Akinjo Ready

[Huskymagic]

James Akinjo Ready To Take On Challenges For UConn Men

 

[SirHypeAlot]

He's a stud

 

[NowInStorrs]

That article gets me pretty excited. I hope that incoming class jumps in and can make an impact.

 

[UConnSwag11]

“Obviously, they have great chemistry, I feel like they have a good team,” Akinjo said. “They just need to buy in a little bit more and do things with guards. I can help them replace other people, be one of the scorers on the team. I can come in and add my scoring and my defensive ability as well, my toughness and my defense. I feel I can fit in really well.”

it's nice to hear a player come in with confidence and say what he brings and what he can do. Haven't had that since, Bazz?

 

[Guapo]

Gahh I really like him.

Please just stay healthy once you get here.

 

[pj]

He's a stud who has good chemistry with KO.

This is the upside of KO as a coach. If KO can fix his weaknesses he can be a great coach. It's really hard to evaluate him with the limited roster we have now (yes, I know that's his responsibility, but hopefully they have fixed recruiting and S&C/nutrition).

 

[Hoophound]

If KO wants to succeed, he needs an old school, X and O assistant sitting right next to him. I hate to shuffle staff too often but he's got to get humble, get the helper that he needs and listen to him. Any team with Jalen Adams and Terry Larrier should be well above average. These guys are better players than we are seeing. I'd be happy to bring in Akinjo so KO has a true PG to work with and see what happens, but he's got to bring in a tough, no nonsense czar to help him with offense and defense.

 

[uc1990]

He's a stud who has good chemistry with KO.

This is the upside of KO as a coach. If KO can fix his weaknesses he can be a great coach. It's really hard to evaluate him with the limited roster we have now (yes, I know that's his responsibility, but hopefully they have fixed recruiting and S&C/nutrition).

absolutely correct PJ! Need more people posting about the positives. 2 years without your 5 star point guard... isn't fair to trash his coaching skills brutally like people do on here all the time. Not saying he doesn't have lots of work to do on his coaching, he certainly does but he has lots of positives that are so overlooked on here. These young men are student athletes and will be better people when they leave Uconn because of his work with them.

 

[Bagel&Cheese]

Nice article on the kid. Sounds like Ollie was a big reason he's coming to UConn. Let's see what happens if/when Ollie is let go at the end of the year.

 

[AntG168]

Nice article on the kid. Sounds like Ollie was a big reason he's coming to UConn. Let's see what happens if/when Ollie is let go at the end of the year.

If we bring in a big time coach we’ll keep him

 

[Jimdish255]

Really like the guys we have coming in. The 3 mentioned could probably get minutes right now if they were here.

 

[uc1990]

If KO wants to succeed, he needs an old school, X and O assistant sitting right next to him. I hate to shuffle staff too often but he's got to get humble, get the helper that he needs and listen to him. Any team with Jalen Adams and Terry Larrier should be well above average. These guys are better players than we are seeing. I'd be happy to bring in Akinjo so KO has a true PG to work with and see what happens, but he's got to bring in a tough, no nonsense czar to help him with offense and defense.

I agree needs help with X and o. With the NC team he had great plays coming out of timeouts...Maybe they matched the players he had? Or did glen miller call those plays? He certainly hasn't been sucessful with the team last year and this year.
On the surface I say Jalen and Larrier should win you a lot of games but especially Larrier they don't play defense well enough to stop any team. Bad teams look like good teams and average teams look like great teams because they don't know how to defend.

 

[UConnSwag11]

He's a stud who has good chemistry with KO.

This is the upside of KO as a coach. If KO can fix his weaknesses he can be a great coach. It's really hard to evaluate him with the limited roster we have now (yes, I know that's his responsibility, but hopefully they have fixed recruiting and S&C/nutrition).

agreed. It is on him for a majority of it but I do feel there are other things that are going on or have happened behind the scenes that he can't control. He really hasn't had a team of consistent players for 2-3 years in a row to grow individually and together

 

[itgoeslike]

I like what I read. He sees himself as a difference maker. I hope he achieves his vision.

 

[uc1990]

If we bring in a big time coach we’ll keep him

Your not firing Ollie and getting a big time coach. No big time coach wants to come to a place that will fire a former player and big time coaching prospect every year for the NBA because he didn't make the tournament with half his team injured. Firing Ollie will make our program "irrelevant" as people like to say about what Ollie is doing to our program. Our conference is what makes us irrelevant game by game.(hopefully that will change) Our history won't change and it will always make us relevant(thank you Jim Calhoun)There will always be players that want to bring Uconn back to its greatness because that is what our history is.

