Fan Report: DeMatha’s Victor Oladipo (part deux)
The following report was written and submitted by ITH reader Dave Haskins (GFDave), who got a chance to watch Victor Oladipo on Wednesday night. If you attend games of IU signees, commitments or potential recruits, send us a report to [email protected] and it may appear in this very space.
GFDave and son watched DeMatha destroy Bishop O’Connell 83-55 last night. We attended the game to see Victor Olapido play and I want to share what we saw with the ITH gang.
First, VO had a quiet night. He had six points and I’d guess he had seven boards, a couple of assists and maybe four blocks. Everything that people have heard and seen about VO’s athleticism is 100% true. He moves exceptionally well and with a deceptively smooth gait that belies how fast he really is going. On one play he ran the fast break backwards so he could keep his eye on the ball which was straight behind him. He still beat everybody down the court.
I think it was Al McGuire that used the phrase “foot jumper” to describe players that could come down with a rebound and immediately explode back up without having to gather or coil. VO is a foot jumper big time. Very, very quick back to the rim.
He has a rangy frame, long arms and probably is a legit 6′ 4″. I’d guess he weighs 190. His body should take well to weight training and gaining 10-15 pounds of muscle.
DeMatha is loaded with talent, as Cooper pointed out in his post on VO. They do not run any offense for VO. His job is to bring energy (which he does big time), get out on the break, hit the boards, block shots and rebound. He had a number of blocks last night that came out of nowhere; the ball would be on its way to the hoop unabated and suddenly VO would sky and send it somewhere else. He worked the boards hard too.
He sees the court well and doesn’t try to do too much. He justifiably has little confidence in his jump shot and doesn’t look to take it. But he reverses the ball well and finds open cutters. His ball handling skills are below par for a wing player. On defense he kept his eye on the belly button of his man if he had the ball, and otherwise did a good job of keeping awareness of his man, the ball and cutters.
He did not have a good offensive game and I think he got a little frustrated with himself. He scored 6 points; 2 on a massive one-handed alley-oop dunk, and 2 on the only two free throws he took.
Mike Jones, the DeMatha coach, is good. They run the up-tempo, drive and kick game so prevelant these days. They have the horses for it. He doesn’t say too much and in the huddles he gave his team just one or two things to think about. My favorited quote was: “We’re not going to walk the ball up. Get it out quick and jam it down their throats.” My kind of guy.
Finally, VO is extremely well liked by the DeMatha people. We sat directly behind the bench and spoke with a number of people who think that he is just a great kid. VO was Co-Captain for the game, maybe for the year, I don’t know. You can tell he is a quiet leader on a very, very good team.
Filed to: Victor Oladipo