jayball wrote:It i interesting ISASO, I was just going to post about the different reactions from some WSU fans about EO compared to their reception of CU's Echenique. I guess it is all about your perspective sometimes.
When it is GE (or anyone else).....some fans will automatically say have to prove it to them on the court. Which is correct. But when people try to discuss anything that happend on a D1 court in the Big East..that is comletely irrelavent to how he will do in the Valley. Don't even talk about it.
When it is EO...some fans expect that everyone should uncriticlly accept the preordained success of African god from juco. He was raised by a group of kangaroos and gazelles and a suckled from a mama grizzly bear. He can cure cold sores with his tears and revive dead hamsters by blinking. He once impregnated the entire population of Park City by laughing. They will all give birth to rainbows about 20 mintues before the home opener.
I don't know maybe you guys just don't like Venezula?
Fair enough. Except the kangaroo and grizzly bear part. They are obviously not native to Nigeria.
I don't know if Orupke will go to the NBA. I do think he has the build for it. Obviously any prognosticating beyond that is very far-fetched at this point. I think maybe a lot of WSU fans are just very excited for two reasons.
1. There is finally a player on the court after a nearly 4-year recruiting saga.
2. After spending the last year seriously tempering expectations, Orupke has looked a little more impressive than some anticipated.
Does this make him and NBA player? Absolutely not. But with his size and athleticism, it isn't completely unreasonable that someone might be interested if he progresses well over the next 3 years (lots of ifs). Also, nobody is touting him as MVC player of the year. Just as one of the more likely to go pro because of body type and ceiling.
As for previous comments about the recruitment list, that is another fair point. I will say that his recruitment has been over for some 3 years. A 7-foot tall athlete can progress and grow into his body a lot in that amount of time. Also keep in mind that there is obviously some risk with this player. It has been 3 years. Not everyone wants to wait 3 years. Some schools can get as good a player from places that are less of a hassle/risk.
No one is expecting Orupke to dominate the league this year. Some people are expecting that from Echenique, and that's fine. Not saying it won't happen. So I think the comparison is different. The NBA talk is more focused on potential, not realized ability at this moment. I think people do get tired of the "Big East" line. Isn't that something that Valley fans should shrug off? He played at Rutgers. Rutgers was not a good team. Weren't there some very highly touted transfers from Iowa that went to SIU recently? They were preseason All-MVC picks because they were from a crappy, crappy team from the Big 10. How did that work out?
