Published Mar 5, 2014
Waiting worth it for Odiase
Eric Bossi
Rivals.com Basketball Recruiting Analyst
THE RIVALS150: Class of 2014 - Class of 2015
Norense Odiase has started to see his recruitment take off in recent months. A graduate of North Crowley High School in Fort Worth, Texas, Odiase decided he wasn't satisfied with where his recruitment stood after last year. He decided to take post-grad year Elev8 Sports Academy in Florida, and the decision appears to have paid off.
With the late signing period just a little over a month away, Odiase now has multiple high-major scholarship offers. Earlier this week, he took his first official visit to the University of Georgia.
"The visit to Georgia went well. I liked it," Odiase said. "The first day Coach [Mark] Fox had a presentation for me in the locker room, and he showed me the system they run and how they get it to their bigs a lot. The next day my mom and I toured the campus, toured the business program and saw the team practice."
Odiase could see himself fitting with the current roster at Georgia.
"I feel like I could play right away with those guys. They have a good core of guys already and all of them except one is coming back. I feel like I could step in right away and help if I was to go there."
Next up for Odiase is an official visit to Texas Tech. That just happens to be where his twin brother goes to school.
"Seeing my twin brother again will be nice, and I'm just looking forward to seeing what his school has to offer. I'm going to look at it like every other school."
Texas Tech's coaching staff, and head coach Tubby Smith in particular, has made a strong impression on Odiase in the short time they have been recruiting him.
"I love Coach Tubby. He's a good coach. Their coaches seem like really genuine guys and really seem to want me to go there. Coach Tubby came down and watched me and offered right away."
Odiase mentioned plans to take one more visit after Georgia and Texas Tech. One of the schools in the mix for that visit is TCU, but the Horned Frogs have some catching up to do if they want to earn Odiase's signature next month.
"TCU isn't as high on the list as Texas Tech or Georgia, but it's high on the list. It's close to home. Their starting point guard Kyan Anderson is one of my close friends. We played together in high school."
Georgia Tech, Washington, Old Dominion, North Texas, Florida Gulf Coast, Stetson and Georgia Southern have all shown varying amounts of interest in Odiase.
The 6-foot-8, 240-pound post player is aiming to make a decision toward the end of March.
Dan McDonald is a contributing national basketball recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.
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