BISHOP O'CONNELL'S
OUMAR BARRY
READY TO PLAY
at
DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
ALL-MET ELITE
BISHOP O'CONNELL HS.
ARLINGTON VA.
CHICAGO – Oumar Barry has come a long way---in both a both literal and figurative sense---from a small country in West Africa to the upscale Lincoln Park community in the city of skyscrapers.
The 6-foot, 9-inch center that will join five other newcomers in coach Dave Leitao’s first recruiting class since returning to DePaul has been through so much more than your average college freshman.
He was born and raised in Conakry, the capital city of Guinea (population 11.4 million) which is bordered by countries such as Senegal, Mali, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
“Where I live is surrounded by small villages and some open prairie land,” Barry said. “I’ve never seen wild animals roaming around. The forests where they’re at are really far away. Like you, the only wild animals I’ve seen were in a zoo.
“There are a lot of tourists in my country who like to go on photo safaris. I was always busy with school and basketball and never went on any of those safaris.”
He grew up in a loving home, the fifth in a family of six children headed by his father, Conakry policeman Macky Barry, and his mom, Aissatou Barry. His older brothers are Mouctar, 28, and Laho, 21 while his older sisters are Kadiatou, 32, who is a doctor and 25-year-old Fanta. The baby of the family is 15-year-old sister Aicha.
You can imagine how tough it was for Barry to leave his family after being discovered by a Malian-American named Tidiane Drame who runs a basketball camp in Mali along with a venture of bringing African players to the USA.
“I started playing when I was 13 years old,” Barry said. “I was just about the tallest player on the team so I played center.
“Defense, rebounding and blocking shots were the things I was really good at playing in Africa. It gave me a lot of motivation. When I block a shot, it motivates the team and the crowd goes wild. Defense is the best way to play offense. If your defense is good, you’ll be better on offense.
“I never thought about playing in the USA. When I grew pretty fast, I became a good shot-blocker and rebounder. Tidiane came and saw me play. He said I could come and play on a high school team in the USA.”
Barry wound up in the Camp Springs, Md. home of Edwin and Gale Atlas, legal guardians who became a second set of parents.
He played for Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, Va. and remembers coming away with 12 points, 15 rebounds and nine blocks in a game against McNamara.
“When I first came to the USA, it was a little cold for me in Maryland,” Barry said. “I was used to African weather where it’s really hot all the time.
“I was in class at Bishop O’Connell the first time I ever saw it snowing. I was looking out the window and my teacher said: ‘Oumar, that’s snow.’ I had only seen it on TV. In Maryland, traffic is so busy. There are roads everywhere and tall buildings. People are so nice over here. Every time I go somewhere, people are interested in me and ask if I need help.”
When told that Maryland was like the tropics compared to a Chicago winter, Barry’s eyes grew wide. Then he said: “I’ll be ready for it. I’m going to buy a lot of jackets.”
A cold shiver ran through Barry’s entire body last August when he found out his mom had died of a heart attack at the age of 58.
“I didn’t expect it at all,” Barry said in a soft voice. “She had been sick for a while, but said she was doing fine. She didn’t like going to see the doctor and didn’t like hospitals. Sometimes, we had to force her to go. When she was sick towards the end, my sister Kadiatou took care of her at home.”
Imagine being more than 10,000 miles away and not being able to say good-bye.
“I was 17 years old and living in Maryland when it happened,” Barry said. “I didn’t have a chance to go back home and I couldn’t go back for the funeral. My family in Africa said I should stay here.
“It was not easy. I could not tell her how I feel. In my heart, I know how I feel. A mom is everything in a man’s life. All I could do was give thanks to God that He will do whatever is best and keep praying.
“When I was a baby, I used to cry a lot. That’s what my sisters told me. My mom would put me in her lap and sing to me about a plane coming to take Oumar and bring me to Paris.
“I remember that song. When I was in middle school, she still sang that song. It always calmed me down. We lived next to an airport and planes were always passing over our house. My sisters said that when I was a baby, I would open my eyes and look at the planes. People are bothered by the noise of planes overhead. For me, it was a soothing sound.”
