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By the Numbers
| Player | PPG | RPG | APG | BPG | Rivals (overall) | Rivals (position) | ESPN (position) | 247 (overall) | 247 (position) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | PPG | RPG | APG | BPG | Rivals (overall) | Rivals (position) | ESPN (position) | 247 (overall) | 247 (position) |
| Akeem Odusipe | 16.3 | 11.1 | 0.9 | 2.4 | NR | 30 (C) | 53 (C) | 369 | 64 (C) |
(High school stats are courtesy of MaxPreps.)
Where Bryce Drew wanted to win by recruiting the players with the highest star ratings he could find who were willing to sign with Vanderbilt, Jerry Stackhouse is a big believer in player development and freshman Akeem Odusipe is a pretty good illustration of that.
Odusipe is 6’9”, 230 pounds, and while he played high school basketball three hours away at Knoxville Catholic (note: this will make it super hilarious if he turns into an All-SEC player, considering he was playing high school ball in Knoxville and Tennessee did not bother recruiting him), he’s originally from Lagos, Nigeria. He had 192 blocks in his high school career, including 2.4 per game as a senior, but his scoring numbers weren’t spectacular for a 6’9” guy who’s an SEC recruit. Basically, Akeem Odusipe is a guy who Jerry Stackhouse and crew will have to spend a year or two developing before really deploying him. (Note: Bryce Drew also tried more or less the same thing with Ejike Obinna and we are still waiting for the breakthrough.)
Odusipe does have some things you can’t teach, though. Shot-blocking is usually one of the first things that a big man develops; it’s mostly about having size and good instincts more than any developable skill. So it makes some amount of sense to take a guy who already has that and figure you can teach him the other stuff. As far as 2020-21 goes, though, my bet is that Odusipe redshirts and if he doesn’t, he’ll probably be used sparingly.