Sun Devils make a strong impression on Cliff Omoruyi

Cliff Omoruyi’s schedule dictated for him to take a red-eye flight on Thursday night, but departing the valley shortly after ASU’s upset win over Oregon was a fitting ending to a successful official visit, the first time the four-star center saw ASU up close and personal.

We caught up with Muhammad Oliver who is the mentor for Cliff Omoruyi (pronounced o-mo-ree) who was on the official visit to get both of their impressions of the trip.

“We enjoyed everything about the visit,” Oliver said. “One of the highlights was actually sitting in a chemical engineering class because Cliff wants to major in engineering and we were talking to a lot of people from the engineering department, and they explained to us the different degrees that Arizona State offers. That was very insightful.

“We enjoyed seeing the facilities and meeting the Athletic Director. I don’t think Cliff expected the weather to be like that (warm). We haven’t seen facilities that as nice as Arizona State’s.”

“Coach Hurley’s biggest message to Cliff is that he could be a game-changer with his natural abilities,” Oliver commented. “With his speed and wanting to run he (Hurley) thought that Cliff could be very successful in the Pac-12. He said that he would be able to get the best out of him like he did with payers before him on the team and take him to another level in the game of basketball.”

Oliver added that he enjoyed his conversation with ASU’s football co-defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator, Antonio Pierce during the trip, gaining more of a macro perspective of Sun Devil athletics.

“He was basically giving us an insight into the university.” Oliver described. “He talked about the school having many coaches like him that have made it to the top of their profession, like Bobby (Hurley) did. And it’s not just basketball with Bobby, but also the Arizona State football coach, the wrestling coach. He said that there was no better school to get experience from coaches who were professionals. He told us how much he loved the school and that was cool to hear.”

Needless to say that ASU’s win over Oregon resonated with Omoruyi not only because of magnitude of this victory, but also the style of play that was exhibited.

“He loved their energy and excitement,” Oliver described. “It always makes a difference when you see the team do well on your visit. It really shows you the possibilities of what it could be if Cliff went there. If Arizona State can get all the pieces that they want, they can get the ideal class that can really change the dynamic of Arizona State. They never really had that type of class that could give them that option.”

Speaking of recruiting class, Oliver said that ASU’s incoming freshman Marcus Bagley has talked to Omoruyi on several occasions communicating his sales pitch to join the Sun Devils. And on Thursday night during his visit, he got to interact with another highly coveted 2020 prospect that is considering ASU, guard Josh Christopher was on an opportune unofficial surprise visit to ASU.

“It can definitely play a factor, but not necessarily the deciding factor,” Oliver said of the relationship with all these ASU prospects. “These players see each other playing a lot and form their own relationships. I know that all three of them talk. That relationship can be sometimes just admiration liking how someone else plays and sometimes that can be a real friendship and I think that he might be developing both.

“So, the fact that Josh came to the game, and we didn’t expect that, it was all smiles and players on the court were all showing love to both of them. That was a real surprise on the trip. So that’s exciting.

“You tell me, did Arizona State ever have a class with three players like that? That’s the most intriguing factor right there. They all complement each other with the way they play. Just imagine all three of them playing on the same team. That’s a wild game. That would be a crazy matchup for teams in the Pac-12.”

Omoruyi has been in the U.S. for just under four years and truly hasn’t played organized basketball since arriving from Nigeria to begin his freshman year at Roselle (NJ) Catholic High School. Oliver noted that Omoruyi’s development in a relatively short period of time is due to an “unmatched work ethic.”

Oliver seemed to downplay the distance factor in Omoruyi’s recruitment with some particular facts. “Coming from Nigeria, Arizona isn’t that far. (laughs),” Oliver joked, “You know what I mean? We flew the night after the (Oregon) game and it took 3.5 hours to get home. So that was very surprising.”

Oliver said that nothing has changed in Omoruyi’s recruiting process and the five schools he cut down his list to earlier in the year are the only programs he is still considering.

He has taken a visit to Auburn, and visits to his other short list of suitors of Rutgers, Kentucky and Connecticut are expected to take place in the upcoming weeks leading up to his expected April decision. Rutgers though is expected to be the next visit for the four-star center.

“Cliff will choose the school that will have the best engineering program because he came over to this country to get a college degree,” Oliver explained. “It’s a challenging degree so he will look for what type of relationship the engineering department and athletic department have and how they communicate with each other to help Cliff.

“Obviously he’s looking for a family environment where everyone gets along with each other, and looking just actually at basketball – how the team plays, and the coaches are. Basically, looking for the best fit.”