Paul Darkwa
Paul Darkwa Big man to join Raiders
By Marc Katz | Monday, April 20, 2009, 09:06 PM
FAIRBORN — When you're scouring the world for talent, sometimes the talent finds you.
A couple years ago, Paul Darkwa was playing basketball for the All-Navy team and thinking of ending his Naval commitment and going to college.
Monday, he signed with Wright State to play basketball.
Good for Darkwa, good for Wright State.
Darkwa, who was in the Navy nearly eight years after finishing high school in Riverside, Calif., is a Ghana native who arrived in the U.S. with his family when he was nine years old, 17 years ago.
His family moved here, he said, for opportunities not found in Ghana, and soon moved from New Jersey to Southern California.
He was a 6-foot-1 guard in high school, but after enrolling in the Navy with a buddy because he thought college was too tough and expensive, he discovered an education was something desirable and that he was growing taller than his buddy.
"My growth spurt came late," said Darkwa, who expects to be in town later this summer to enroll in school and play pickup games with the Raiders.
He is now 6-foot-7, 230 pounds and coach Brad Brownell said he could have a scholarship even though Brownell never saw him play.
The reason was Francis Ebong, an Annapolis grad who played on the All-Navy team with Darkwa and is also the brother of WSU assistant coach Victor Ebong. When Darkwa advised Francis he wanted to go to college, Francis knew who to call.
There is still some paperwork to do as the NCAA must decide if Darkwa, who has never been to college, has immediate and four-year eligibility. Apparently, he did not take an ACT exam in high school (he did take it recently), but Brownell feels confident he will pass all the NCAA requirements.
Darkwa will be a much-needed big man on the WSU roster, joining 6-9 Ronnie Thomas, 6-8 Cooper Land and 6-7 Cory Cooperwood. Actually, Cooperwood is closer to 6-5 and Land is more of an outside player than inside.
That leaves one spot on the WSU roster with the loss of Kyle Pressley, who unexpectedly left the team with two regular-season games to go last season.