Femi Odukale’s first sports trophies came in greater Minnesota.
Six schools in seven years: Femi Odukale is finally home with Gophers men’s basketball
Gophers newcomer Femi Odukale took a long journey before returning to where it all started, in Minnesota.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 3, 2024 at 1:20AM
The new Gophers guard reminisced as he visited the Boys & Girls Club on the southside of St. Cloud this summer.
The old gym, where Odukale fell in love with basketball, has been renovated since he played there in fifth grade. His childhood memories remain.
“It’s different but the same,” Odukale said. “Just walking around, I see they changed a lot of things from when I was there, but I appreciated that place. With basketball, Boys & Girls Club changed my life.”
Anyone meeting Odukale would quickly see he’s gritty and tough. That’s from being born and raised in New York. He’s also fun-loving and outgoing. That’s the Minnesota nice that never left him.
At 23, Odukale is a well-traveled senior. The University of Minnesota is his sixth school in seven years. He has transferred three times in college, and this latest one landed him with the Gophers from New Mexico State.
It would be easy to overlook a key part in his hoops journey after so many stops. It all started here.
Spending his pre-K years through elementary school in St. Cloud, Odukale never forgot the state that helped shape him.
“I’m happy Minnesota’s my last college journey,” he said. “It just comes full circle. I always wanted to come back and play.”
Odukale has an older brother, uncle and friends in Minnesota hoping to be in attendance when the Gophers open Nov. 6 vs. Oral Roberts at Williams Arena.
The Gophers are coming off a much-improved 19-victory season and NIT berth, but only a few pieces return, including leading scorer Dawson Garcia.
A 6-6, 215-pound Swiss-Army-knife talent, Odukale’s one of seven transfers who could be the difference in coach Ben Johnson’s program taking another step.
“Through all the practices in the summer and the fall, he has the most assists on our team,” Johnson said. “He just has a knack for finding guys and making the game simple. The thing I like is, he’s a big, loud communicator. When he has the ball and initiates offense, everybody knows what we’re in.”
Full circle in Minnesota
Johnson first heard about Odukale’s Minnesota ties from former Gophers assistant and UConn associate head coach Kimani Young, a New Yorker. Johnson and Young recruited him on staff together at the U in 2018, when Odukale was a junior in high school.
The Gophers didn’t recruit the college journeyman again until Johnson saw Odukale’s name in the portal from New Mexico State in the spring. His mother called it fate.
“He was born and raised in New York, but where he gets his character from is Minnesota,” Odukale’s mother, Shirley Stinvil, said. “The friendliness, the feeling of family and togetherness.”
Odukale attended Lincoln Elementary School in St. Cloud. After school, he would be at the Boys & Girls Club until 8 p.m. each day. He never wanted to leave that gym.
“[Boys & Girls Club] raised him, took care of him and was a big part of his basketball journey,” Stinvil said. “Femi’s very competitive, so he said to continue to have him in sports. But since then, basketball’s been part of his DNA.”
Too gifted for local boys his age to hang with on the court, a confident Odukale dominated his first years playing traveling basketball for the St. Cloud area team.
“He was killing people,” said his brother, Eric Stinvil. “I was like, ‘You need to move back to New York to play some real competition.’ My mom thought about it and agreed. She missed New York, too.”
Mom thought going back to Brooklyn would be better to mold her youngest son in basketball. He agreed that it added some edge to his game.
“Going to New York grounded me in toughness,” said Odukale, who has a tattoo of the last name of his mother and brother on his left bicep.
His big brother started working in Minnesota after graduating from St. Cloud Tech. Years later, he now has a son the same age Odukale was while Eric was in high school. It’s been hard being apart.
“We’re catching up for missed time,” said Odukale, who invited his brother and nephew on his Gophers recruiting visit. “He’s still the same person. He’s outgoing and smiling.”
New York state of mind
While Odukale was building his basketball rep in New York, his father and namesake died back in Minnesota. He lost one of his uncles there, as well. He tried to keep his mind on the game.
“Everybody goes through emotions,” he said, “but it’s about the next day. What you can do to make it out of that.”
At Brooklyn South Shore High School, Odukale became a star alongside former Seton Hall teammate Kadary Richmond, who is now at St. John’s in New York. They won two public league titles in 2018 and 2019.
After earning playoff MVP honors as a junior, Odukale sealed his second city crown with a game-winning dunk to cap his senior year. His brother flew in from Minnesota to join their mother in the crowd.
“Going from Minnesota to New York, they had never seen somebody who just fit in so well,” Shirley Stinvil said. “He started to get more exposure.”
Not enough exposure, though. Odukale needed a big year playing on a 30-victory Springfield Commonwealth Prep team in Massachusetts to attract high major coaches. Pittsburgh’s Jeff Capel saw his next great floor leader in Odukale, who averaged nearly nine assists.
“I told my [prep school] team we were going to make it to places we never made before,” Odukale said. “The more we won and got noticed, I got [the offers] I needed.”
Transfer ups and downs
On a late November night in Pittsburgh three years ago, Odukale saw a rough game get worse when he forgot to box out in the waning seconds of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge vs. the Gophers.
Odukale was guarding Luke Loewe, who tipped in a missed shot for the game-winner for the U.
“I remember that day like it was yesterday,” he said. “We weren’t supposed to lose.”
Still, Odukale made a huge jump that season going from averaging 6.6 points as a freshman to a career-best 10.8 points and 3.4 assists his sophomore year. But Pitt finished 11-21.
He tried Seton Hall next. Richmond, his teammate from high school, and Odukale reunited for coach Shaheen Holloway’s first season with the Pirates, but that situation didn’t feel right in the end, either.
New Mexico State brought the most out of his all-around game, but he was anxious to play in a power conference again. Johnson banked on Odukale to fill a versatile role similar to former Gophers guard Cam Christie, who was picked in the NBA draft after his freshman year.
“His best basketball is when he has the ball in his hands,” Johnson said. “He’s unselfish. He’s got good size, really good pace and a great feel. He’s kind of got that New York game.”
Johnson rested Odukale’s sore hip in the U’s two exhibition games to hopefully be ready for the season. The Gophers feel they got lucky to land a transfer with New York game and Minnesota pride.
“This is an older group,” Odukale said. “We can’t look ahead too much. We have to worry about right now, but we’re excited to show the fans and everybody this is the year. Be ready.”
New kid — again
A look at the six schools Femi Odukale has attended over the past seven years:
2024-25 Minnesota
2023-24 New Mexico State
2022-23 Seton Hall
2020-22 Pittsburgh
2019-20 Springfield (Mass.) Commonwealth Prep
2018-19 Brooklyn South Shore High
St. Cloud school district will hold a special election April 8 asking for $65M in upgrades at Apollo High School and for a year-round recreation complex. Two neighboring districts will hold special elections in February.
