Toby Okani had an up close look at how head coach Darian DeVries coached his teams at Drake when he was playing in the Missouri Valley Conference at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
So when DeVries expressed interest in Okani out of the transfer portal once he took the job at West Virginia those feelings were immediately reciprocated.
“I was always a fan of how Drake played. They’re a well-coached team that we’ve had battles with over the years. So like for me during my process of choosing a school, when coach reached out to me, it was kind of like a no-brainer just because I have mutual respect for him and his son,” he said.
Okani had squared off against Drake last season and scored 31 points and hit 8-16 from the field in a 107-105 triple-overtime loss. That was the senior day for Okani and he squared off against Tucker DeVries who finished with 39 points on 12/26 from the field.
“I have nothing but respect for Tucker, even since I came into that league, it’s always been a mutual respect but someone I know that’s in the gym just as much as I am and that wants it just as bad as I do,” Okani said.
That immediately put him on the radar for DeVries and given that familiarity it made a lot of sense for the two to connect once he decided he would spend his final year of college elsewhere.
That was only reinforced when he took his official visit where he was able to get an idea about his personality and quickly realized that he had good chemistry with him.
“So it just made sense for me to come here and make something happen with them,” he said.
But it wasn’t necessarily his offensive abilities that were at the forefront, not it was Okani’s unique ability to serve as a versatile defender. He has the ability to switch onto smaller guards, bigger guards or even bang in the post using his athleticism and length to create problems for offenses.
“It was instilled in me to guard every single position like it's supposed to be normal,” he said.
Since arriving in Morgantown, Okani has been impressed with the details that DeVries coaches with and his overall focus on the small things.
“And just drilling that every day that your little habits of how you screen or how you cut with pace really just opens up an open shot. And that is not really a dribble move that you need to do, that you just maybe just need to pass it,” Okani said.
Okani, who started his career at Duquesne prior to transferring to UIC, has gone through this process before but with this being his final opportunity at this level it's important for the Mountaineers to hit the ground running and gel together on the floor. He has continued to develop his offensive game as well by focusing on his post-game, improving his three-point shooting and his ball-handling.
The wing isn’t worried about how they are being perceived at this point and instead is simply focused on the areas that they need to get better. And the goal is simply taking it one game at a time.
“The way we go about practicing and the way that coach drills us is one drill at a time, one play at a time,” Okani said. “We’re not overstepping.”
But with the collection of experienced transfers and freshmen on the roster this is a team that is built to win now instead of looking ahead to the future. And he’s looking to do it with a coach and player that he squared off against last season.
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