Oladipo gives back

After three months away from the city he called home for his college basketball career, former IU men’s basketball player Victor Oladipo returned this past week to Bloomington for one last hurrah.

IU students celebrated across social media as the No. 2 pick in the 2013 NBA Draft showed up on the Bloomington bar scene and obliged numerous photo ops with Hoosier fans who had fallen in love with his talent on the court and singing voice off it.

Youth from across the state flocked to Assembly Hall this past weekend to take part in a basketball camp led by IU Coach Tom Crean, where former Hoosiers D.J. White and Oladipo assisted along with current IU men’s basketball players.

Just a year after Oladipo was voted the camp’s top coach, his name now graced the camp’s promotional signs.

Only a year ago, Oladipo had been just an afterthought for the NBA, but even now that he’s been listed as a frontrunner for the 2013-14 Rookie of the Year, Oladipo said he still feels right at home in the small southern Indiana college town.

“It’s just a blessing to be here and interact with the kids,” Oladipo said. “Coach Crean said he can hear me throughout the hallways, and it’s just because I feel right at home. It’s what I’m used to, and it’s where I’m comfortable.”

Crean said he was honored to have Oladipo back in Bloomington before his protégé continues his journey onto the NBA stage, which began this summer with standout performances in four of the Orlando Magic’s five summer league games where Oladipo saw playing time.

The Hoosier star flourished, averaging 19 points per game to go along with 5 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.3 steals while playing several different positions on the court and trying to create chemistry with his new teammates.

“It was fun going out there and playing a new position,” Oladipo said. “For them to give me the ball and we go out there and run the offense, it was quite a new experience, but I liked it a lot. I learned a lot of things this summer and did a lot of good things. It’s all a learning process, but at the end of the day, that’s just a stepping stone.”

Of course, Oladipo was only going up against the best rookies and second-year NBA players. He said even with the progress he’s made so far, there’s much more work to be done.

“It was great that I was the No. 2 pick, and I’ve accomplished a lot, but there’s so much more I can do,” he said. “I haven’t reached the pinnacle of how good I can be.
“It’s ‘No Boys Allowed.’ That’s why they call it the NBA — no boys allowed. There are no days off, and I’ve got to prepare myself mentally and physically for that.”

Last season, the Magic struggled with the NBA’s worst record, going 20-62 to fall to the depths of the Eastern Conference standings – similar to the Hoosiers’ struggles during Oladipo’s freshman season in Bloomington.

But Oladipo said he wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to be the cornerstone of another rebuilding process, adding that his time at IU made the uphill battle to turn the Magic around a challenge he would welcome.

“The rebuilding process has a lot of downs — a lot of down moments being everyone’s doormat,” he said. “They say it’s a rebuilding process in Orlando, and if it is, I’m well prepared for it, and I guarantee it’s nowhere the rebuilding process we went through here.”