Edwin and Gale Atlas did their best to comfort Barry.
“They gave me a lot of support when my mom died,” Barry said. “They gave me examples of other people who have been through their own tragedies.
“If you want to be a man, you’ve got to see yourself as you are. This is what I want to be. You are going to run into obstacles, and my mom told me that no matter what happens, keep your head up and don’t let those obstacles bring you down.”
Barry began feeling pressure from recruiters and others after ex-DePaul coach Oliver Purnell resigned. Barry’s advisor Drame told him to seek a release from his National Letter of Intent.
“St. John’s was calling me a lot,” Barry said. “I was also being recruited by Xavier, Towson and VCU. DePaul assistant coach Billy Garrett said not to rush into a decision. He said DePaul is going to hire a very good coach.
“Coach Garrett always took care of me and asked about me. I knew him from last summer on a visit to DePaul and I had trust in him. I listened to him because I could believe in him.
“It was not easy. I was listening to two people (Drame and Garrett) who were coming at me from different directions and I was stuck in the middle. You’ve got to listen to your heart and follow what you want. I told Tidiane my decision was to stay with DePaul. He didn’t like it, but he understood.”
All it took was one visit from Leitao to guarantee that Barry had made the right decision.
“I met coach Leitao when he came to Camp Springs,” Barry said. “I was so happy when I saw him. He seemed to have a good personality, and I liked his behavior and attitude. I liked his program.
“He is the type of coach who will make this team better and would find a way to bring this team up. He will give this team the name it deserves. I said to him: ‘I want in.’
“Defense and rebounding are my strengths. I know I am going to help this team a lot. Coach Leitao said this game is not just about scoring. I can get rebounds, block shots and play defense. He said if I can do my job, I will keep playing and that the offense will come.”
The Future15 recruiting site described Barry as a “big man who plays hard on both ends of the floor and has great length. Defensively he has good timing and can block shots. He attacks the glass as though every rebound is his. His offensive game is rapidly improving and he shows good touch around the rim.”
On that site, Comcast SportsNet talent evaluator Scott Phillips said that Barry is a raw athlete with a lot of potential to grow.
“Barry’s only been in the United States for about a year and playing basketball for about four,” Phillips said. “He showed at some high-level camps that he’s a pretty good shot blocker and can run the floor. He has an OK feel for rebounding.
“Once he figures out footwork on the offensive end and how to properly attack guys in the post, he should be a decent BIG EAST player down the line.”
Barry said his goal is to average eight points, seven rebounds and two blocks a game. With just two years of high school basketball under his belt, he knows there’s a lot of catching up to do.
“I’m trying to get bigger, and I want to work harder than ever in the weight room,” Barry said. “I know in the BIG EAST the big men are really strong. Blocking out and getting rebounds won’t be easy. I’m up to 225 pounds and I’ve got to get to at least 240 and still be able to run well. It means I have a lot of work to do."
He has spent a lot of time in the weight room since arriving on campus this summer.
"Right away, Oumar is someone who came to me for extra work," said DePaul Director of Sports Performance John Wagle. "He does everything we ask of him, and a couple of years down the road, he is going to be in a good place.
"He is going to get bigger, stronger, jump higher and be able to help us more on the court. Oumar has a very high work capacity and will be able to work out during the season while also managing the demands of the game."
Bulking up should be no problem considering his healthy appetite.
“I eat a lot," Barry said. "My friends make fun of me and say I eat too much. I like going to the Golden Corral all-you-can-eat buffet. At AAU tournaments, I’d eat so well at Golden Corral.”
He is looking forward to his first dunk in a Blue Demon uniform.
“I got my first dunk when I was 14 years old in Africa,” Barry said. “It was just crazy. You see your friends dunking, and there’s a lot of pressure on you when you’re over 6-feet and can’t dunk. So you keep on trying.
“That first time---what a great feeling. The pressure is over and there’s just happiness. I kept dunking over and over again.”
