Great Osobor, star forward from the Mountain West, begins recruiting visit to UK basketball

Mark Pope and the Kentucky basketball program just wrapped up a big recruiting weekend in Lexington, one that included the addition of three veteran college basketball players to next season’s UK squad.

And another major recruiting visit is just starting for the Wildcats.

From Monday to Wednesday, Great Osobor — a 6-foot-8 forward who previously played at Montana State and Utah State — will be on a recruiting visit to Kentucky and new UK head coach Mark Pope.

This is the first of several planned recruiting visits for Osobor, who averaged 17.7 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.3 steals last season at Utah State.

Osobor is also planning to take visits to Louisville (May 1-3), Texas Tech (May 4-6) and Washington (May 7-9).

He was the Mountain West Conference’s player of the year and its newcomer of the year last season as a result of his breakout campaign with the Aggies. Utah State was an 8 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and advanced to the round of 32.

Osobor began his college basketball career by playing two seasons at Montana State, mainly as a bench player. He followed his head coach at Montana State, Danny Sprinkle, to Utah State last offseason.

Sprinkle is now the new head coach at Washington, which will get Osobor’s final recruiting visit. Osobor entered the NCAA transfer portal in early April.

Osobor — who was born in Spain but attended prep school in England — averaged more than 33 minutes per game last season and started all 35 contests for Utah State. Osobor recorded 15 double-doubles.

Per KenPom, Osobor ranked 22nd in the nation in fouls drawn per 40 minutes (6.8 fouls) and eighth in the country in free-throw rate, which measures a player’s ability to get the line relative to how often he attempts to score.

According to college basketball statistician Evan Miyakawa, Osobor is ranked as the No. 49 overall player in the NCAA transfer portal, as of Sunday afternoon.

Kentucky’s roster for next season, which will be Pope’s first as the Wildcats’ coach, already includes six players, including four transfer portal pickups. These players are first-year guards Collin Chandler and Travis Perry, third-year guard Otega Oweh (Oklahoma), fifth-year guard Lamont Butler (San Diego State) and fifth-year forwards Amari Williams (Drexel) and Andrew Carr (Delaware and Wake Forest).

Osobor would be a transfer portal addition for Kentucky with plenty of big-game experience. He’s played in each of the last three NCAA tournaments, having won consecutive Big Sky Tournament titles with Montana State in 2022 and 2023 before receiving an at-large bid with Utah State last season.

Ahead of Osobor’s recruiting visit to Kentucky, the Herald-Leader got intel on Osobor’s style of play and impact from two people who had a front-row seat to his success last season at Utah State.

Bridget Howard (an analyst, reporter, studio host and assistant director for the Mountain West Network) and Jesse Kurtz (the lead anchor and executive producer for the Mountain West Network) both shared insight about Osobor’s on-court ability.

The Herald-Leader asked both Howard and Kurtz about what Osobor brought to the table last season, offensively and defensively, for a Utah State team that won the regular-season Mountain West Conference championship.

Here’s what they had to say:

Some answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

What stood out the most, at both ends of the floor, from Great Osobor last season at Utah State?

Howard: “His overall presence. Osobor brought an electricity to the court that ignited the Aggies every night. The way his teammates fed off his energy was really fun to watch.”

Kurtz: “Great Osobor is an undeniable force on the basketball floor. His toughness (both physical and mental) is elite and that’s what made him such a powerful player on both ends of the floor. Offensively, he fought through opponents’ physical approach to defending him. Great finished fifth in the country in free throw attempts, largely because of his ability to powerfully catch the ball in the post and make tough moves to the basket.

“Defensively, he was fourth in the Mountain West in blocked shots and second in defensive rebounds. He plays a physical style of defense that frustrates opponents. His mental toughness shined through in the way he hustled on the basketball court.”

Great is one of the top-scoring forwards that’s available in the transfer portal this offseason. What makes him so effective offensively?

Howard: “Osobor plays with a confidence and swagger to him that makes him nearly unstoppable on the offensive end. At Utah State, he had sixth-year guard Darius Brown II feeding him inside and their chemistry from Montana State shined in Logan. He’s smart with the ball so no matter who’s giving it to him, when he touches it, it’s leading to a bucket.”

Kurtz: “Great’s ability to create offense for himself and his teammates set himself apart last season for the Aggies. Obviously, he’s a great scorer (third in the Mountain West last season).

“He attracted countless double-teams throughout the course of games all season. He was consistently able to identify open teammates and make precision passes to others, which ended up in quality scoring chances for the Aggies.”

Between things like his block rate and offensive rebounding percentage, it’s clear that Great uses his size and length well. What kind of a physical presence did he bring to the floor for Utah State?

Howard: “He was the Mountain West player of the year for a reason: His size, overall presence, and ‘I’m the best player on the court’ mindset made him a daunting opponent.”

Kurtz: “He can stand up to big offensive threats in the post and also is nimble enough to move from sideline to sideline to keep up with smaller, quicker players.”

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