Obi Agbim’s rise in the college basketball world continues. A former Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team star, playing for the Skyhawks from 2022-2024, announced Monday that he has committed to Division I Baylor University.
“Overall, I feel like it's a testimony of God's work,” Agbim said. “You never know where you're going to end up, especially from the start. You're going through trying to find the right situation time and time again with the portal … looking back on the journey, it's really inspiring for a lot of other people and then even for myself, it's really unbelievable. But there are a lot of things that God can do that you never can know. The whole journey itself has been amazing. It's really beautiful to see the work that's been put in, being given out.”
It’s been a steady climb for Agbim, beginning his college career at fellow Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference school, MSU Denver, in 2020-2021. He then spent the 2021-2022 season at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado before heading to FLC for the 2022-2023 season.
Agbim and the Skyhawks enjoyed a ton of success together, with FLC finishing 29-4 overall in the 2022-2023 and the 2023-2024 season. The Skyhawks won two conference tournament championships, one regular season championship and made it to the NCAA tournament in both years.
As a sophomore in 2022-2023, Agbim had more of a reserve role for the Skyhawks, averaging 10.1 points per game in 23.9 minutes per game off the bench. But as a junior in 2023-2024, Agbim stepped up his game, averaging 15.5 PPG, 4.0 rebounds per game and 2.9 assists per game.
After his junior year, Agbim was named first-team All-RMAC and hit the transfer portal, ending up at Division I University of Wyoming for the 2024-2025 season.
“There's so many things I learned from FLC, but one of the biggest things I've learned there was a standard,” Agbim said. “I really take this away from that school and I try to implement that standard wherever I've been going; that's a high standard of competitive nature and a high standard of want with the whole team, including the staff … outside of that, off the court, hanging out with each other is really important. It's a really big culture thing and it really does do some things with winning. Those two years at Fort Lewis, we all hung out with each other off the court.”
He stepped up his game again at Wyoming. Agbim led the Cowboys in scoring last season, averaging 17.6 PPG and 3.4 APG on 47% shooting from the field, 79% from the free-throw line and 44% from the 3-point line.
Because of this, Agbim became a hot commodity once he entered the transfer portal. He didn’t know until recently that he’d have another year of eligibility but recent court and NCAA rulings allowed him to return to college for another year. He said basically every high-level Division I school reached out to him, but Baylor always stuck out as his top choice.
The Baylor Bears under head coach Scott Drew have been one of the best programs in Division I over the past 15 years. Playing in the Big 12 Conference, the Bears won the national championship in 2021 and have finished as a top 30 team in Division I in the last six seasons on kenpom.com’s rankings.
Although Baylor was appealing for Agbim because of its success on the court, the school was very appealing because of his family. Agbim’s mother, Sally, is a nurse and thinks very highly of Baylor’s nursing school. Agbim’s cousin, who’s a doctor, went to Baylor.
Everyone around Agbim thought Baylor would be a great fit for him on the court. The Bears had a lot of graduating players and VJ Edgecombe, a projected top 10 pick in the NBA draft.
“What he's (Drew) done with his guards and his system … it's a really high-level fit for me,” Agbim said. “Just meeting them in person, it really sold it all. The vibes were amazing, the energy was amazing and he treated me like a priority. It felt like the staff and everybody was on the same page with what the mission was and what we wanted to get done.”
Since leaving FLC, Agbim said he’s improved the most with reading the defense, facilitating, his shot-making ability and his strength.
One of the biggest, if not the biggest, part of the transfer portal is money. Since college athletes could profit off their name, image and likeness in 2021, high-level transfers have commanded hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars for their services. The transfer portal has evolved over the past few years, where NIL collectives are now paying more and more money for players’ services for a year.
Agbim started his career in the RMAC and JUCO levels, where NIL wasn’t a thing. So he’s always worried about basketball first and still carries that mentality. But now, he knows he’s blessed to make a lot of money playing college basketball. He said he’s planning to give back to his parents and bless his family. He knows this money isn’t permanent so he plans on investing what he’s getting in NIL to make the money last.
The former Skyhawks star is already soaring to new heights as one of, if not the first, former FLC men’s basketball player to play at the highest level of Division I basketball. After next season, Agbim could be the first former Skyhawk men’s basketball player to play in the NBA.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
