Coming off a 25-9 season and an appearance in the NCAA First Four, the Wyoming Cowboys entered the 2022-2023 basketball season with high expectations. They added three high-impact transfers from USC and UCLA to go with two Mountain West Preseason All-Conference players, Graham Ike (Preseason Player of the Year) and Hunter Maldonado. 

With the depth of talent they possessed, Wyoming was picked to finish second in the conference, behind San Diego State, and received four of the 20 first-place votes.  

Then-junior Jeremiah Oden remembers how the preseason expectations for Wyoming did not help them much when the season started. Ike went down with an injury, and Wyoming (4-14) finished in last place in the conference. 

“We had a really deep team, and that was the year that we struggled,” Oden recalled about his junior season during an interview on The SDSU Podcast. “So expectations mean absolutely nothing to me.”

Oden, now a sixth-year senior at San Diego State, finds himself on a deeper and more talented team with even higher expectations. 

“I stress that to the guys,” Oden added. “We have the talent to do anything we want to do. I think that it’s just about staying level-headed enough and having enough dudes that have been around for long enough not to let it (affect us). You want those expectations, and it’s a privilege to have that, but also just knowing that you still have to go out and play the games. Expectations don’t hang banners.” 

In three years at Wyoming, Oden started 62 games (87 overall) and averaged 7.4 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. He shot a career-high 52.1% from the field in his sophomore year and 34.4% from long distance in his junior year. 

When he entered the transfer portal in 2023, one of his first recruiting calls was from Brian Dutcher’s staff. Despite the interest to stay in the conference and play for a program he respected immensely, Oden chose to go back home to Illinois and play for his dad’s alma mater, DePaul. After one season there (7.6 ppg, 3.2 rpg in 32 games) and another at Charlotte (no games due to injury), Oden was back in the transfer portal this past spring. Once again, he received calls from Dutcher’s staff.  

“It made it an easy decision just having already been recruited by them in the past,” Oden said about the familiarity with the Aztecs. “When I didn’t make that decision, I’ve had a couple of years to sit with that decision not to come here. So it was an easy decision this time around.”

Oden is in his final year of eligibility and wants to conclude his collegiate career with a team expected not only to compete, but also to make a run in the NCAA Tournament.

The 6-9 combo forward mostly plays the 3 or 4 positionally, although he expects to be mostly at the 4 this year, given the amount of depth at the wing. 

“My favorite part of my game is just my adaptability,” Oden said. “I feel like you could put me in almost any role on a court, and I feel like I could figure it out.” 

Some of his best performances as a Cowboy came against his current team, averaging 13 points on 56.1% shooting from the field, 42.9% from 3-point range, and 90.9% from the free throw line over five games against the Aztecs. Those performances came, at times, matched up against Aguek Arop, SDSU’s current Director of Player Development.

“The other day, (Arop) was on Scout Team and we were guarding each other,” Oden recalled. “I looked down, I was like, just like old times… we kind of laughed about it, but it’s cool. He knows my game. He’s basically just removed from being a player, so he sees things from our perspective still, and he’s able to be in the coach’s office and know what they want. He is that communicator between the coaches and players.”

In addition to making a run at a national championship, Oden transferred to SDSU because he felt the staff could help improve his defense and rebounding. Two areas Oden says he has been good in, but not yet elite. 

“I feel like they’re really pushing me to be a defensive playmaker,” Oden said about the coaching staff. “Make plays out of my area and I feel like that’s something that I really want to be able to hang my hat on by the time I’m leaving here to help us win, to help me going forward in my career. It’s something that they emphasize every day, and it’s something I’m willing to work on every day.”

With Magoon Gwath returning from offseason knee surgery and likely eased into action at the start of the season, Oden could see an expanded role and possibly as a starter before Gwath is ready to go. By the time conference play begins, Oden could fill the vital “swiss-army knife” role that Arop and Jay Pal filled for Dutcher in recent years. 

His adaptability and versatility could make him a fan favorite by season’s end and perhaps a large contributor for another SDSU Final Four appearance.  

Andre Haghverdian

Avid sports fan and historian of basketball, baseball, football and soccer. UC San Diego and San Diego State alumni living in America’s Finest City. Diverse team following across multiple sports leagues, but Aztecs come first in college athletics.