NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Analyzing 6 teams in play for top-100 Chisom Okpara

Northwestern Wildcats

One of the top academic institutions among the power conference programs, Northwestern allows Okpara to potentially stay local, as well as have the experience of playing against quality competition on a nightly basis in the Big Ten. And compared to the other power conference programs on the list, Northwestern has the best chance of getting an at-large bid, since most of its core is returning for this season.

Considering that the frontcourt pieces for the Wildcats (Ryan Young, Elyjah Williams, and Pete Nance) are all upperclassmen, it’s important for them to add another piece. And Okpara may end up being their most realistic target among the top-100 prospects. The only concern here is that head coach Chris Collins may be on the hot seat if the team struggles this season. But if the team can rebound and add Okpara, they’ll be on the right track.

Penn State Nittany Lions

Another rebuilding Big Ten program with a new head coach, Micah Shrewsberry has a good history of working with frontcourt players during his time at Purdue. That’s the second-major selling point in this recruitment, along with potential early playing time for Okpara to consider.

With John Harrar and Greg Lee likely gone after this upcoming season, that leaves Junior College transfer Jevonnie Scott on the projected 2022-23 roster. The team has as many as nine open spots and two guard commits (Kanye Clary and Evan Mahaffey) but needs to start adding bigs. Okpara would be a big pickup that would help expedite the rebuilding process for the program.