Utah State’s Great Osobor is living up to his name as the Aggies march into the NCAA tournament

First, let’s start with the name, because it matches the game of one of the best players in college basketball. Great Osobor, carried by a deep well of self-belief, also happens to have taken an extraordinary path to prominence on the hardwood.

When John and Mabel Osobor found out they were having a baby boy, they were living in Tudela in northern Spain, an ancient city known for its Gothic architecture. Having immigrated from their native Nigeria, John and Mabel, elated by their family’s coming addition, repeatedly voiced, “God is Great.”

The concept of greatness stuck with them and led them to bestowing such a label upon their son. All these years later, the 6-foot-8, 250-pound forward has proved himself worthy of it. Great even considers himself “a bit of a showman.”

Osobor was recently named the Mountain West Conference player of the year, having been a linchpin in a remarkably fast rebuild at Utah State. The Aggies, under first-year coach Danny Sprinkle, returned zero contributors from a year ago and brought in 13 new players. As vital as any was Osobor, who left Montana State and followed his head coach last April. Osobor this season is averaging 18.0 points and 9.2 rebounds and shooting 58.3 percent from floor.

The Aggies took the conference by surprise and storm. They won 27 games. They won the school’s first outright regular-season title since joining in 2013. There are several reasons Utah State is back dancing in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time since 2019 under a third head coach. As the No. 8-seeded Aggies take on No. 9 TCU in the Midwest Regional in Indianapolis this week, it would be impossible for the program to be where it is without its always confident and sometimes cocky post player.

“We could be playing the Lakers,” Sprinkle said, “and he’d think he’s the best player on the floor.”

Osobor felt that as a kid in Spain. Then as a teenager in England. It followed him to Bozeman, Mont., and then Logan, Utah, of all places, where he chased the basketball dreams he’d always held tight.

In Spain, he first picked up a basketball at the age of 3 because he was a ball of ruckus. His parents were searching for any way to have him use his boundless supply of energy. So he played basketball with friends, and as he grew, he became a handful as a striker in soccer. Eventually, coaches in Tudela told him he was too tall to be a goal scorer and that he might project better long-term as a goalkeeper.

It was a respectable position but not worthy of his name. He wanted the limelight. He has an obsession with scoring. Always has. Osobor was 12 when the family moved to Huddersfield, a town with a deep industrial heritage in northern England and zero basketball presence. A physical education teacher at his prep school saw him playing in the gym and suggested he contact the nearest local basketball club. It was about an hour away in Bradford, a place known for its Victorian past that features a rich diversity of people.

When he showed up to play for the Bradford Dragons youth teams, he couldn’t stop scoring. In one of his first outings, he scored 57 of the team’s 69 points. It was then that Bradford’s youth coach Pawel Bohdziewicz told the first-team head coach, Chris Mellor, that he needed to check out this kid who just moved from Spain.

“This kid … I think he’s going to be great,” Bohdziewicz told Mellor.

“What’s he called?” Mellor responded.

“He’s called Great,” Bohdziewicz deadpanned.

Mellor had to ask why. But it wasn’t long before he saw for himself. In Osobor’s first youth game with Mellor in the stands, he had another 50-point game but was only interested in dominating offensively. Though he is now known for his trademark physicality in the post and his shot-blocking ability, Osobor always viewed himself as a wing player with a green light that never turned red.

“I feel like I’ve always been a pretty confident person,” Osobor said. “If you ask me, I’ve always been the best player, even when I probably wasn’t.”

From the time he was 13, he would take an hour-long bus ride each way to and from Bradford for practices and games. His parents were at work, so he sat on the bus visualizing how to be a bully on the court each day. Long before he was playing in front of raucous sellout crowds at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan, the Dragons trained at a local high school where plaques of success ranging from basketball to soccer to curling to trampolining lined the walls. They often played in gyms that didn’t seat any fans.

Before Osobor went on to play for the first team at Bradford, Bohdziewicz said he stacked the other practice teams with an extra player to go six-on-five.

“There was no way to balance everything against Great,” he said. “I could see he was special.”

Basketball has yet to establish itself as part of the sports culture in England. In a study by Statista in 2022 gauging the popularity of various sports in the U.K., basketball tied for ninth — with American football. Cricket, rugby, motorsports, golf, tennis, boxing and track and field were all ahead of it.

“Trying to get basketball into the British psyche is next to impossible,” Mellor said.

Still, the country is producing Division I-level basketball talent. Drexel’s Amari Williams, who played with Osobor back home, is in the transfer portal and drawing interest from several prominent programs. Tobi Lawal at VCU is considered one of the best athletes in the country. Wake Forest’s Cameron Hildreth and Matthew Marsh also hail from the U.K. Though the sport is struggling to grow in popularity, the talent, Bohdziewicz said, is growing rapidly.

“I’d like to think that people can see my journey and story and have them be motivated by it so they can reach higher levels, too,” Osobor said.

Luckily for Sprinkle, his assistant Chris Haslam is from England and, fortuitously, is close friends with Neal Hopkins, the head coach of Myerscough Basketball Academy, the boarding school where Osobor ended up. While Sprinkle and Haslam were at Montana State, Hopkins told Haslam about this growing talent he needed to scout. The COVID-19 pandemic stalled Osobor’s journey to get to the U.S. but also expedited it. He was able to balance life at Myerscough and also play for Bradford, which was elevated to semi-pro status during the start of the pandemic.

Back then, he wasn’t the physical presence he is now. Sprinkle saw a smaller, somewhat skinnier player who looked like he would project as a small forward or undersized power forward.

Osobor eventually committed to play for the Bobcats, and when he showed up in Bozeman, he was a different player.

It took time to adjust to life in Big Sky Country. Osobor’s first year humbled him. Six points and 15 minutes per game were not what he envisioned when coming stateside. When he returned to Bradford the following summer, he was the one volunteering to set up cones for drills or to raise the baskets that weren’t being used in the gym. Osobor returned to Bozeman with a different outlook, one that allowed him to thrive off the bench for Sprinkle and the Bobcats. They made the NCAA Tournament a year ago as a 14 seed and lost to Kansas State in the first round 77-65.

When Sprinkle took the job at Utah State last April, Osobor and guard Darius Brown II followed him, and they have been key contributors. Much of the country will likely be introduced to Osobor on Friday. They’ll see a relentless player who looks like a handful because he is. Not only to his opponents but also to everyone who helped lead him to this point.

Which is viewed as a good thing.

“He can get under my skin because I know how great he can be,” Sprinkle joked.

Pun intended.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.