Daniel Oturu, a 6-foot-9 junior center from St. Paul (MN) Cretin-Derham Hall, is one of the top big men in the Midwest in the Class of 2018 and is considered one of the top prospects from Minnesota in the class. Oturu received a scholarship offer from Minnesota this summer.
Oturu averaged 16.7 points, 14.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.9 steals and 6.0 blocked shots per game as a sophomore for the Raiders, who finished 15-13. He scored in double figures in 27 of 28 games with eight games of 20 or more points, including a season-best 27 points versus Stillwater. Oturu grabbed double figure rebounds in all but two games.
Gopher Hole recently caught up with Gopher Hole to talk about the latest on his recruitment and upcoming season.
Gopher Hole: You are getting ready for your junior season. What are the expectations for you at Cretin this year?
Daniel Oturu: Our expectations this year is to make the section final and win and go to the state tournament and hopefully, make a state tournament run.
Gopher Hole: We had talked before about playing with Ryan Larson (a transfer from Braham) who also plays for Howard Pulley. He is a big addition for the team. How much do you think his addition is going to help you? It seems like the two of you have really good chemistry, even though you haven’t played together all that long.
Daniel Oturu: The chemistry there is definitely from playing with each other for a couple of years during the AAU circuit. Having Ryan on our team is a big thing. He adds more shooting. He adds more dribble drive. He is a great dishing point guard. He is just a great overall point guard for us and he is going to be a huge factor for us this season.
Gopher Hole: Is his addition nice because teams are going to double and maybe even triple-team you? If you have some shooting from the outside or someone who can drive, it is going to force teams to guard you one-on-one a little bit more.
Daniel Oturu: Yes, for sure. Whenever, I get double-teamed down low, it is just easy to kick it out to Ryan or someone on our perimeter to shoot, because we have better shooters this year.
Gopher Hole: You got a chance to play against another big man in Joe Hedstrom, a 6-foot-9 junior from Hopkins, who you know and has also played for Pulley. Is that kind of nice to go against a big guy since you might not often see a guy your size or taller than you throughout the year high-school wise. You see a lot of big man during the AAU season, but is it nice to go up against another big guy?
Daniel Oturu: Yes. Joeseph Hedstrom, a 6-10 dude. He is a good big man. I love playing against people my size or even bigger than me, because it makes me want to play a lot harder or just show my dominance and keep going and show that I am better.
Gopher Hole: What things have you been really focused on to improve yourself as a player?
Daniel Oturu: The things that I am really focusing on to make me better is just getting to the rim more efficiently and trying to finish a lot better. Getting to the free throw line and getting points from the charity stripe, because free throws are easy money. You’ve got to make them.
Gopher Hole: You get a lot of contact, so you are going to be able to draw some fouls and get some chances at the line, right?
Daniel Oturu: Yes.
Gopher Hole: How about visits? You were down at Kansas and Nebraska recently. What was that like?
Daniel Oturu: I had visited Nebraska about a week ago, I think. It was really nice down there. Great facilities. Great coaches. Atmosphere there is just lovely. It is nice. It is a good feel.
Gopher Hole: How about Kansas?
Daniel Oturu: I haven’t visited Kansas yet, but I will soon. Hopefully, during the year.
Gopher Hole: What colleges games have you had a chance to attend so far this year?
Daniel Oturu: I’ve gotten a chance to see Minnesota versus Arkansas and that was about it.
Gopher Hole: What was that experience like? Minnesota had a disappointing season last year, but are off to a really good start. What was that like?
Daniel Oturu: They are off to a great start. They look better as a team. The offense is flowing more. Defense are really picked up and the players on the team are stepping up and they look nice out there.
Gopher Hole: Does that make you look at them a little bit differently than when they weren’t playing as well?
Daniel Oturu: Yes, for sure. Minnesota is the homestate. They are always going to be up there just because it is my state, my home school, so I have to show them as much love as they are showing me.
Gopher Hole: What would it mean to maybe have the chance to play for the homestate school?
Daniel Oturu: It would mean a lot because your family gets to watch you. It is not too far from home. I only live like 20 minutes from the campus, so it is not that far for my family to come watch me. Just having that Gopher on my chest, to represent the state of Minnesota and college sports, would mean a lot.
Gopher Hole: I know that offered you a little while ago. What are they saying to you?
Daniel Oturu: They really want me to come. They like me a lot and I like the coaching staff there to. Everything about them. Everything is good there. I like it. They are talking good to me.
Gopher Hole: How many offers are you up to right now?
Daniel Oturu: I think that I am up to nine right now. (Creighton, Minnesota, Baylor, Kansas, Nebraska, Providence, Northern Iowa, Memphis and Georgia Tech)
Gopher Hole: What other schools are you hearing from besides those nine the most?
Daniel Oturu: I’m hearing a lot from Indiana, Xavier, Purdue and Butler. Kind of those Big East, Big Ten schools.
Gopher Hole: Are any of those schools talking about maybe offering you soon?
Daniel Oturu: Yes. Schools are talking to me about hopefully getting me down on campus and hopefully they can offer me a scholarship.
Gopher Hole: Cretin usually has a tough non-conference schedule and you have some big games coming up. Do you like playing those tough games to get you ready for the regular season and hopefully the postseason?
Daniel Oturu: I love it. I love playing against the best teams. It doesn’t matter the outcome or the score at the end of the game, it is just the feeling that we know that we played our best and that we played against a good team. It is just that feeling that makes me happy because no matter what, no one can say that you’re not playing against anybody. If you are playing against good teams and it also makes you better as a team and getting you ready for the bigger games down in March.
Gopher Hole: When you watch college basketball or pro basketball at home, are there certain players that you watch or try to copy some of their game?
Daniel Oturu: Not a lot of players. I watch college basketball a lot, so whenever I see my type of build and my type of skill set, I like to watch them and take bits and parts of their games and add it to mine because I know that they are playing at the college level, the high Division I level, so if they are making moves that are working up there, I try to take that and emulate my game and use that at this level to help me dominant more.
Gopher Hole: Who are some of your favorite players to watch?
Daniel Oturu: There is a lot. I can’t even think. It is tough, but there are a lot.
Gopher Hole: You had a strong year at Pulley. You have a couple of guys coming back like you, Gabe Kalscheur and Tre Jones. Have you talked much about how well you did this past year, but also about being better next year, too?
Daniel Oturu: Yes. We talked about this last season and how we can build on it like Brad Davison and Gary Trent Jr., Theo John and etc. have left the program to graduation, so we talked about how we can make our team better and lead us to the Peach Jam again, because we don’t want to not make it ever again. We want to keep going until we leave.