Semi Ojeleye is from a small town. He walks around with a bible in his backpack. He has a 4.0 grade point average. His vertical is off the charts. He averaged 38 points a game during his senior year and currently has the record for most points by a male high school player in Kansas.
Skeptics might dwell on the fact that he only won a state championship once in four tries, but how many people can say that they have played in a state championship game all four years they were in high school? Okay, Jabari Parker not only played in four but won them all but, he is an exception.
The important thing here is Ojeleye wasn’t just a passenger on those state championship bound teams. He earned his way, averaging just over a dozen points, as a freshman, working his way to 38 when they actually won. Even if he was a man among boys in high school, props have to be given for being willing to score that much on a game by game basis.
“It says he has a tireless work ethic. It’s an amazing feat.” Ottawa Coach John McKowen told the Duke Chronicle after Ojeleye broke the 17-year-old record to become the Kansas scoring champion, mid season.
“You’ve got to come in as a freshman and be pretty productive. He scored about 13 points per game as a freshman. He was in the low-20s [points per game] as sophomore and the low-30s as junior and then this year he’s in the low-40s. You can just tell how much better he has gotten as a basketball player, and physically his body has gotten so much better too. He’s a well-rounded basketball player.”
The coach also talked about Ojeleye passing the ball more when other teams concentrated on stopping him securing the scoring record against them. That shows he has the ability and more importantly willingness to adjust. This is a highly underrated quality in an athlete.
The forward also averaged 9 rebounds a game, even though he mainly played on the wing. He averaged two steals, as a senior, when his team went undefeated. He made 38 percent of his three point attempts and 82% of his free throws.
On top of that, he was named Parade Magazine Player of The Year over top five nationally ranked recruits, Aaron Gordon and Andrew Wiggins.
Yet he is considered a four star recruit and ranked No. 40 by ESPN, No. 33 by Rivals. Only 247Sports has him ranked higher at No.25 and rated a five star prospect. If you are going to go out on a limb for a player, Semi Ojeleye is the player to do so.
Most recruiting websites or scouting reports has Ojeleye listed at 6’6” but his coach thinks he is two inches taller. Comparisons to former Blue Devil, Dahntay Jones maybe authentic, though he could easily be mistaken for a bigger, slightly more polished, stronger version of Gerald Henderson.
Primarily considered a small forward he gets up to the rim which such ease, Coach K will have options at multiple positions, something Semi has already accepted when he told Rivals “I’ll just try to find my role wherever Coach K thinks that is.”
After being “the man” in high school he is looking forward to being just another face in the crowd as he settles in at Duke.
Ojeleye could easily have been named a McDonald All American player or to the Jordan Brand Classic game but he wasn’t. At the time Coach McKowen expressed his disappointment as he felt his player was one of the best in the nation and deserved a spot on either team but what he went on to say was eye opening about the Duke recruit.
“[Ojeleye] did not talk about being disappointed. He said its fuel to make him better. It’s just another thing that people are questioning that he can’t do. For those days he thinks about not going to the gym, it gets him there longer. Everything that faces him, all the adversity, makes him better. He never feels sorry for himself. He understands that he’s blessed to do the things he can do. In the long run, it does not matter what all-star fames you play in. And after high school, he gets to go play for coach K and Duke, that that’s truly what matters.”
There have been numerous players that were great in high school but disappeared in college. One can only hope that Ojeleye is just starting to make his mark and hasn’t peaked. He has the right mindset and tools to be one of the best.
“Right now I’m just trying to get comfortable with the speed of the game.” He told Duke Blue Planet, “It’s a different level of basketball so I’m just trying to get comfortable. Long term I’m just trying to win games for Duke and see how it goes from there. I’m hoping to be the best player that I can be.”
