Cal women’s basketball has been on a roll on the recruiting trial lately, landing three 5-star recruits in the 2020 class. We already caught up with the first commit of the group in Fatou Samb and have now caught up with the second commit in forward Michelle Ugonne Onyiah out of Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Eastvale, California.
While there’s no one reason for why Onyiah chose Cal, atop of her list of reasons is her strong relationship with the coaching staff. When Lindsay Gottlieb left to take a job with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Charmin Smith and her staff did a great job of building on the relationship that they had already developed with Onyiah. They let her know that they still really wanted her and valued what she could bring to their program.
“My relationship with the current staff is amazing,” Onyiah said. “After Lindsay left, they reunited me even harder than before. Me and Lindsay had a good relationship and I was sad when I heard she left but I was happy to see her with a better opportunity.
“But the new staff is amazing. I love them. They just got a new coach and the coach AP [April Phillips] was my recruiter from Arizona and after she came to Cal, she recruited harder than ever before calling me every single day and calling my teammates and family. After my official visit I knew it was the right fit. And the team was amazing. They were like family when I first talked to them.”
The reason Cal wanted Onyiah so much is her tenacity on the boards and versatility. They feel she can help them out in a variety of ways.
“I feel like my rebounding is my greatest strength,” Onyiah said. “Because I can jump higher than anyone and just take the ball from the rim. And my defense because I can guard any position on the court like a point guard, shooting guard through all the way to a big post. And my passing ability. I can see the court as a stretch forward. I want to bring my rebounding and my stretch forward abilities to the team and being able to guard any position.”
When looking ahead to her time at Cal, Onyiah is excited to compete in the Pac-12. She really respects how challenging it is and sees it as a place that will push her to be the best basketball player that she can be.
“I always wanted to play in the Pac-12, to be honest,” Onyiah said. “I feel like at any Pac 12 school you have a good chance in win the Pac-12 championship and going to the NCAA tournament. And playing all the good teams like Oregon, Stanford, UCLA and the list goes on. I always know it’s going to be a battle because everyone in the Pac-12 is good. No one is bad at the Pac-12. The Pac-12 reps every year in NCAA tournament. I’m looking forward to soon playing against my AAU teammate Taylor [Bigby] in 2021 committed to Oregon.”
On the academic side, Cal’s status as the top public university in the world really appealed to Onyiah. She saw it as a place where she could get a well-rounded education and also grow as an entrepreneur.
“That played a big role in my decision,” Onyiah said of Cal’s academic pedigree. “I want to go to a school that has an amazing basketball program and amazing academics. My older sister went to Cal and she loved it there and my other sister went to Stanford, so I know how much being a top public university is. It’s amazing and people who leave there get amazing jobs. Academics was a huge part of the process and after I graduate what school I graduated from was a big factor, too.
“One of the biggest things was I want to go to a place where I want to expand my electric skateboard company. And I feel like the people at Cal will help me grow my company. And everyone is very happy and nice there.”
Not every college athlete has a desire to be create their own business and be an entrepreneur, making Onyiah unique in that regard. She’s always had an interest in building things and soon discovered she had a talent for building electric skateboards.
“I always built things when I was little,” Onyiah said. “I started building go-karts from scratch. And then I saw Casey Neistat on YouTube about Boosted Boards, an electric skateboard company in the Bay Area in freshman year and after that I researched a lot about it. Learning how to build one. I even contacted companies from China to make my own electric skateboard. From there I started a website and everything.
“Right now, I am making my friend a dirt electric skateboard. And my friends now come to me because I make custom electric skateboard. My business is called CB Electric aka custom board electric.”
Looking ahead to her time at Cal, Onyiah is excited to get to work with her future teammates. Especially her fellow freshmen Fatou Samb and Dalayah Daniels. Samb she doesn’t know as well, but Daniels she knows pretty well from her time on the Nike EYBL circuit.
“I don’t really know Fatou, but I know Dalayah well,” Onyiah said. “I played against her this year in Indianapolis at the EYBL tournament. I guard her so I know how she plays and how good she is. She is amazing at what she does, and I am very excited to play with her and Fatou at Cal. The buzz is unreal and very exciting to see it blow up in one week’s time.
“Fun fact: I committed before both of them! I committed on September 28 on my official visit. I just took a long time because of my video and school. But it’s going to be an amazing class because we are all 5-star athletes.”
When looking at all that she has to offer, it’s clear that Michelle Ugonne Onyiah is a perfect fit for Cal. She brings versatility in the post, tenacity on the glass, and an entrepreneurial spirit that perfectly encapsulates what Cal is all about. She is a fantastic addition to the program when looking at her comprehensive package. In addition to being grateful for the coaching staff and the opportunities that they have given her, Onyiah wanted it to be known that without the help of a special friend, she wouldn’t be in the position that she’s in today:
“I have one shout out to my amazing friend Nauvi Burries! She was the one who told me to go to Cal Sparks. If it wasn’t for her, I would not be in this position today.”
