Cal Basketball: Matt Bradley Still In Doubt, WSU Gets Back 1 of 4 From COVID Protocols

The Cougars will show off 6-foot-10 freshman phenom Efe Obogidi

We have limited updates on the health status of players who hope to participate Thursday night when Cal hosts Washington State at Haas Pavilion.

The report from Cal: Pac-12 scoring leader Matt Bradley, who injured his left ankle Saturday against Oregon State, was not cleared to practice on Monday. Cal has no plans to share further updates on Bradley so we don’t know if he’ll play against the Cougars.

The report from WSU: Center Volodymyr “Vovo” Markovetskyy, a 7-foot-1, 270-pound sophomore from the Ukraine, has been cleared through COVID-19 protocols and will play. But three other Cougars — Brandon Chatfield, DJ Rodman and Ryan Rapp — who missed Saturday’s game against Arizona for the same reason, remain questionable.

Markovetskyy, who has started three times, averages just 3.8 points and 3.1 rebounds. But coach Kyle Smith said, “He’s vital to our success. He’s helped us win a lot of games this year. He’s been a big part of why we’ve been good defensively.”

Beyond the fuzzy COVID picture, we do know this much about the Cougars: They are off to a surprising 8-1 start in their second season under Smith, they took Arizona to double-overtime before losing 86-82 in their Pac-12 opener and the game at Cal (4-5, 0-3) will be their first road game of the season.

And one other thing: They have a tantalizing freshman in Efe Obogidi (pronounced eff-A uh-bo-guh-dee), a 6-foot-10 225-pounder from Nigeria.

Efe Obogidi / Washington State Photo Services

Here’s what Obogidi has done the past four games:

Dec. 18 vs. Montana State: 19 points, 15 rebounds, 2 blocked shots

Dec. 21 vs. Prairie View A&M: 16 points, 14 rebounds, 4 blocked shots

Dec. 23 vs. Northwestern State: 15 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocked shots

Jan. 2 vs. Arizona: 12 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocked shots

That works out to an average of 15.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and 3.3 blocked shots over a four-game stretch.

Did we mention this kid is just 19.

“He’s an angel of a human being — that’s probably his best attribute. He’s really is an unbelievable team guy,” said Smith, who spent 12 years in the Bay Area as an assistant at Saint Mary’s and a head coach at USF.

Obogidi was born in Nigeria, spent time at the NBA Academy in Senegal, then was promoted to the NBA Academy in Australia. In the meantime he suffered what Smith called a serious knee injury that cost him two years.

“We recruited him, knowing he was a really valued 15, 16-year-old,” Smith said. “At first people shied away because he’d been hurt. We’re really happy to have him.”

You have to wonder if the Cougars only got him because of the injury.

On the other hand, there’s this: His uncle lives in Pullman.

“The craziest thing,” Smith called it. “He’s from Nigeria. There’s only 30,000 people up here and 20,000 of them are students. So to have his uncle here is pretty amazing. We treat him like a local recruit.”

Smith calls Obogidi’s shot-blocking and quickness “elite talents,” but acknowledges he must be careful to stay healthy and add strength.

“It’s hard for me to put a ceiling on anyone because I just think that when you’re that age . . . how many people thought Steve Nash was going to be an NBA player?” Smith said. “My answer is always one — Steve Nash.”

Obogidi is better earlier than the Cougars, to the extent they have altered some of their structure to accommodate his contributions.

“The first three weeks of practice, `OK, he’s a normal freshman. Doggone it. He’s going to be fine,’ “ Smith recalled. “The closer we got to the season he just started to gain confidence.

"We had our first inter-squad scrimmage and he just kind of popped out. It was like, `OK, let’s go.’ Hopefully he just keeps going in a straight line. He’s got a great motor. Anyone who watches us play understand how hard he plays and how much he cares.”

Perhaps because of that drive on the court, Obogidi reminds Smith of Diamon Simpson, who played at Saint Mary’s through 2009, totaling 1,603 points, 1,130 rebounds and 239 blocked shots in four seasons.

“He’s a little bouncier than Diamon,” Smith said. “And Diamon’s like my favorite guy of all-time.”

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo