City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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As his sophomore year of high school went on, Anthony Ochefu saw his Division I future slipping away.

After sitting out his entire freshman season at the Westtown School recovering from knee surgery in 2013-14, Ochefu figured he had three seasons left to get out on the court and show what he could do.

Then came his sophomore year, when -- now healthy -- Ochefu still found himself sitting on the Westtown bench, while classmate Mohamed Bamba started every game, beginning his ascent up the national recruiting rankings.

And the doubt set in. The younger brother of then-Villanova big man Daniel Ochefu had dreamed of the college scholarships his brother attracted. But suddenly, he wasn’t so sure it would ever happen.

“When I was going through my rehab (freshman year), I kept motivating myself and pushing myself,” he said. “That sophomore year really took me down.

“I didn’t think that I was good enough at that point, to be a Division I athlete, even though people kept telling me I had the potential, and I was going to make it one day...I don’t think I had the belief in myself, that I was going to make it.”

The doubt caused Ochefu to consider a transfer to Archbishop Wood before his junior year, but he elected to stick it out at Westtown.

It’s a decision that paid off, as he committed to Stony Brook University on Friday, choosing the Long Island institution over Robert Morris, Drexel and Quinnipiac.

Ochefu gave Westtown coach Seth Berger credit for convincing him to stay at Westtown during that crucial summer. It was the opportunity to play against Bamba -- now considered a potential No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft -- as well as other top prospects like Arizona commit Brandon Randolph and top-10 junior Cameron Reddish on a regular basis that sealed the deal.

And he finally saw the court as a junior, stepping up as a physical, high-energy big man to complement the leaner Bamba, who’s more of a shot-blocking force. His improvement continued over the summer, where he played on the Adidas Gauntlet circuit with K-Low Elite (formerly Team Philly).

“Anthony’s had an amazing year-and-a-half of growth,” Berger said. “In his junior year he showed a lot of signs of being a Division I basketball player and a real leader and this year his progression has only increased. He’s playing great, he’s leading, communicating, and I think Stony Brook is a great choice for him.”

Ochefu was sold on the Seawolves during an official visit to the campus last weekend.

There, he toured with new head coach Jeff Boals, who pitched the recent success that Stony Brook has had -- the Seawolves won 26 games last year and made their first NCAA tournament -- as well as his success from his seven-year stint at Ohio State University.

And so after mulling it over with his family for a few days, he decided to make his selection official. He’s the fourth member of Stony Brook’s 2017 class, along with Newark Eastside (N.J.) wing Elijah Olaniyi, Hargrave Military (Va.) guard Jordan McKenzie and Hughes HS (Ohio) guard Corry Long.

“The three things that locked it in for me were the relationship I had with Coach Boals and the coaching staff; I can see myself at the campus, I got a good feel for it when I was there; and the guys I’d be playing with next year,” Ochefu said. “Elijah Olaniyi and Jordan McKenzie and the guys they have there right now, it’s a great group of guys and I can see myself playing with them...and my parents loved the campus, too.”

Boals also pitched Ochefu on his similarities to another forward he’d worked with at Ohio State -- Jared Sullinger, the two-time All-American who averaged 17.3 ppg and 9.7 rpg in two years before being taken in the first round of the 2012 NBA Draft.

But the big comparison was with Jameel Warney, the recently-graduated Stony Brook star who led the Seawolves to March Madness with a 43-point performance in the America East championship game win over Vermont. A 6-8, 255-pound forward out of Roselle Catholic (N.J.), Warney averaged 19.8 ppg and 10.8 rpg as a senior, finishing his career 2,132 points and 1,275 rebounds.

“They mentioned his size and how I compared to him in size and how he played and compared his game to mine,” Ochefu said. “They brought him up a lot throughout the whole visit, how I could be the next Jameel Warney, lead the conference, player of the year, stuff like that. It’s really all up to me, how hard I work and what I can accomplish at Stony Brook, so I’m excited about it.”