{"id":260078,"date":"2026-04-09T22:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T22:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/260078\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T22:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T22:38:08","slug":"home-is-greater-than-anything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/260078\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Home is greater than anything’"},"content":{"rendered":"

After four winters in Boston, former Torrey Pines High School standout Otto Landrum is coming home \u2013 back for tacos, sunshine and a final season of college basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the opportunity to come back to Boston University,\u201d Landrum said. \u201cBut being back home is greater than anything else. I really love San Diego \u2013 Nico\u2019s Tacos, Board & Brew and it being damn near the best weather in the country every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Landrum announced his commitment to Point Loma Nazarene University<\/a> for the 2026\u201327 season as a graduate transfer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know who they are and the legacy they\u2019ve been building \u2013 the last five years being PacWest champions, going to the Sweet 16 three of the last four years,\u201d Landrum said. \u201cI just want to do something for a super special city. That was a big part of my decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

PLNU head coach Justin Downer, who has led the program since 2023 and previously served as an assistant at Cal Poly, first recruited Landrum to Cal Poly and was the first college coach Landrum spoke with while at Torrey Pines.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started recruiting Otto when he was probably 16, during the COVID era,\u201d Downer said. \u201cHis class of 2022 was special because all we could do was Zoom \u2013 no practices, no in-person scouting, just talking to kids. Otto and I developed a good relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been in our gym for open runs every summer at Point Loma \u2013 it\u2019s not organized or run by us, but we bump into each other. When he entered the transfer portal, it felt like we were both looking for each other \u2026 I\u2019ve known Otto for eight years now, so that familiarity, both as a coach and a player, made this opportunity really attractive to both of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Landrum, a 6-foot-9 forward, averaged 5.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game over three seasons at Boston University<\/a>. The hospitality administration major redshirted his senior year after undergoing ankle reconstruction surgery in November to repair three torn ligaments and tendon damage.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>Otto Landrum, while still at Torrey Pines High School. The alum will transfer to PLNU for the 2026-27 season. (Photo courtesy of Torrey Pines High School Basketball)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m getting back into the playing part of my rehab, just getting used to it before summer
starts,\u201d Landrum said.<\/p>\n

At Torrey Pines, Landrum was named the 2021\u201322 North County Coastal League Player of the Year after averaging 19 points and 11 rebounds per game. He also received All-CIF First Team and All-State Second Team honors. As a junior, he averaged 11.7 points and 7.4 rebounds, helping the team finish as state runner-up.<\/p>\n

Of his high school basketball career, Landrum called Nick Herrmann\u2019s game-winning 30-foot
heave at the buzzer in the 2021 CIF Open Division Section championship his favorite memory.<\/p>\n

The shot gave Torrey Pines an emotionally charged victory over rival Cathedral Catholic, which had beaten them in the same game the year before, and capped a storybook season for Herrmann, who had returned to the court after battling cancer \u2013 a season made all the more
poignant when Herrmann passed away<\/a> at age 20 after the disease returned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s probably the greatest memory I\u2019ll ever have in my entire life,\u201d Landrum said.<\/p>\n

A year after adding 12 new faces to the roster, PLNU is again rebuilding. Weeks removed from a 73-58 loss to Cal State East Bay in the SoCal Regional, the Sea Lions have already seen key contributors \u2013 Caden Harris, Jaden Matingou, Andrew Hommes and David Scariano \u2013 enter the transfer portal.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Getting Landrum is) huge in terms of his talent and size,\u201d Downer said. \u201cIt\u2019s not hard for us to get Division I transfers \u2013 we\u2019re at a place and location that\u2019s pretty appealing. What\u2019s harder is finding players who want to be part of something bigger than themselves. He said the things
that align with our program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Landrum singled out PLNU returner Andrew Nagy \u2013 another 6-foot-9 forward and the reigning PacWest Player of the Year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a beast. I\u2019m really excited,\u201d Landrum said. \u201cI love the two-big system. I grew in that system at BU, so I\u2019m used to it. Being able to play with somebody as good as him is going to be so much fun. I know how to mesh well with another big guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Downer added, \u201cPairing him with Andrew Nagy in the frontcourt gives us two of the most talented players in the league in one lineup \u2013 something different than we\u2019ve had in the past. We\u2019re excited to lean into that, using our size and ability in the paint to continue building on what we already have going.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After four winters in Boston, former Torrey Pines High School standout Otto Landrum is coming home \u2013 back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[4213,33029,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-260078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-college-basketball","tag-point-loma-nazarene-university","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}