From Ike's FIBA profile:
Arizona State University (USA-NCAA, 2002-05), Golden State Warriors (USA-NBA, 2005-06). Selected in the first round of the 2005 NBA draft (#9), by the Golden State Warriors.
Ike Diogu can be one of the big surprises of the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan. He was born in the United States to Nigerian parents. He has great shooting ability as well as good rebounding and shot-blocking skills. Diogu has the capacity to become one of the stars of the Tigers in Japan. In 2005, he was ranked 5th nationally in the NCAA in scoring with Arizona State, including 91 double-doubles during his three-year career. When he came out of Arizona State, some said he was the most efficient player in college basketball over the past three years as in 2004-2005 he became the first player in Pac-10 history to lead the league in scoring (22.6 ppg), rebounding (9.8 rpg) and blocks (2.34 bpg), leading him to Pac-10 Player of the Year honours. He was also twice an Associated Press Honourable Mention post-season selection (2002-03 and 2003-04).
Diogu possesses great hands, smarts, fundamentals, solid inside moves and an incredible ability to reinvent himself each game as teams throw double and triple-teams at him. His demeanour and maturity are as good as his ability to draw fouls and convert three-point plays. Ike Diogu earned consensus second-team All-American honours in 2004-2005, as he was honoured as a second-team selection by the Associated Press, Sporting News, United States Basketball Writers (USBWA), the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and Basketball Times. In his first NBA season, he appeared in 69 games and averaged 7.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in 15 minutes per game, while shooting 52.4% from the floor (ranked 12th in the NBA for FG percentage).
 We Like IKE! [NBA.com photo] |
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Ike will be playing for Nigeria this summer (see DraftExpress). That's too bad; it might have been a valuable experience, more valuable than the Vegas summer league which Ike didn't play in as a precautionary measure. Let's hope Ike still gets a chance to learn some tricks from The Dream himself (see Long Arms Groom Nigeria’s Long Shot from the NY Times) in the near future. Just for fun, if Ike played a full game against Team USA, how do you think he'd do? A spectacular 20-10? A solid double-double? Also see: FIBA 2006: Warriors World Championships |