Xavier’s starting center has joined Xavier’s backup center in leaving the program.
Abou Ousmane was perhaps the biggest beneficiary and the biggest victim of the injuries to Zach Freemantle and Jerome Hunter this season. Ousmane was suddenly a full time starter, a boon to his playing time and a chance to show what he could do. Ousmane was also suddenly a full time starter, a guarantee that any flaws he had would be exposed.
Now, Abou Ousmane is hitting the transfer portal. His triple slash numbers 6.7/6.4/1.3 on 46.5% shooting in 21 minutes per game aren’t overtly bad by any means, but they gloss over things just a little bit. Ousmane’s offensive efficiency was just 96.7, the worst of any Xavier starting center in the advanced metrics era. Ousmane rebounded the ball well, but his shooting, both at the line and from the floor, was absolutely dreadful.
And that brings us back to the first paragraph. Ousmane was brought in to be a backup to Freemantle and Hunter. He could have been a 15 minute a game guy who could start in certain situations and brought energy and excellent rebounding off the bench. Joel highlighted (highlit?) this in the season preview, “Ousmane is imposing in the lane with his physicality. This holds true on defense, as he spent most of last season blocking the opposition at a rate that was top-100 nationally.”
But he didn’t just get to do that, he had to be an interior scoring option, something he never really was. In much the same way you wouldn’t ride a bike and then complain that you didn’t have the trunk space you do in a car, it’s unfair to play Abou Ousmane and then complain about his offensive output. That’s not who he is, it’s not who he ever was. Unfortunately for Xavier and Abou, that’s what he was asked to do this season.
With his departure Xavier is now down three bigs. Sasa Ciani was skilled offensively, but struggled to keep up with the pace of the game in the Big East. Kach Nzeh was incredibly raw. Abou Ousmane was the same player he has always been. None of them will be back next year. Sean Miller now needs to cobble together a frontcourt from the oft-injured pieces of Zach Freemantle and Jerome Hunter and his two remaining Euro bigs. It won’t be long until we hear about Xavier making an addition.