per Marcus:
When practice opened for the season last week, Daniel Oturu was cleared by the Gophers for limited contact drills for the first time. The talented 6-foot-10 freshman had not scrimmaged against his teammates at that point after having reconstructive shoulder surgery in April.
As you can imagine, Oturu had to be eased into things, but there is no limit to what he can do now.
A source confirmed to the Star Tribune the news Friday that Pitino told CBSSports’ Jon Rothstein about Oturu being fully cleared for all basketball related activities.
Earlier this week, Pitino said Oturu was progressing doing full contact after being held out of that during his recovery this summer. The elite shot blocker from Cretin-Derham Hall is expected to compete for the starting center spot with redshirt sophomore Eric Curry.
Oturu and 7-foot senior Matz Stockman both played with the starters during a scrimmage last Tuesday. Curry was sidelined with a calf strain, but Pitino said he was doing non-contact work this week.
With a 7-foot-2 wingspan, Oturu should be an immediate rim protector for the Gophers, who clearly lacked an inside defensive presence after senior Reggie Lynch’s suspension last season. They dropped from a Big Ten-leading 6.79 blocks per game in 2016-17 to ranking 10th in conference games with just 3.4 per game.
http://www.startribune.com/freshman-center-daniel-oturu-fully-cleared-for-the-gophers/495305091/
Go Gophers!!
