University of Georgia Athletics
Quick Chat: Derek Ogbeide
January 18, 2019 | Men's Basketball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Derek Ogbeide would have loved the chance to play with Hakeem Olajuwon back in the day, and would have enjoyed trying to defend Shaquille O'Neal. He has a deep appreciation for basketball's great big men from the past, while also coveting Allen Iverson's crossover dribble.
The 6-foot-9, 250-pound senior forward from Atlanta, by way of Toronto and England and Nigeria and a few more spots on the globe, recently sat down for a wide-ranging Quick Chat. He talked about those basketball greats, playing cricket, where he considers home and much, much more.
Here's some of what he had to say:Â
Frierson: If you could be great at any other sport for a day, just to experience what it's like, what sport would you choose?
Ogbeide: Honestly, football. I generally enjoy the whole scheme and the whole idea of football, and I enjoy watching it. To see what position I could be most applicable to would be interesting.
Frierson: Given your size and athleticism, there are probably coaches that would want to put 50 pounds on you and make you a lineman. But, I also think you could be a really good tight end.
Ogbeide: I would be very interested to see where I could possibly fit. I've always contemplated where I could be at, but it's always on offense.
Frierson: What sport did you try to play and just were never very good at playing?
Ogbeide: I don't think there was a sport that I wanted to pursue, but probably baseball. I've always had more trouble with baseball, really in terms of hitting. You really have to learn all that, knowing how to do it. ... When pitches come, with all the different kinds of pitches, I was never the most proficient at that.
Frierson: You might work out as a pitcher.
Ogbeide: I've always been interested in pitching because there's so many ways to throw the ball. I just don't know how they do all that.
Frierson: When you were younger and living abroad, how much were you exposed to the other sports around the world, like cricket, that don't get much attention here?
Ogbeide: At a very young age I played cricket a lot, but it wasn't anything too competitive. There was also soccer, which was the top sport and I always played — that was my first sport, the sport I played the most as a child.
Frierson: If you could play basketball with or against anyone in history, who would it be?
Ogbeide: I probably would want to play with Hakeem Olajuwon, probably just so I could learn and pick his brain. And I'd probably want to play against Shaq, most likely. He was always so dominant and I just want to know how I would try to stop him. I'm sure there was some weakness in there that was waiting to be brought to light. He was always just so powerful and impactful inside, it would be interesting to see how I would try to play against him.
Frierson: It's weird, because you're a really big man and the difference between you and me in size is about the same as the difference between you and Shaq — he's just that huge. It's weird that there's someone out there that could be that much bigger than you.
Ogbeide: The way he could move, it defied a lot of laws. It probably wasn't fair down low.
Frierson: If you could have one move from an NBA player, whose move or ability would you take?
Ogbeide: A lot of Hakeem's moves I've already tried to copy, either I already have or I plan to get down pat eventually. If there's one move I could take it would probably be A.I. (Allen Iverson) and his lethal, lethal crossover. I'm a lot higher so my crossover is a lot higher and wider and I'm not as fast.
Frierson: How much time do you spend on YouTube looking at clips of great players?
Ogbeide: A good deal of time; when I was younger, a few years back, I used to spend a lot more time looking at clips of players that I may be similar to and try to take their moves. I haven't done it as much lately because I'm trying to develop my own game, but I used to quite often watch a lot of clips and take a lot of moves.
Frierson: Of all the places you've visited and/or lived, what's the one place that you most want to go back to one day?
Ogbeide: I'll give you two: England and Canada, England and Toronto. I haven't been to Toronto in a while and I have lots of friends that also moved out of Toronto and go back, and when I see them go back I get envious.Â
England is my childhood and I really haven't seen England in such a long time. Everything's changed and I still keep up with everything day-to-day-wise, but I haven't been able to get back. I've always wanted to go back.
Frierson: If I ask you to think about your childhood, do you think of England first or because you've lived in so many different places would I have to be more specific?
Ogbeide: It would depend on what time in my childhood. If it was my really younger ages, before basketball, I would think of England immediately. When I think of basketball, I think of Canada, and also Nigeria, too.Â
Frierson: Of all the places you've lived, is there one dish, one bite that you miss the most, that you can't really find around here?
Ogbeide: That would have to be in Nigeria, just the rice. It's a common thing that's made in Nigeria, it's jollof rice. That's my thing. My mom makes it for me all the time and if she's making it for me, I'm all set. I probably wouldn't eat anybody else's or eat it anywhere else if it didn't come from back home or from my mom.
Ghana has a version, as well, and a lot of times Ghanaians think their version is better than the Nigerian version, but of course I completely dispel that. It's an interesting dish.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
