Yakwe Transferring

[quote="SLYFOXX1968" post=279730]Knight , you must be watching a different Yakwe than I saw for 3 Years . He was a overrated player out of High School . Poor hands, could not rebound , or play defense . Shooting ? Awful . He could jump high and once in a while blocked a shot but, all up not a BE Player . Throw in a lack of instinctive B.B. skills , like don’t foul a 3 point shooter with the game on the line vs Gtown . It’s ludicrous to think he had the game to develop . He was given every chance and couldn’t . Throwing the Coach and staff under the Bus for Yakwe’s lack of ability is clearly a Anti Team comment and part of the BS put out by a few naysayers who try and hijack this Board . Your comment aligns you with them .[/quote]

Sly-I thought he showed some promise as a freshman. He also had a few minutes in a game this season where he looked like he could play (rebound dunk play). Don't think he had the heart to work his way better.
 
[quote="SLYFOXX1968" post=279728]So you put Yakwe ‘s lack of development on the Staff ? You must be kidding ! A nice kid apparently but, he was clearly overrated coming out of HS . Had extremely poor hands that could not catch a Basketball and except for the occasional blocked shot , was a poor rebounder, defender and could not develop even the most elementary of shooting techniques . That , plus , a inability to grasp basketball fundamentals , fouling the Gtown shooter on a failed 3 point attempt , cost us that game . I put your assessment of the Coaching staffs as a reason for Yakwe transferring in the deep six of nonsense comments . He was never a player of BE ability .[/quote]

It was certainly not a smart play by Yakwe to foul Derrickson behind the arc, but who else would blame for the Georgetown loss that day? Remember, we had a three point lead and could've fouled Georgetown before allowing Derrickson to hit a game-tying trey in regulation.
 
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[quote="SJU85" post=279708][quote="Class of 72" post=279697][quote="MJDinkins" post=279692][quote="SJU14" post=279688][quote="MJDinkins" post=279670][quote="Adam" post=279668][quote="MJDinkins" post=279660][quote="Adam" post=279655]Generally teams have 2-3 transfers a year I think, so hopefully this is it.[/quote]

Really? Where did you calculate those numbers?[/quote]

There's 700-800+ transfers per year and 351 D1 programs, so average would be right in that range.[/quote]

I thought that amount happened a season ago. That wasn't actually the norm, if I'm not mistaken.

I can't count 2-3 per year transferring from any conference teams. It may have happened in a given year, but it isn't the norm.[/quote]

750+ has been the norm for 3-4 years now, unfortunately. Check the link I posted on the previous page of this thread.[/quote]

Okay.... I wasn't sure it had been that long, so I stand corrected. To say each team is losing 2-3 kids a year to the transfer game sounds off, though. I can't recall any team in the Big East who has recently lost 2-3 kids to transfer a year.[/quote]

2-3 seems the norm for schools in the bottom 266 of D1 schools and I'm sure D2 schools have a high number. The top 50 schools rarely lose more than 2 players.
Players leave for many reasons and transfer to schools they feel will give them a better opportunity. In our case, we seem to run the gamut of reasons. Transfers, early signing with European teams, grad transfers and a decommit. We have the worst turnover rate of any school in the Big East over the past two seasons.
Last season we lost 5 players that could have continued to be on the team and this season we will have lost (including Wilson) 4 to date. God forbid we lose Trimble or Ponds that would be another five.
No matter how we spin the reasons that's NINE players in two seasons. That is an obscene number and points to a serious problem with the staff's relationship with its players and vice versa.
I don't think we lost more than 5 players over Lavin's entire 5 years as coach. I'm sure someone will research the actual numbers and show Lavin lost 6 players per year.[/quote]


Off the top of my head, under Lavin we lost Polee, Lyndsay, Harkless (since people are going to include Ponds on this list if he leaves early to go pro, we have to include Harkless let alone we also lost Mussini and Freudenberg who went back home to go pro) and Garrett. I am not a betting man, but if someone actually looks it up, it might turn out to be more than five 72. However your point is taken.[/quote]
Come on, 85. Can't lump Harkless and Garrett (and Ponds, if it happens) leaving the program to pursue legitimate pro careers (i.e., not pipe dreams) with those who transferred out because they were dissatisfied with either the program or their playing time.
 
SLYFOXX1968 wrote: So you put Yakwe ‘s lack of development on the Staff ? You must be kidding ! A nice kid apparently but, he was clearly overrated coming out of HS . Had extremely poor hands that could not catch a Basketball and except for the occasional blocked shot , was a poor rebounder, defender and could not develop even the most elementary of shooting techniques . That , plus , a inability to grasp basketball fundamentals , fouling the Gtown shooter on a failed 3 point attempt , cost us that game . I put your assessment of the Coaching staffs as a reason for Yakwe transferring in the deep six of nonsense comments . He was never a player of BE ability .

Take a look at Yakwe's freshman year highlights as set forth on the SJU website. All freshman Big East team and many other very impressive stats. He clearly had BE ability that for some reason regressed. A puzzle as to what happened, but foolish and unnecessary to denigrate this kid's talent on the way out.
 
