Akol Arop committed to play for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on October 3rd. His announcement was first made via Twitter, he tweeted it himself the evening of the 3rd.

“It felt like the right fit for me, the schooling, to practice my faith. It just felt good when I went there,” Arop said.

Nebraska was one of his nine Division 1 offers. He chose them over University of Nebraska at Omaha who first reached out to him on December 1st of last year. Arop also had offers from schools like Drake and Tulsa.

“[Coach Tim] Miles and Nebraska first reached out to me in the middle of July,” Arop said.

Arop grew up in a basketball family. His two older brothers played basketball for Omaha South high school. His older brother, Aguek, verbally committed to also go to Nebraska until he later decommitted and now plays for San Diego State University.

“I looked up to them. My older brother Aguek, he played a big role and was very close to me. He always pushed me to do good,” Arop said.

Arop is very close with his coaches at Prep, specifically coaches Josh Luedtke and Andy King. They’ve been working with Arop since he was on JV as a freshman. Arop was on varsity by his sophomore year.

“They developed me pretty well, there’s a couple things I still need to work on, but being the player I am, without Prep I wouldn’t be there,” Arop said.

Arop officially signed with Nebraska on November 14. For Prep he’s been playing a lot inside, but Nebraska wants him to work outside more. Arop still has one more season left to improve his game but he’s been working hard this offseason on his perimeter game.

“During the offseason, I worked on that; my outside game, dribbling, and shooting,.” Arop said.

Arop has been working on all parts of his game through the last year. There are still a lot more things that he wants to perfect. But right now he’s got one focus, to repeat a state championship for his senior year. He believes that if they can get a couple sparks they could do it.

“A lot of effort really needs to come out of a lot of these players especially myself as a senior,” Arop said.