Rams eyeing JUCO PF

It's officially visit season for college basketball programs, as classes have begun nationwide. Colorado State has two scholarships left to offer for the 2015-2016 season, with 2015 guards Anthony Bonner and Prentiss Nixon and 2015 wing Nathan Bain already in the fold.

New potential targets are starting to surface, with several coming from junior colleges. That should come as no surprise, particularly under Head Coach Larry Eustachy. Assistant coach Ross Hodge has deep ties in the juco ranks, and CSU is evaluating several juco prospects. One of them is 2015 juco big man Emmanuel Omogbo from South Plains College.

Omogbo, a 6-foot-8 forward, had a solid season for South Plains last year as a freshman. South Plains had a successful season, finishing the year 29-6 and reached the Elite Eight of the NJCAA National Tournament. The Texans produced six D-1 players last season, with Sekou Harris (South Dakota), Michael Karena (Wright State), Roderick Lawrence (Ole Miss), Ryan Martin (Tennessee Tech), Malik Nichols (Hofstra) and Billydee Williams (West Virginia) all moving on. Omogbo, a Maryland native, seems poised to join current teammate and Arizona State commit Andre Spight as the next in line to become D-1 players for South Plains.

Omogbo was a valuable player off the bench for South Plains, appearing in all 35 games and starting six. He averaged 7.5 points per game to go along with 4.4 rebounds in 16.3 minutes. Omogbo shot a solid 58% from the field as well.

South Plains assistant coach Hank Plona shared insight on Omogbo's freshman campaign.

"Emmanuel came off the bench because of the depth we had in the frontcourt," Plona said. "He had a late start with us, he joined us late because he was considering prep school. But he showcased his talent and toughness from the start. He hit a bit of a wall midseason, however, he really established himself late in the season."

In five postseason games in March, Omogbo averaged 11.4 points per game, as well as 6.6 rebounds.

Plona described Omogbo's strengths as a basketball player. "He's 6-8, 220, and plays very hard," Plona said. "He can play both the 4 or the 5, has a strong pick and roll game, scores inside, trails well, and rebounds very well. We didn't run many plays for him, but he still wound up being productive."

Riding his big momentum, Omogbo worked on addressing some of his weaknesses this offseason. "I've been doing a lot of shooting, working on extending my range to the three point line," Omogbo said. "I've also been working on my handle, going to my left more. I go right a lot, so I have been working on my left hand."

Plona shared some of Omogbo's improvements this summer. "His game is expanding in a major, major way," Plona said. "He'll hit the three now, his skill is developing and expanding. From March to now, his shot has really improved tremendously. He's spent endless amount of time in the gym, due to his strong work ethic. We're certainly going to run plays for him this season."

As far as his recruitment goes, Omogbo is garnering interest from several schools, including CSU.

Omogbo started hearing from CSU after the NJCAA tourney, with assistant coach Hodge reaching out to him. Omogbo has also heard from DePaul, La Salle, Louisiana Tech, Towson, UL Lafayette and Wichita State. Omogbo doesn't have any official visits scheduled yet, he said he's waiting to see which schools go and watch him play during the first weeks of practice.

He is eyeing an October commit date. CSU appears to be in a good position, as they have several things working for them in Omogbo's recruitment.

CSU has a connection with South Plains and Omogbo, a connection that could pay off in his recruitment. Current CSU redshirt senior Stanton Kidd played his first two years of college basketball at South Plains, and he also hails from Maryland, like Omogbo. Although they didn't know each other before CSU started recruiting him, Kidd and Omogbo have been in contact this summer. Omogbo called Kidd his "big bro" and thinks very highly of him.

CSU's history of recruiting juco players could also potentially pay off for the Rams in Omogbo's recruitment. It's something both Omogbo and Plona like about CSU.

"It's important, mainly because they're looking for immediate impact players and to utilize them in that manner," Plona said.

As it stands, CSU only has two true big men in 2015-2016: Dantiel Daniels and Toby Van Ry. There's an obvious need in the frontcourt, and Omogbo could fill that need.

"He wants to make an impact right away, I think he can do that at CSU," Plona said. "He's a top three, top four forward in juco right now."

Looking ahead to Omogbo's 2014-2015 season, shared his one simple goal, "be back at nationals, because winning is key," Omogbo said. He's also expected to take on a much bigger role this season. "Andre Spight and Emmanuel will be leaders this season," Plona said. "We consider them to have equal-like impact and talent. Emmanuel will be a captain this year, a sophomore leader."

With practice for South Plains set to start in the coming weeks, keep an eye on CSU as Omogbo starts setting official visits. Given their need for bigs, Omogbo will be a player to watch out for.