An injury has been a blessing in disguise for Arkansas women’s center commitment Destinee Oberg.
She suffered a back injury in June that produced two bulging disks that pressed against nerves in her spine.
“I ended up taking the whole summer off and working out and training to get ready for my high school season,” Oberg said. “I got a trainer, and I’ve been eating better, and I’m down like 30 something pounds.”
Oberg (6-2) of Burnsville (Minn.) Academy of Holy Angel chose the Razorbacks over scholarship offers from Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Maryland, Washington and others last December.
She used the break to get her body ready for her senior year of high school.
“It’s so hard on your body, playing so many games during the summertime. I got to take a little break and get well rested,” Oberg said. “I ended up going in the pool because I couldn’t do like hard-core conditioning, so got to do a water aerobics class, and that was a lot of fun.”
This coming season will be her unheard-of sixth year to start on the varsity level.
“I started when I was 12,” Oberg said.
She led the Stars to the 2016 Class 3A girls basketball championship, the school’s first since 1975. Oberg then helped Holy Angels to a third-place finish at the state tournament as a sophomore while averaging 16.6 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.1 steals a game and a quarterfinal finish as a junior.
Prospects Nation rates Oberg a 4.5-star prospect, No. 6 post player and No. 38 overall recruit in the nation for the 2019 class. Oberg said schools for the most part have backed off of her since her commitment to Arkansas.
“When I told them I was committed, I did it in a way that was respectful, but I’m still in contact with some people just to see how they are, and they’re asking me how I am,” she said. “It’s more like friendship than like a business thing.”
She, along with the Hogs’ other three commitments — guard Ginger Reece, 5-11 of Lawton (Okla.) Eisenhower; point guard Makayla Daniels, 5-7, of Frederick High School in Maryland; and Springdale guard Marquesha Davis, 6-0 — plan to take their official visits during the Alabama football game weekend in October.
Going out of state to play her college basketball upset some in Minnesota, while others were supportive.
“A lot of people have mixed feelings about it,” Oberg said. “Some people were wondering like, 'Why Arkansas?' Some people were like, 'good for you.' ... I was so excited to go somewhere that I really wanted, so it didn't really matter what they thought about it. The support was nice, but to the people that didn’t like it, [it] wasn’t a big deal because it was somewhere I wanted to be.”
Oberg first met Razorback Coach Mike Neighbors as a ninth-grader.
“We instantly got along, and I was gong to go there [the University of Washington]. And he moved to Arkansas, and we just kept in contact,” Oberg said. “I was able to come down and visit sometime like last June, and I got to meet all the staff and the players ... it felt like home. It felt natural to be there.”