Recruiting Report: Derrick Ogechi
Quality shooters aren’t always easy to find so when they come around, they are in high demand. Park Center’s Derrick Ogechi can attest to that, as he’s got schools from all over the Midwest looking at him. “It’s been going…
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Continue ReadingQuality shooters aren’t always easy to find so when they come around, they are in high demand. Park Center’s Derrick Ogechi can attest to that, as he’s got schools from all over the Midwest looking at him.
“It’s been going good so far,” Ogechi said of the recruiting process. “Schools from Iowa, South Dakota and Chicago. Presentation, Dakota State, Waldorf, Graceland and William Penn. I’ve taken a couple visits so far and still have a few to go.”
Ogechi’s visited Dordt and Waldorf so far and is planning on taking more visits before the basketball season starts up — which is coming up quick.
Ogechi spent the spring and summer playing grassroots with Minnesota Phenom and said that helped him grow as a player and the exposure helped a lot for his recruitment.
“I think I got a lot of college interest that I hadn’t really gotten before,” said Ogechi. “We had a solid team. We weren’t too good or too bad but it was a good experience.”
Ogechi averaged about 14 points per game during his junior year at Park Center and the Pirates won 17 games while playing in perhaps the best conference in the state — the Northwest Suburban.
“It’s a great challenge,” said Ogechi. “That’s what makes high school basketball great. We get to play against the best every night.”
The Pirates return several important players from last year and with a roster full of experienced players or upperclassmen, Ogechi thinks the team could be strong again this year.
Ogechi’s strength as a player stems from his ability to stretch the defense and hit 3-point shots. He’s improved a lot on his one-dribble pull-up shot as well so when defenses run him off the line he can make people pay.
“I’m mainly a shooter,” said Ogechi. “Catch and shoot and one-dribble pull-ups are my strength. I need to work on my defense. People don’t think I play great defense but I’m working on it and getting better. I’ve been in the weight room a lot this fall and we’ve got open gyms and fall league during the week so I’ve been playing a lot.”