Norchad Omier (born 28 August 2001) is a Nicaraguan

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

player for

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes (known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes) are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic A ...

of the Atlantic Coast Conference. He previously played for the

Arkansas State Red Wolves The Arkansas State Red Wolves are the athletic teams of Arkansas State University. They are a member of the Sun Belt Conference in all sports except women's bowling, a sport not sponsored by that league, competing at the National Collegiate Athleti ...

of the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams partici ...

(SBC).

Early life and high school career

A native of

Bluefields Bluefields is the capital of the South Caribbean Autonomous Region in Nicaragua. It was also the capital of the former Kingdom of Mosquitia, and later the Zelaya Department, which was divided into North and South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Regio ...

, Nicaragua, Omier grew up playing several sports, including

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

. He started playing

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

by the age of 13 after a local coach noticed his height. Omier trained at La Academica de Basketball Bluefields in his hometown. He explored professional opportunities in Mexico before joining Miami Prep in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

on a full scholarship. Omier averaged 26.7 points and 20.3 rebounds per game, and recorded 40 points and 17 rebounds against

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. IMG Academy is set across over 600 acres and features programs consisting of sport camps for youth athletes, adult camps, a boar ...

. He committed to play

for

Arkansas State Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

over offers from

Iona Iona (; gd, Ì Chaluim Chille (IPA: �iːˈxaɫ̪ɯimˈçiʎə, sometimes simply ''Ì''; sco, Iona) is a small island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though the ...

, Mercer, UMBC and Marist, and became the first Nicaraguan to sign an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

basketball scholarship. He joined the Red Wolves under Spanish-speaking head coach

Mike Balado Mike Balado is an American college basketball coach who was last the head coach at Arkansas State University. He was formerly an assistant coach at the University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research universi ...

, who was mentored by Miami Prep founder Art Alvarez.

College career

On 16 January 2021, Omier posted a freshman season-high 22 points and 17 rebounds in a 93–72 win against

Louisiana–Monroe The University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) is a public university in Monroe, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System. History ULM opened in 1931 as Ouachita Parish Junior College. Three years later it became the Northeast Ce ...

. As a freshman, he averaged 12.6 points and 12.3 rebounds per game, earning First Team All-

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel. Several climates can be found in the region — ...

and Freshman of the Year honors. Omier became the fourth Division I freshman since the 1992–93 season to average at least 12 points and 12 rebounds. At the conclusion of the 2021-22 regular season, Omier was named Sun Belt Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.

National team career

In April 2021, Omier made his

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

debut for Nicaragua during

2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification process will determine 30 of the 32 teams that will participate at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. As co-hosts, the Philippines men's national basketball team, Philippines and Japan men's nat ...

Career statistics

College

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2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

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, 23 , , 22 , , 26.7 , , .539 , , .000 , , .688 , , 12.3 , , .8 , , 1.2 , , 1.4 , , 12.6

References

External links

Arkansas State Red Wolves bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Omier, Norchad 2001 births Living people Arkansas State Red Wolves men's basketball players Miami Hurricanes men's basketball players Nicaraguan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Nicaraguan men's basketball players People from Bluefields Power forwards (basketball) Small forwards