Nigeria’s Oguchi Set For Games

Four years ago, Chamberlain “Champ” Oguchi was like millions around the world. He watched the Opening Ceremonies of the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China, on television and marveled at the scene.

“It was something spectacular,” said Oguchi, who was getting ready for his senior year at Illinois State.

Pantagraph.com reports that on Friday in London, Oguchi will be marching into the Olympic Stadium and realizing the dream of a lifetime.

The 6-foot-6 Oguchi is a member of the Nigerian men’s basketball team that qualified for the Olympics for the first time earlier this month. Part of Group A with the United States, Nigeria plays its Olympic opener at 3 a.m. (CST) Sunday against another African nation, Tunisia.

After arriving in London late last week, Oguchi and the Nigerian basketball team moved into the Olympic Village on Monday (July 23, 2012).

“There’s a lot going on here,” said Oguchi in a telephone call from London on Sunday. “Just looking around you can feel the excitement of the city.”

Oguchi reported the injury he suffered to his left big toe during the Olympic qualifying tournament in Venezuela won’t sideline him in London. Oguchi, who is playing off guard, averaged 8.8 points in the first four games of the qualifying tournament.

“I feel a lot better than when it first happened,” said Oguchi, who has resumed practicing. “I think it’s mind over matter right now. I’m just trying to not think about the pain while I’m playing.”

Oguchi is among nine U.S.-born players on the Nigerian roster. He has dual citizenship because his parents, Goodwin and Pearl, were born in Nigeria.

The 26-year-old Oguchi first started playing for Nigeria after completing his freshman season at Oregon in 2005. Playing on the international stage was “something I didn’t quite understand the magnitude of at the time,” he said.

“Now that I’m one of those veterans I can see at the time a 19-year-old playing on the men’s senior national team was something huge,” said Oguchi. “It still kind of intrigues me to this day I was able to do that.”

Oguchi left Oregon after three years and transferred to ISU in 2007. He sat out a year per NCAA rules before leading the Redbirds with a 15.2 scoring average and 90 3-point baskets during the 2008-09 season, when he was a second-team all-Missouri Valley Conference selection.

The last two years Oguchi has played professionally in the Philippines. He played in France after coming out of ISU and spent a short time with the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Developmental League.

Getting the chance to face the U.S. on Aug. 2 will be a special game for Oguchi.

“Just to be on the floor with those guys I grew up admiring, guys like Carmelo (Anthony), LeBron (James), Kobe (Bryant), Deron Williams will mean a lot to me,” said Oguchi. “But I can’t think about that in the game. Before and after the game is when it’s going sink in that I’m going against some of the best talent in the world.”

Watching back home in Houston will be Oguchi’s proud parents and other family members.

“It means a lot to me and to my parents coming directly from Nigeria,” said Oguchi. “It means a lot to the 120 million people in Nigeria, too, to accomplish something big like this. It’s the first time we’re in the Olympics and they have something to be proud of. It means a lot to me to represent my country. I can’t express how much it means to me.”

Oguchi said he has talked to his ISU coach, Tim Jankovich, who is now at Southern Methodist, and former Redbird teammates such as Emmanuel Holloway and Lloyd Phillips since Nigeria qualified for the Olympics.

The last ISU men’s basketball product in the Olympics was Doug Collins in 1972 at Munich, Germany. Collins, who is the Philadelphia 76ers’ coach, will serve as an Olympic basketball analyst for NBC.

There are six teams in each of the two groups in men’s basketball. The top four teams in each group advance to the medal round.

“Our goal is to place, not just compete,” said Oguchi. “We’ve already proven we can compete with some of the top teams in the world such as Greece and Lithuania. Now that we know that, and the rest of the world knows that, we expect nothing less. We want to establish ourselves as one of the top teams in the world.”

Oguchi said he will try to give a sense of what is going on in London and at the Olympics on his Twitter account @champoguchi.

The first order of Olympic business will be marching in the Opening Ceremonies.

Oguchi may not sleep before then.

“I can’t even imagine me looking up and seeing all the people and teams,” he said. “It’s something I can’t even fathom right now.”