Akok: Does anyone have any true insight into why he was so buried on the bench recently?

[Fishy]

He's nowhere near the physical presence Whaley was and he's not exactly built solid which makes him injury prone I fear. Tremendous skills and upside though. We'll see.

He’s more talented than Whaley and might be 10-15 pounds lighter.

Think you overstated the difference there.

 

[Rico444]

Go watch the highlights from the Xavier game, Akok looked great, actually much better on offense than he ever looked prior to the injury. And he looked very mobile as well. Perhaps he overdid it, but he certainly looked like a guy who could contribute this season.

People keep saying this, but in reality we're talking about 3 plays that he made. Two of them were catch and shoot 3s where he was left wide open, and the 3rd one he was wide open again and his defender closed on him so quickly that he had no chance once Akok drove towards the basket.

If you watched him play defense at all this year it's clear that he didn't look anything close to his old self. He consistently got beat at the rim when he was in the game, something that almost never happened last year.

 

[HooperScooper]

It should be obvious to anyone paying attention in the past several weeks that he has been completely detached, he sits alone, looks disinterested, looks depressed. He certainly doesn’t look like he feels like he’s a part of this team. This is so unlike him. Something isn’t right. That’s my straight, unfiltered observation. Something’s definitely not right.

A few comments to that.

First, Hurley did say that Akok wants to play but Hurley didn't think he was ready and wants him to be able to play next season because that's when he'll be ready. So even if Akok agrees with that, I'm sure he's pretty bummed he's not been able to play because he wanted to.

When Akok got to UConn there was talk about playing 2 seasons and going to the NBA. Anytime you have expectations that aren't met, there has to be disappointment in that. Maybe that realization was starting to set in.

When Akok visited UConn and went to games I remember people commenting that he didn't look like he was having a good time. His coach explained that was just the way Akok was. Very stoic. Although I'll admit he did seem to be more engaged when he was on the bench last season.

Hurley is going to have to give Akok some love this offseason and get him motivated for next season.

 

[husky429]

This has to be a joke.

That if you put 88 in usernames it's code for neo-nazis? Nah.

That I belong to a group that doxxes neo nazis? Also nah. I haven't done anything in a while though. I have a couple friends that are still quite active.

 

[jibsey]

He’s more talented than Whaley and might be 10-15 pounds lighter.

Think you overstated the difference there.

He broke like a toothpick.

 

[Fishy]

He broke like a toothpick.

Oh, god, that is stupid.

That if you put 88 in usernames it's code for neo-nazis? Nah.

That I belong to a group that doxxes neo nazis? Also nah. I haven't done anything in a while though. I have a couple friends that are still quite active.

Oh, god, that is stupid.

 

[businesslawyer]

Oh, god, that is stupid.


Oh, god, that is stupid.

Yes. Let's just leave white supremacists alone to do their thing. What could go wrong?

 

[superjohn]

It should be obvious to anyone paying attention in the past several weeks that he has been completely detached, he sits alone, looks disinterested, looks depressed. He certainly doesn’t look like he feels like he’s a part of this team. This is so unlike him. Something isn’t right. That’s my straight, unfiltered observation. Something’s definitely not right.

This sounds exactly like what people were saying when UConn was recruiting him and he would go to our games. "He ain't coming here, he looks depressed."

By the way, he was smiling and laughing his butt off with his teammates at the shoot around before the tournament game.

 

[Fishy]

Yes. Let's just leave white supremacists alone to do their thing. What could go wrong?

Oh, I’m sure a bunch of keyboard warriors looking for 88s is totally handling that for us.

Moronic.

 

[CTBballfan243]

Why do we have to keep talking about this? We’ll see him next year

He tore his Achilles and wasn’t physically ready to play. Not really a mystery.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

He's nowhere near the physical presence Whaley was and he's not exactly built solid which makes him injury prone I fear. Tremendous skills and upside though. We'll see.

I definitely agree. My hope is that he can make up for the lack of strength with his length and athleticism. His athleticism (if healthy of course) could help with the pick and roll defense. His shooting ability can make him a better compliment to Sanogo as well. It's going to be a long offseason.

 

[Psolo12]

Just a possibility, maybe Akok wasn't jumping for joy during the game because we were losing/not playing well? Jesus you guys will jump on anything.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

I think anyone with a competitive nature would have been angry sitting there in the stands watching while his/her teammates were missing layup after layup in the NCAA tourney. If DH didn't set the right expectations for Akok, that's an issue but I can't imagine they didn't speak about playing time going into the BE and NCAA tournaments.

I think a lot of us saw a 10 second video of him going around Carlton for a dunk and figured 'he's back' but in reality it's a brutal injury and the fact that he saw the court at all this year is a small miracle IMO.