NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 10 options for Oral Roberts transfer Kevin Obanor
2. Texas Tech Red Raiders
The news of double-digit scoring wing Terrence Shannon Jr. gives the Red Raiders real optimism of making the NCAA Tournament despite losing head coach Chris Beard and leading scorer Mac McClung. While the team did bring back Kevin McClullar Jr. along with four transfer guards, there’s going to need to be some consistent frontcourt production besides center Marcus Santos-Silva.
Texas Tech did land another mid-major forward transfer in Bryson Williams, who averaged 15.1 ppg and 7.4 rpg last season at UTEP. He’s more of a post scorer and doesn’t spread the floor much. But while Williams and Santos-Silva may not be the most ideal offensive pairing, Obanor would be next to perfect with both, allowing there to be a number of lineups for the team to utilize. Those two can play at the five, while the Oral Roberts forward can space things out at the four, allowing Shannon and the guards to work on the outside.
1. Illinois Fighting Illini
With All-American center Kofi Cockburn now gone from the Illini, the frontcourt is effectively just Florida transfer center Omar Payne, sophomore reserve Brandon Lieb and several undersized power forwards. While this team has done a good job reloading the backcourt with Utah scoring transfer Alfonso Plummer, there’s a current lack of balance that makes them a bubble team at best and one that can be easily schemed against.
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What makes Illinois such a compelling option is that Obanor can get 25-30 minutes almost guaranteed at the power forward spot, without potentially being buried on the bench. He can have a big role in the offense for a notable program, and if he can have a big season this is a team that certainly can go dancing in 2022. This option has all the pros and compared to the others, doesn’t have the cons that can make it a potentially bad decision for Kevin Obanor.