‘He’s a lottery pick’ - Minnesota's Daniel Oturu Provides Kofi Cockburn His Most Difficult Challenge

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per Matthew:

The next player who stands in the halfcourt circle of the State Farm Center waiting for the opening tip might be Kofi Cockburn’s biggest challenge yet.

Minnesota (11-9, 5-5) will be bringing arguably the league’s best center to Champaign to tangle with the Illini’s 7-foot, 290-pound freshman. Daniel Oturu is second in the league in scoring at 19.7 points per game and leads the conference with 11.3 rebounds per contest. His 11 double-doubles, most recently a 19 and 14 outing in a 75-69 win over Penn State on Jan. 15, rank 11th in the country and second in the Big Ten. On Wednesday, Illinois third-year head coach Brad Underwood used the two-word phrase every player wants to hear about their prospects toward the next level of basketball.

“He’s a lottery pick,” Underwood said. “The guy tomorrow is a lottery pick. He reminds me so much of Kevin Garnett with his package. His athleticism, his skill set (and) he’s going to score some baskets. We just have to make him work.”
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Underwood, who has referred to Oturu as “the most improved player in the country” since the start of the 2019-20 season, isn’t the only one projecting the 6-foot-10 sophomore as a high draft pick. NBADraft.net has Oturu projected at No. 8 overall to the Sacramento Kings and he rose 55 spots (from 80 to 25) on the draft prospect board done by The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie.

“His offensive talents are not limited to anything,” Underwood said. “He’s a very good rebounder, a very good shot blocker and he’s scoring it in a lot of ways.”
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www.si.com

‘He’s a lottery pick’ - Minnesota's Daniel Oturu Provides Kofi Cockburn His Most Difficult Challenge

Minnesota center Daniel Oturu is a projected lottery pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and is averaging a double-double for the Gophers this season.
www.si.com www.si.com

Go Gophers!!
 

Was scrolling through msn this morning and ran across the forbes mock draft and didn't see him at all in the first round. Not sure how up to date that is but no doubt projections vary wildly.
 

Oturu has been nothing short of a monster this year, really improved and is going to get drafted, but top 10 isnt going to happen i dont think. I always take mock drafts and opposing coaches with a grain of salt. Mocks are all about click bait and if you listen to opposing coaches every team is a title contender. Just wait until we play NW next time and Pitino says "they are a dangerous team, their record doesnt indicate how great they are, we are going to be in for a tough game" So just remember that when you see drafts/hear opposing coaches.
 






I just checked three mock drafts. One has him 8th. One 28th and one not at all. I firmly believe he will go in the first round. Hopefully as a lottery pick.
 

Actually if we could script it - he will step back and say “I want to come back and have one more special year with the gophers. And then be a top five lottery pick after his Jr season. But I anticipate that won’t happen
 




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