P.S. The only big time coach I know of that doesn't have a coaching job is Calhoun.

 

[Dove]

Is he a HS point guard who will be a college 2-guard? Or will he be a bonafide point guard here?

 

[jibsey]

Nice article on the kid. Sounds like Ollie was a big reason he's coming to UConn. Let's see what happens if/when Ollie is let go at the end of the year.

As good as this kid may be, if KO goes and he goes too then so be it. We need long term good coaching.

 

[Kemba429]

I have a feeling that if this kid still comes here next year, hes gonna be one of my favorites. Great game and he actually wants to help out unlike some of our past recruits..

 

[AdamaNation]

If we bring in a big time coach we’ll keep him

We won’t and he won’t.

 

[AdamaNation]

I agree needs help with X and o. With the NC team he had great plays coming out of timeouts...Maybe they matched the players he had? Or did glen miller call those plays? He certainly hasn't been sucessful with the team last year and this year.
On the surface I say Jalen and Larrier should win you a lot of games but especially Larrier they don't play defense well enough to stop any team. Bad teams look like good teams and average teams look like great teams because they don't know how to defend.

In fact remember how highly rated Ollie’s teams were at scoring out of the time outs? They used to rave about him being one of the best in the country. We used to have shooters and scorers.

 

[Hoophound]

I agree needs help with X and o. With the NC team he had great plays coming out of timeouts...Maybe they matched the players he had? Or did glen miller call those plays? He certainly hasn't been sucessful with the team last year and this year.
On the surface I say Jalen and Larrier should win you a lot of games but especially Larrier they don't play defense well enough to stop any team. Bad teams look like good teams and average teams look like great teams because they don't know how to defend.

That's the key. Adams and Larrier are great athletes. There is no reason for them to struggle defensively, it is coaching.

 

[mauconnfan]

That's the key. Adams and Larrier are great athletes. There is no reason for them to struggle defensively, it is coaching.

It's only coaching because he doesn't sit them, reprimand their butts like JC. It's on them they don't put in the effort to be as good as they can be every second they are on the floor. They only "struggle" because of lack of effort not because they don't know how to play defense. Not sure who they talk to or if they even listen to anyone but those they are trying to show off for are taking notice and it's not pretty for now I am pretty sure.

 

[pj]

It's only coaching because he doesn't sit them, reprimand their butts like JC. It's on them they don't put in the effort to be as good as they can be every second they are on the floor. They only "struggle" because of lack of effort not because they don't know how to play defense. Not sure who they talk to or if they even listen to anyone but those they are trying to show off for are taking notice and it's not pretty for now I am pretty sure.

It's on the coach if he doesn't know how to induce effort. They want to be NBA pros but they don't connect the sacrifice in this moment to that long-term success. They need an authority to make near-term rewards and punishments that they can respond to, in order to act in the way that will generate the long-term rewards. They'll be grateful later to the coach who paves the road to the NBA for them.

If we restrict our team to players who have the long-term planning and discipline to work hard for a reward that may never come and that is years away at best, we will have no players. But many players will work to please their coach and secure playing time today and tomorrow. KO has to use those motivating factors.

 

[mauconnfan]

It's on the coach if he doesn't know how to induce effort. They want to be NBA pros but they don't connect the sacrifice in this moment to that long-term success. They need an authority to make near-term rewards and punishments that they can respond to, in order to act in the way that will generate the long-term rewards. They'll be grateful later to the coach who paves the road to the NBA for them.

I can't agree on that, a 21 year old and 22-23 year old with visions of grandeur not listening or choosing not to listen. I agree he needs to punish them and why he doesn't is amazing to me, they miss defensive assignments enough that JC would have corralled both of them by now mutiple times and that face coming off the court would have scared them s**tless.. But the reality is what you ended up with here are 2 guys who aren't UConn type basketball players. The pride you expect them to come in is not in them right now, they are about "me" and that's it. Can you change that at this point of their careers? I think they have a tough time looking in the mirror thinking about their "team" quite honestly.

They both think no one is noticing since their team is being hammered the last 2 -3 games but they are mistaken. They elect to be who they are now, not a good sign for any other coach in the future as they already are what they will be, underachievers. I know a lot of you say "well the team stinks, they have no one around them" blah blah blah. They don't pay hard enough period. They a re major part of the whole problem and we need less players like this.

 

[superjohn]

World according to Mau- Criticize all the players, even saying nasty things about them and you are a great fan. Criticize the coach and you are a horrible fan and you root for Uconn to lose.