[LU'sbestmanager]

Ehimen is a Native of Lagos Nigeria. he is a 7' 0 seventeen year old. very long and athletic. word is that he dukns EVERYTHING!!!!

[TIMSCAR20]

Man how do you pronounce THAT name? Is coach Okon gonna start making it hard on the radio/TV guys? Women's basketball names over the years were hard enough.

[LU'sbestmanager]

[Purple Haize]

Oh I thought he either ment Mehmet Okhur (my boy) or Eminem. Never mind

[Sly Fox]

He is teammates with Frank Benjamin-Eze and he comes from the same town in Nigeria. And they both competed in the Basketball Without Borders Camp in South Africa and African Basketball Online & Samaritan's Feet 2006 Big Man Camp in Lagos.

[LU'sbestmanager]

he had some big schools going after him

[kel varson]

does this mean we are getting two 7 footers?

[lureal]

They feel like they may get Eze too. That would be outrages for the program. this is big stuff!
Tj Bannister and Ehimen who had Big East and Big 12 offers in the same recruiting class. I suppose
some will still criticize but this program is moving toward coach's vision. i give Coach d the credit for
positioning the staff to re-open his nigerian pipeline. Congrats to coach d and coach okon.

[lureal]

That is outrageous. sorry

[whmatthews]

Tall guys don't necessarilly mean anything to LU these days... case in point, Russell Monroe.

[SuperJon]

How much does this kid weigh? I ask that because we all know he will have to bulk up to play at the college level, but I would like to know if this is going to be Yao Ming tall and really skinny type player or what.

[LU'sbestmanager]

Tall guys don't necessarilly mean anything to LU these days... case in point, Russell Monroe.

coach is really excited about this one. i think he will turn out pretty good for us. he has high major talent. i hope he is mean on the court. I really like alex's attitude on the basketball court. he's so nasty with it. I LOVE IT!

[Sly Fox]

For the record, Yao is tall but not skinny. His calves are like tree trunks. He just looks skinny because he's 7' 6".

Let's just say the track refcord of Nigerian centers has been very good over the past couple of decades. That's why they have become such a hot commodity.

[TDDance234]

Absolutely. A HUGE get.

[SuperJon]

Sly, I was talking about when he first came over from China. He wasn't nearly as big as he is now.

[Sly Fox]

I was here when he arrived and he's always been solid. He just looked frail becaus eof his heighth. He was 340 when he got here. Even over a 7'6" frame, that's plenty of bulk to push around most NBA posts not named Shaq.

[PeterParker]

So the strategy for the women's team has been the ukraine/russia connection and sisters/twins/triplets--which has been quite successful over the years.

And the strategy for the men seems to be major conference transfers and the Nigerian connection--It would also be nice to see the team able to attract and to tap into the top private schools (alot of faith based schools) recruits who seem to always be plentiful on the High School Senior top 50 list each year.

Remember that Gado has the Nigerian background, and although he was originally a soccer player (usually more lean because of the conditioning) he was able to bulk up on his 5'10 frame. So perhaps once these guys land in Lynchburg, Gillespie or whoever is the strength coach can get these guys on a steady diet of protein shakes and creatine and put some size on them if they don't already possess it.

[SuperJon]

He seemed to get pushed around by a lot of other centers besides Shaq his first few years. This year he's playing amazing.

I only asked the weight because I wanted to know if he could make an immediate impact or would we have to wait 2-3 years to see an impact.

[LU'sbestmanager]

he's 215

[kel varson]

Sorry to say this but Russell Monroe is not athletic. Most 7 foot Nigerians, especially the thinner ones can run like deer. "Can you say shot blocker!" he'll have plenty of time to bulk up.

[Hold My Own]

yeah this kid runs like a deer...Coach D is thrilled, he had the papers in his hand last nite (copies, the originals better be in a safe somewhere )

[PAmedic]

I feel good things coming on.

the recruiting is such a major part of the day-to-day basketball biz, with Barber turning things around in the office- I think we have a recipe for success in ALL sports programs.

call me the eternal optimist

[SuperJon]

You're the eternal optimist.

[kel varson]

Ewing was pretty skinny at GTown. Garnett was also really thin. There are many other examples....Marcus Camby also.

[LUconn]

Bulk actually hurts some players. ie another Nigerian name Okafor bluked up last year and sucked. Slimmed back down and is his regular double double self