one of him not blocking shots, but deterring shots from ever happening. It's impressive.

Obviously this is a guy that Indiana can badly use. We've been re-identifying ourselves as a long athletic team that can run the floor and beat you from all five positions. Okonoboh fits right in with that trend. Stay with me for a second, but imagine a lineup of Okonoboh, Vonleh, Hollowell, Williams and Yogi on the floor for a moment in 2014. Holy cow, would that be terrifying for opponents to try and match up with. Add to that Hanner Perea, Devin Davis and a healthy Peter Jurkin and you're looking at some incredibly athletes. Mind you Rob Johnson, Luke Fischer, Stan Robinson and Collin Hartman are no slouches in the athleticism department either. They're just not as explosive as the others on the list. Okonoboh would go a long way to rounding out a very very tough team to match up with at any of five positions on the floor.

So who is the competition? It appears we're down to only three schools. Goodluck came to IU for the Missouri game and by all accounts he had a very good time with former teammate, friend and potential future teammate Noah Vonleh. After his Missouri visit he scheduled back to back official visits with the other two competitors in Ohio State and UNLV. It's strange that he made both visits on the same weekend but not unheard of. He just finished up the last of those on Tuesday.

Now it's time to sit back and wait. Rumors were floated that he plans to decide by Thursday, but nothing has been confirmed. Likely though he'll be making the decision relatively quickly. I would be surprised to see this draw out any longer than the next week or so. He has all the information, has made all of his visits and now has some time to think it over. He should pop soon.

Word on the street is that IU has been the favorite for quite some time. I believe that is still the case. Although Jeff Borzello with CBS Sports tweeted last night that Ohio State and UNLV have been making up ground, Indiana is still the team to beat here. Color me surprised and slightly disappointed if he ends up anywhere but in an Indiana uniform by next November.