I think Yakwe is a great player, and was frustrated staff refused to play him. When he played, he played very well. He’ll be an asset for any major conf team. I blame staff on this one.
 
Our staff didn’t ruin him at all. Bad hands, became less aggressive. All he needed to do was be a rebounding monster and he never did. I don’t fault him. Great kid and I hope he has a great next stop. I do think Diakite will be an upgrade. Taller, more skills, more range, same athleticism. He’s had a ton of time rehabbing the knee and seems to have no ill effects from the video. This is not an ACL that effects the stability of the knee. Patellar tendon tear a big injury, but he should be ok after this amount of time.
 
[quote="SLYFOXX1968" post=279728]So you put Yakwe ‘s lack of development on the Staff ? You must be kidding ! A nice kid apparently but, he was clearly overrated coming out of HS . Had extremely poor hands that could not catch a Basketball and except for the occasional blocked shot , was a poor rebounder, defender and could not develop even the most elementary of shooting techniques . That , plus , a inability to grasp basketball fundamentals , fouling the Gtown shooter on a failed 3 point attempt , cost us that game . I put your assessment of the Coaching staffs as a reason for Yakwe transferring in the deep six of nonsense comments . He was never a player of BE ability .[/quote]

This is Mullin recruiting:

 
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[quote="SLYFOXX1968" post=279730]Knight , you must be watching a different Yakwe than I saw for 3 Years . He was a overrated player out of High School . Poor hands, could not rebound , or play defense . Shooting ? Awful . He could jump high and once in a while blocked a shot but, all up not a BE Player . Throw in a lack of instinctive B.B. skills , like don’t foul a 3 point shooter with the game on the line vs Gtown . It’s ludicrous to think he had the game to develop . He was given every chance and couldn’t . Throwing the Coach and staff under the Bus for Yakwe’s lack of ability is clearly a Anti Team comment and part of the BS put out by a few naysayers who try and hijack this Board . Your comment aligns you with them .[/quote]

Whatever you are smoking, pass it over to me!

 
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[quote="Redmen07" post=279750]I think Yakwe is a great player, and was frustrated staff refused to play him. When he played, he played very well. He’ll be an asset for any major conf team. I blame staff on this one.[/quote]

Actually, if you scroll back on redmen.com, yakwe was getting all types of abuse on here during our 11 game losing streak. In this period i spoke to one if our coaches who said he had lost all confidence and they continually were pointing out the good things he was doing on defense, boxing out, etc, and were trying to get him on track. I pointed that out on here.

He got hurt and i think that basically stopped any progress he was making and he never recovered. He is certainly not a great player but a great kid who hopefully will find more minutes in a mid major program.
 
[quote="Beast of the East" post=279757][quote="Redmen07" post=279750]I think Yakwe is a great player, and was frustrated staff refused to play him. When he played, he played very well. He’ll be an asset for any major conf team. I blame staff on this one.[/quote]

Actually, if you scroll back on redmen.com, yakwe was getting all types of abuse on here during our 11 game losing streak. In this period i spoke to one if our coaches who said he had lost all confidence and they continually were pointing out the good things he was doing on defense, boxing out, etc, and were trying to get him on track. I pointed that out on here.

He got hurt and i think that basically stopped any progress he was making and he never recovered. He is certainly not a great player but a great kid who hopefully will find more minutes in a mid major program.[/quote]

This mid major kid started 16 of 26 games as a freshman. As a sophomore he started 30 of 33 games. He averaged over 20 minutes per game playing inside. He was the team's best shot blocker those two years.
He was written off as a player by that coach you may have spoken to this past season when the coaches decided to go with a 3 guard offense and only Bashir Ahmed and Marvin Clark up front. Even with the loss of Marcus LoVett the staff went with Owens who played on the perimeter and had no inside game or ability to defend inside.
This was evident during the losing streak and I sensed his unhappiness and thought he would leave. Near the end of the season a perfectly healthy Kassoum was embarrassed by the coaches by being glued to the bench while walk ons got into games.
The kid sure as hell lost confidence but the staff did its best to destroy what little was left in the final two weeks of the season by treating him as a persona non grata. Best of luck to an excellent student who just happened to need good basketball teachers and not student teachers finding their way.

URL]
[/quote]
 
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[quote="Redmen07" post=279750]I think Yakwe is a great player, and was frustrated staff refused to play him. When he played, he played very well. He’ll be an asset for any major conf team. I blame staff on this one.[/quote]

Before we moved to 114 you and storm tracker sat in front of us. Which one of you wore the number 20 jersey to all the games?
 
Yakwe is a good kid , great teammate and played hard. To bad he couldn’t catch a basketball ( that’s right it’s Mullins fault he has hands of stone). Best of luck to him.
 
A four star recruit who was ranked just inside the top 100 signed with us. We beat out Kansas, Oregon, Louisville, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Villanova to get him.

Yay!!!

Exciting news. Add in that this player would turn out to be an excellent student and never made waves or problems. He also was one of the better shot blockers to play for St. John's and by all reports was an excellent team mate. This really should have been a person whose time here was celebrated.

