Yakwe Funk
- Thread starter paultzman
- Start date
I noticed that too on the FT. Lovett hit first shot, all others did usual slap five, and Yakwe seemed to leave him hanging, either intentional or just oblivious to the fact he was even in the game.
If I had to bet, my guess is he leaves at end of season and Diakite doesn't sign NLI.
I don't put this on staff. Yakwe is just not a basketball player.
Ray Morgan
Well-known member
I was referring to him playing against better players in game situations than last year, which hasn't happened. But I like your perspective as well. He may be getting discouraged in practice, or maybe feels he isn't getting enough touches on this guard-centric team, or maybe we are way off base and it's something else. He may be undersized for a PF, but his elite athleticism should offset that somewhat. I do not see a lot of fight in him under the basket. Not fighting for position is clearly a problem.
Ray Morgan
Well-known member
Until his senior season, most of us thought the same about Dom Pointer. So I'm not giving up hope just yet. More concerned that he gives up on SJU before we give up on him.
I know the handlers supposedly control the game now and that everything is AAU but that's not the case at Creighton yet. Patton was a four star recruit in Omaha and not only was Creighton the only program to offer him after his junior year, they signed him and convinced him to redshirt. Then they turned him into an NBA level player. But somehow I have a very strong feeling that he will be back next year. This wouldn't happen if he was playing in NY.
He is overmatched against who he is playing against and currently has no confidence..He is not nearly big enough to play center. The only way to get him time at the four, though, is to either sit Ahmed (who is better), or play three guards a heck of a lot less. And plenty of times when Ahmed has been out we have went four guards. Now that the mid-major part of the schedule is over that is never going to work with Yakwe.
I thought he looked better the three games before this when there were more opportunities to play him with Williams and/or Owens. That was possible because somebody was out injured and there were more minutes to be filled. If everyone remains healthy Mullin has to decide if he wants to play real small or not, and if he wants to play small maybe just bench Yakwe. I don't see how he has success playing against guys five inches taller than him, it is not like he has a perimeter game.
He is playing out of position
I thought he looked better the three games before this when there were more opportunities to play him with Williams and/or Owens. That was possible because somebody was out injured and there were more minutes to be filled. If everyone remains healthy Mullin has to decide if he wants to play real small or not, and if he wants to play small maybe just bench Yakwe. I don't see how he has success playing against guys five inches taller than him, it is not like he has a perimeter game.
He is playing out of position
we are sju
Active member
I agree for the most part but it still does not explain how he can no longer catch the ball. No one seems to remember this as an issue last year.
He has had opportunities to play the 4, but hasn't looked good there. No offensive game. Bash and even Williams are better options IMO. I never thought I would write this, but the way he has been playing lately, I don't know who would be better at the 4 him or Amar. Hopefully he will keep working hard and improve.
He's the 5th option on the floor. If he could develop a 15 foot jumper would help. Kid isn't skilled or experienced (yet) to be effective out of a pick & roll. Not too mention a lot of his scoring last year were off misses/put backs. We make a lot more this year & 95% of the offense is gonna go thru Lovett, Ponds, Ahmed and even Ellison. You can see Owens jumper becoming more effective. Why not YAKWE?
the hands are the biggest problem. For whatever reason our offense often runs through Owens or Yakwe at the top of the key or FT line/elbows. With the guys we've had including Sima, this has been problematic. McDermott in post game (compliment) called Sima's defection addition by subtraction and this is part of it. Owens hands have improved. Yakwe has not.
I've hated it from the start and then add in that we also get these same guys getting the ball out in the short corners where the options become dribbling or jump shot. The only times this has worked effectively is last night with Owens hitting I think 5 jumpshots from the short corners and during a couple of games where our passing was really good and we had them hitting cutters or kicking out for 3 pt shooters from the posts or FT line.
The skills here don't match our guys: Good hands, good handle. The one thing that I thought did work well with this offense, was the bigs diving from the FT line where all they gotta do is catch the ball and use their athleticism without any fancy post moves. But I think we've run that maybe three times all season with Yakwe. Despite last night I'm going to continue hating that shot from Owens I'd rather have some post presence and let our guards do the distance shooting. To his credit Owens has protected the ball pretty well and stopped doing that foot shuffle at the top of the key he was doing at the beginning of the season.
