Big East Basketball: Each team’s best acquisition out of 2023 transfer portal

Jeremiah Oden – 6’8 Forward – DePaul Blue Demons

Jeremiah Oden is a stretch-forward prospect out of MWC’s Wyoming Cowboys rotation looking to make a splash in the Big East with the DePaul Blue Demons. He’s a prospect that’s still trying to find his way on the hardwood with athleticism and length at his disposal.

Oden has continued to grow as a paint presence, creator in the high post/mid-range and perimeter presence over the past three seasons at Wyoming. He put up 9.6 ppg and 3.6 rpg on 44.3 percent shooting from the field and 34.4 percent from deep across 30 appearances, 19 starts, this past season.

He’s continued to develop his all-around game as his scoring and 3-point field goal percentages were both career-highs. He poured in a career-high 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field, 3-for-3 from deep and 7-of-9 from the free-throw line back on Feb. 27 in a conference victory over Nevada.

As a starter in 2021-22, he averaged a career-high 4.5 rebounds per contest. That year his 42 offensive rebounds ranked 17th in the MWC while his 153 rebounds ranked 19th. He appeared in 34 contests while starting in 32 of them and also shot a career-high 52.1 percent from the field.

Oden is another acquisition joining the Big East out of the MWC, though from a different squad and position group that’ll look to make his presence felt in 2023-24. He’ll just need to be consistent in the frontcourt as a paint presence and defensive anchor.

He’s a prospect that should battle for playing time though the frontcourt depth chart remains thin.  He’ll be one of four portal acquisitions for the Blue Demons as they look to replace nine departures from a season ago but still return five players from last year’s squad including Da’Sean Nelson and Caleb Murphy.