Well you can look at Yakwe's time at St. John's how you want, but I see the cup half full part. Sometimes players don't fill the hype of their recruitment ratings but if they come here and display integrity that works for me.

Good Luck to Kassoum and I hope his future in whatever path that takes is bright.


[URL][URL]http://www.espn.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/172522/kassoum-yakwe[/URL][/URL]

[URL][URL]https://www.rumbleinthegarden.com/2018/4/5/17203496/st-johns-kassoum-yakwe-transfer[/URL][/URL]
 
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[quote="Danny Noonan" post=279771]Yakwe is a good kid , great teammate and played hard. To bad he couldn’t catch a basketball ( that’s right it’s Mullins fault he has hands of stone). Best of luck to him.[/quote]

Actually this is Mullin’s fault if you missed it:
"He took far fewer shots as the Johnnies played a faster pace and did not run post up plays for him."
It is going to be hard getting a decent big when you don't design anything resembling an inside game.
It's fun watching a run and gun game but not so much if that game leads always to the bottom of the conference barrel.
 
[quote="Class of 72" post=279765][quote="Beast of the East" post=279757][quote="Redmen07" post=279750]I think Yakwe is a great player, and was frustrated staff refused to play him. When he played, he played very well. He’ll be an asset for any major conf team. I blame staff on this one.[/quote]

Actually, if you scroll back on redmen.com, yakwe was getting all types of abuse on here during our 11 game losing streak. In this period i spoke to one if our coaches who said he had lost all confidence and they continually were pointing out the good things he was doing on defense, boxing out, etc, and were trying to get him on track. I pointed that out on here.

He got hurt and i think that basically stopped any progress he was making and he never recovered. He is certainly not a great player but a great kid who hopefully will find more minutes in a mid major program.[/quote]

This mid major kid started 16 of 26 games as a freshman. As a sophomore he started 30 of 33 games. He averaged over 20 minutes per game playing inside. He was the team's best shot blocker those two years.
He was written off as a player by that coach you may have spoken to this past season when the coaches decided to go with a 3 guard offense and only Bashir Ahmed and Marvin Clark up front. Even with the loss of Marcus LoVett the staff went with Owens who played on the perimeter and had no inside game or ability to defend inside.
This was evident during the losing streak and I sensed his unhappiness and thought he would leave. Near the end of the season a perfectly healthy Kassoum was embarrassed by the coaches by being glued to the bench while walk ons got into games.
The kid sure as hell lost confidence but the staff did its best to destroy what little was left in the final two weeks of the season by treating him as a persona non grata. Best of luck to an excellent student who just happened to need good basketball teachers and not student teachers finding their way.

URL]
[/quote][/quote]

I suspect there was more to it that the staff just writing Yakwe off. The fact that he played virtually no minutes in February and March (indeed the staff played a walkon over him) suggests some issue.
 
[quote="Redmen07" post=279750]I think Yakwe is a great player, and was frustrated staff refused to play him. When he played, he played very well. He’ll be an asset for any major conf team. I blame staff on this one.[/quote]

Great player? Played very well? Did you watch the games at all the past two seasons?
 
[quote="OLV72" post=279767][quote="Redmen07" post=279750]I think Yakwe is a great player, and was frustrated staff refused to play him. When he played, he played very well. He’ll be an asset for any major conf team. I blame staff on this one.[/quote]

Before we moved to 114 you and storm tracker sat in front of us. Which one of you wore the number 20 jersey to all the games?[/quote]

Yes, i remember old 116 well! I was the one always wearing the Mullin jersey. I sit in section 110 now. Would be nice to catchup next season. Despite my comments, im optimistic for this season as long as Ponds returns, just concerned long term.
 
[quote="Class of 72" post=279774][quote="Danny Noonan" post=279771]Yakwe is a good kid , great teammate and played hard. To bad he couldn’t catch a basketball ( that’s right it’s Mullins fault he has hands of stone). Best of luck to him.[/quote]

Actually this is Mullin’s fault if you missed it:
"He took far fewer shots as the Johnnies played a faster pace and did not run post up plays for him."
It is going to be hard getting a decent big when you don't design anything resembling an inside game.
It's fun watching a run and gun game but not so much if that game leads always to the bottom of the conference barrel.[/quote]

In order to draw up a play for Yakwe it would have to be a running play. Power Right? Only way to get him the ball would be a handoff.
 
[quote="Class of 72" post=279774][quote="Danny Noonan" post=279771]Yakwe is a good kid , great teammate and played hard. To bad he couldn’t catch a basketball ( that’s right it’s Mullins fault he has hands of stone). Best of luck to him.[/quote]

Actually this is Mullin’s fault if you missed it:
"He took far fewer shots as the Johnnies played a faster pace and did not run post up plays for him."
It is going to be hard getting a decent big when you don't design anything resembling an inside game.
It's fun watching a run and gun game but not so much if that game leads always to the bottom of the conference barrel.[/quote]

You are a joke sir. Guys like you make this site Nauseating. We all know your disdain for Mullin as a coach, you are broken record. At one time I respected your input/opinion. Now you have become 75+ year old troll.
 
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