Yakwe
- Thread starter RedStormNC
- Start date
beast of the east
Active member
Basketball is a funny game.
You wouldn't think it is possible for a promising player to go into a prolonged funk, but it happens.
You may recall that Jakarr Sampson was godawful for a good part of his final season at SJU, but did show signs of breaking out of it over the last part of the season. Still he was good enough to make an NBA roster.
My guess is we will see a Yakwe that more closely resembles the promise he showed during frosh season. When is anyone's guess.
You wouldn't think it is possible for a promising player to go into a prolonged funk, but it happens.
You may recall that Jakarr Sampson was godawful for a good part of his final season at SJU, but did show signs of breaking out of it over the last part of the season. Still he was good enough to make an NBA roster.
My guess is we will see a Yakwe that more closely resembles the promise he showed during frosh season. When is anyone's guess.
Ray Morgan
Well-known member
Sometimes when young players regress, there is something going on behind the scenes. I haven't heard or read about anything going on with Yakwe. Hopefully he has no family issues back home. Reggie Jessie regressed. I thought Burrell showed great promise that he didn't fulfill. although he always contributed. Most players get better, but there are exceptions.
Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to have him. Just concerned that if he does not turn out to be the immediate impact player that many of our unrealistic fans think he will be, then the kid will immediately get labeled a "disappointment". For every Moe Harkless and Marcus Lovett, there's a SirDom Pointer. Kids who take longer to have an impact. That holds true even more so with big men.
Talking to a fellow poster last night, he referenced fact that OSNA produces a lot of kids with athleticism, but not high in basic basketball skills. Felix, Yakwe & Obekpa, a very one dimensional player, seem to line up with that thinking. DIakite, our 18 recruit, is also very raw from what I hear. Additionally many OSNA kids are relatively new to the game. That means staff has a challenging job developing kids like Yakwe & that equates to time and patience to get there.
On related point, Saturday I attended a scrimmage between St. Anthony's of Jersey City & Fairfield Prep. Hurley's rep as a teacher & coach is well documented. His kids are so well instructed and learning to be basketball players. Yes, he has talented kids, but I was so impressed with their attention to detail running sets & executing defensively. Hurley spent a ton of time before the game running half court drills & boy did he have everyone's attention. I can't imagine too many kids, who can tolerate his hard nosed approach, leaving St. A's without the skills to be a "basketball player" at some level of college ball.
Coaster1955
Member
Like Mr. Frink from LIU (and St. A.), who killed us last weekend.
How about if St. John's hires Hurley, pays him $1mil/yr and donates $1mil to St. Anthony's to keep their doors open. We get a quality head coach and Hurley gets his wish of keeping St. Anthony's open. Costs us the same as we've been paying our two previous head coaches.
St. Anthony's was always our first scrimmage of the year in HS. Have said this before but more impressive than their talent was preparedness and approach to play that game like it was March. Energy, non-stop communication, attention to detail, precise execution on both ends of floor, all the things you mention. It wasn't just expected it was demanded by Hurley. In a scrimmage they could have mostly slept-walked and won by 20+.
Always stuck with me that this level of preparation, no matter summer workout, scrimmage, or premium game is what builds habits to the point where kids only know how to play the game one way, and when talent is equal (or perhaps in rare circumstances when a team is more talented than St. Anthony's) that can be the difference. Also generates consistency and protects against letdowns over long season. Seems so obvious but yet seems like there are so many teams at all levels where it's not a priority.
I might be in the minority but I don't think Yakwe is that far off the numbers I expected from him. In 22 mins per game he is averaging 4 pt and 4 rebounds per game. I wasn't expecting too much offense from him so if he can get his rebounding numbers up a bit (around 6 per game) I think he can be very productive for this team. We really don't need him to score, we need someone, anyone to rebound the damn ball!
Sanogo on Seton Hall is averaging 3 points and 6 rebounds per game in 24 minutes. I would take that from Yakwe.
Sanogo on Seton Hall is averaging 3 points and 6 rebounds per game in 24 minutes. I would take that from Yakwe.
I think the answer for us is to nix it up. We're not Kentucky so have to take a chance on a project or 2 . But have to mix it up w non projects. I was thinking about OSNA the other day and I came to the same conclusion. African imports ,, starting BB late. Raw w potential. The other problem we have now , that people have to take into consideration, is these projects aren't going to pan out until there Jr. year, if they do pan out.
we are sju
Active member
A lot easier to turn that light bulb on when you are 7-2 though.
I think the level of basketball skill that you need even if you are around 7'0 is underestimated. All the great big men where or are good basketball players. However, if you work hard and have reasonable coordination and conditioning you should be able to become a decent big man in college and have a shot to play somewhere professionally. You can't put Yawke in this category as he is only 6'7. At that height he needs to have either a high level of skill or basketball IQ. Jumping really high won't help if you don't know how to use it. It took Pointer until his senior year to really get it and I think he was way ahead of Yawke coming out of high school.
Class of 72
Active member
While that may be true of some Bigs, Yakwe is not a big but more of a 6'7 in shoes small forward who cannot shoot the ball. Against LIU I think he shot an air ball that was off by a foot from 15 feet. I am hoping like everyone here for that light bulb to go off but to compare his development to the great Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo is insane.
Forget his numbers as a sophomore which I believe was his first year of playing college basketball. You forget that another 6'10 240 lb center was on that Georgetown team by the name of Alonso Mourning. Zo just happened to have been the national player of the year in high school. Dikembe had the luxury of playing against Zo in practice every day that sophomore year. Yakwe's competition is Richard Freudenberg.
we are sju
Active member
Very good post. Probably lost a bunch of people with last sentence though. RF is Detlef Schrempf reincarnated. Or so I have been told.
I'm not as down on Obergruppenführer (note the umlauts) Freudenbergh as you seem to be. He looks to have the makings of a player, the game's just too fast for him at present. If he was on a real team he'd have time to adjust - to the game and to his adopted homeland. It's just unfortunate that we don't root for a real team.
Class of 72
Active member
I was being facetious regarding Richard. He is a true freshman and only 18. At 6'9 he has incredible room to grow physically but he has much better instincts and IQ than Amar. His shooting will improve once Mully actually teaches correct shooting form. Trust me, this kid will eventually be a 6'10 220 lb forward who will always be in the top 8 of the rotation regardless who we sign next year.
Yakwe's competition in practices is mainly Marvin Clark who is a man compared to young Yakwe. Marvin was schooled by one of the great coaches of our time and Yakwe should appreciate the luxury of competition that really poses no threat to his minutes this year. That air ball Sunday tells me his game being stagnant is all mental.