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Japanese high school. An empty school gymnasium. Basketball court markings

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Jimmy Sorunke, a Maryland high school basketball phenom who stands at  6 feet 10 inches tall, has dazzled in his first year playing for Rockville High School at a reported 16 years of age. However, it appears that the student who hails from Nigeria might be considerably older than thought if a report from Deadspin rings true.

Sorunke joined the Rockville Rams in the suburbs of Washington and helped turn around the team that went 2-22 last year. The team won its district this year, losing on a trip to the Maryland state championship with Sorunke as the central reason the team fared so well. However, Deadspin has seemingly uncovered a potential truth about Sorunke’s actual age, alleging he may be 20 years old.

Deadspin writes:

In February 2016, a short and lighthearted story appeared on MAPGIST, the personal blog of a self-described entertainment promoter in Nigeria. It was a profile of Olujimi Sorunke Abayomi, a 6-foot-11 then-18-year-old student at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY). MAPOLY is what is known in Nigeria’s education hierarchy as a tertiary learning institute. “It is the same thing as college here,” says a staffer at the Nigerian embassy in D.C., adding that typical students enroll at MAPOLY or other tertiary institutions around age 18, after finishing secondary education or high school. The MAPGIST post about Olujimi Sorunke Abayomi lists him as a mass communications student, says his favorite pastime is “basketball,” and his “mentor” is “SHAQ O’NEIL.” The bio in the post also lists Olujimi Sorunke Abayomi’s birthday as “11th of June 1997.”

The photo accompanying the MAPGIST post about alleged college student Olujimi Sorunke Abayomi features a guy in a Peyton Manning jersey who sure looks like 2018 high school freshman Jimmy Sorunke.

The outlet says there’s plenty of evidence that suggests Sorunke and Abayomi are the same people. And it appears the plot to bring Sorunke to the states was hatched by a man named Joe Boncore, and serves as the player’s legal guardian and it appears that Boncore’s game is finding big men in other countries and funnel them into prep basketball programs across the nation.

It is a fascinating read so check out Deadspin’s profile on Jimmy Sorunke here.

Photo: Getty