Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Chuckles West
I'm a big fan of Arizona State's Ikechukwa Somotochukwa Diogu. "Ike," as he is commonly known, is a bona fide power forward. A great banger down low, he cleans the glass with the best of 'em and scores in droves. Were it not for Lawrence Roberts' return, Diogu would end the season a first team All-American. As it is, and despite playing for Pac-10 bottom-dweller ASU, Diogu will probably finish the year with better numbers than any other power forward in the college game (you heard it here first), but fail to get the respect he deserves as a result of Roberts' higher profile.
An encouraging sign for Diogu is his summer work ethic. As Mike DeCourcy notes, Diogu spent his summer between camps, among them Tim Grgurich's camp, Reebok 's ABCD camp, and the Michael Jordan Flight School. At the Grgurich camp, Diogu honed his skills against the likes of Jermaine O'Neal and Zach Randolph.
For those interested in learning more about Diogu, I suggest you read Curry Fitzpatrick's piece from Ike's freshman year.