I've hated it from the start and then add in that we also get these same guys getting the ball out in the short corners where the options become dribbling or jump shot. The only times this has worked effectively is last night with Owens hitting I think 5 jumpshots from the short corners and during a couple of games where our passing was really good and we had them hitting cutters or kicking out for 3 pt shooters from the posts or FT line.
The skills here don't match our guys: Good hands, good handle. The one thing that I thought did work well with this offense, was the bigs diving from the FT line where all they gotta do is catch the ball and use their athleticism without any fancy post moves. But I think we've run that maybe three times all season with Yakwe. Despite last night I'm going to continue hating that shot from Owens I'd rather have some post presence and let our guards do the distance shooting. To his credit Owens has protected the ball pretty well and stopped doing that foot shuffle at the top of the key he was doing at the beginning of the season.
While we were all hoping for more, in fairness, if he were a freshmen (which he should be), would we be as critical?
Not sure what goes on in practice but, players as raw as he is need to be spoon fed a limited set of things to work on until they enjoy some success.
Still wondering what made him decide to move up a year....
Guess it was the handler telling him pro $ will come quicker (or getting to hang w/ Felix Balamou for a season).
Guess it was the handler telling him pro $ will come quicker (or getting to hang w/ Felix Balamou for a season).
JackofVirginia
Active member
As I previously posted regarding Owens short jumpers I don't mind this shot at all. Take a good look at his squaring up and rotation on the jumper. At the same time he pulls the center away from the basket, thus opening some cuts to the basket.
JackofVirginia
Active member
I have to believe he has to be nervous and as a result loses all focus on catching passes or even holding on to rebounds.
Fwiw, yakwe and sima used to sit on the same bench on campus, right outside of the D'Angelo Center, almost every morning and just talk. They seemed very close. Maybe that has something to do with it
Yawke chose us when we were in the complete toilet. Kid could of went somewhere else (most kids would off) . I don't remember him dogging it last year when we getting our doors blown off. He continued to compete. Sure he has his limitations. But he can block shots, can't argue that. But he seems to like St. John's and represents us well.
He played his butt off last year, out of position, didn't whine or bitch, just played hard as he could for us. By all accounts a greate teammate and representative of the university.
If he's forced to do too much, that's a reflection of the state of the program.
He is ~10 games into his sophomore year. And he averaged 7 ppg as a freshman. In what world does anyone do that and crap on the player? And year two he gets crapped on? Really??
Yawke was one kid on a crappy team last year that I could root for. He was better than expected the first half of last season , but wore down because he played out of position and had too much PT. He was a FRESHMEN. His progress, and that of SJU basketball, will improve as time goes by. He will develop into a good component with proper usage and good coaching.
How about some good words for our kids instead of degrading their efforts and abilities? For a guy who is foreign, a freshman, and never played center he did pretty well last season. He's an asset on this team, and by all accounts a good kid who represents us well on and off the court. So it's a bit puzzling that he's getting trashed. Kind of pathetic. He is a great kid who does not deserve this crap.
This anti-Mali crap has to stop. The kid came here and has been loyal to us, the least we could do is return his loyalty.
He played his butt off last year, out of position, didn't whine or bitch, just played hard as he could for us. By all accounts a greate teammate and representative of the university.
If he's forced to do too much, that's a reflection of the state of the program.
He is ~10 games into his sophomore year. And he averaged 7 ppg as a freshman. In what world does anyone do that and crap on the player? And year two he gets crapped on? Really??
Yawke was one kid on a crappy team last year that I could root for. He was better than expected the first half of last season , but wore down because he played out of position and had too much PT. He was a FRESHMEN. His progress, and that of SJU basketball, will improve as time goes by. He will develop into a good component with proper usage and good coaching.
How about some good words for our kids instead of degrading their efforts and abilities? For a guy who is foreign, a freshman, and never played center he did pretty well last season. He's an asset on this team, and by all accounts a good kid who represents us well on and off the court. So it's a bit puzzling that he's getting trashed. Kind of pathetic. He is a great kid who does not deserve this crap.
This anti-Mali crap has to stop. The kid came here and has been loyal to us, the least we could do is return his loyalty.