James Akinjo Leaving Georgetown

[MattMang23]

UNC. But I am taking the Dark horse South Carolina to make the final four.

Sucks we have to wait until March to find out.

 

[CL82]

Purely speculating but what if Ewing in a practice session said to Akinjo the following: “your mother if she was alive would not be proud of your effort out there JAMES!” Or something along those lines. Not completely horrendous but maybe he took it badly. If this is in fact true, yes come to Connecticut.

or maybe something like 'I don't want to hear excuses, save them for your mothers', or something along those lines. We still don't know what was said. But the way the releases were announced seems calculated. If not Georgetown needs to get out in front of this by announcing that Akinjo's release was unrelated to criminal matter under involving other players and that Akinjo is under no discipline whatsoever from the Georgetown.

 

[intlzncster]

People thought us firing Ollie was hard. Picture being GT and having to fire PATRICK EWING.....

Makes it a lot easier if he played kids who robbed, threatened and assaulted(?) chicks.

 

[CL82]

Even a year ago I’d have agreed with you. But the NCAA has really done a 180 on transfers since then.

Have they allowed mid-year transfers? None that I’ve heard of. But based on the trend they’ve been taking, I’m getting the feeling they'll allow Akinjo to be the first.

They kind of flipped back, at least somewhat. Evina Westbrook (Univ of Tenn transfer to UConn) was not allowed to play this year for women's team notwithstanding some serious circumstances.

 

[CL82]

People thought us firing Ollie was hard. Picture being GT and having to fire PATRICK EWING.....

Ollies' firing wasn't hard so much as Ollie's representation launching into a smear campaign in the hopes that UConn would cave and pony up $10M that wasn't owed under his contract. If Ewing leaves graciously, it will barely be a blip.

(Now we just need a post about Vance and then his dad and we can wrap this thread.)

 

[gtcam]

Your point was he didn't have an eye for talent. The fact he couldn't get too much of the really high end recruits I pointed out also so I agree. But as far as finding "talent" in the 175-250 rankings he did have a n eye for that. You didn't ask me to exemplify where we should've been now did you? You simply said he had no eye for talent. Simpy put he's proven otherwise on that narrative.

Enough about Ollie no matter. Not sure why people need to bring him up to make themselves feel better about where we are now?

Couldn't agree with you more
JA was a damn good player as were others and he did a lot of the recruiting for JC
KO has an eye for talent - the question was/is the development factor - he also surrounded himself with suspect assistants (development wise)
DH has the advantage now of the NBE - if he was still destined for the AAC you can wonder if some of the players he has signed would have if not heading to the NBE. He also will have an issue getting the really high end recruits with P5 money in play
I agree - enough KO - he gets brought up by the same clowns looking for likes and laughs from thos who think like them
I happen to know KO, like him as a person greatly and will defend him to that point
Let's enjoy what we have right now and going forward for UConn

 

[krinklecut]

Considering 2 of the 3 people in the police statements are still there, it's not unreasonable to think this had nothing to do with an ongoing legal matter.

Akinjo and LeBlanc could have both had issues with PE and decided to leave together. Meanwhile, all this stuff comes out. Just a thought.

 

[FatHank]

Wow, not a good look for Ewing if this turns out to be the case. View attachment 48788

Nuts. After reading about 200 comments on the Hoya board, folks are looking for accountability from the school on all this stuff. If this is tacked on to the two dismissals, man, Ewing is in a terrible mess.

 

[the Q]

Seriously? Waivers aren't voted on by the public. The NCAA doesn't make decisions based on what decisions are discussed on bulletin boards based on the PR.

see Fields, Josh

 

[Towney007]

Reality mau, is that you don't really want any of those guys starting on a good UConn team. They are all role players. We need Bouknight level players. Now that's evaluating talent.

And pre injury, everybody knew Gilbert was really good. He was an AA for god sake.

Yeah I'm not much for Ollie's 'eye for talent' either. I mean while Hurley seems to be getting every drop out of these guys that he possibly can - they're almost all deeply flawed players. Carlton can't finish at the rim and just refuses to realize that he is, in fact - a very large man. Vital is a super plucky, fun shooter who can get into lanes, steal and generate turnovers with a high motor. But he's also got the basketball IQ of a grapefruit (I weirdly love him for that, too). Polley's a good spot shooter - but he's not that athletic and completely disappears at times. Whaley has evolved into an ok-ish bench piece, but I really don't know what else is in there and rough stuff is that it'd be hard for him to make a really good UConn team.

Gilbert was a McDonald's All American, so I'm not sure i'd count that.

Ollie's real flaw though - was just a general inability to manage the nuts and bolts of a program and deal with the administrative/management of the program. Surrounding yourself with good assistants and trusting in them. Connecting with alumni. Leveraging assets like Calhoun. Round-the-clock attitude towards recruiting. Having support pieces in place to help develop guys. Keeping an eye on compliance stuff. Like w/ his NCAA violations - I never looked at them as him ever doing something intentionally sinister but rather him just being a disorganized, aloof mess. All the other problems directly stemmed from that

Countless guys totally plateau'd under him and there were guys I feel like - that even when they were good - I couldn't help but feel like we could have gotten more out of them. The 2015 team should have been much better. 2016 should have been much better. I always think and wonder what life would be like had Dan Hurley had guys like Facey, Calhoun, Purvis and Gibbs.

Then there was the day-to-day doting over the guys that you kind of have to do. "Hey dummy, did you get into the weight room today?" That kind of stuff. Just so many little things that I feel like just got away from him.

Then from a mental approach, I heard a lot from people that we was too much like the brawny NBA journeyman vet taking rookies under his wing than he was as the father figure/tough love figure that you usually need at the college level. Too much 'lets be friends' than 'let me teach you.' But. That's what he knew, so it's not surprising.

But overall the guy just wasn't really ready to lead a program of this caliber. Lacked the management skill, didn't really understand the energy and effort it took behind the scenes, didn't have much of a taste for details of the day to day, and generally lacked the feel for managing college kids. He was just a bad fit.

A bad person? Eh - the lawsuit pissed me off. But whatever. I think he's a pretty good dude. Just in no way ready for this level of basketball. Had enough to fake it and even contribute in year-1 and year-2, but the further we got away from JC, the more layers of the onion peeled back and we got what we got.

 

[mauconnfan]

Reality mau, is that you don't really want any of those guys starting on a good UConn team. They are all role players. We need Bouknight level players. Now that's evaluating talent.

And pre injury, everybody knew Gilbert was really good. He was an AA for god sake.

I'm not saying starting at all but they all have some game to offer a deep program. I admitted he didn't do a good job with high end recruits although he did have some misfortune there too, but he had an eye for talent nonetheless..

 

[Tuna]

He’s not going transfer and give up a prime season leading a P5 team just because a few of his teammates are apparently in big trouble. He’s not named in any of the docs so far, but he’s likely too close to the heat/worried about potential legal exposure to stick around.

If he was studying in the library while his teammates were out doing these alleged acts I doubt he’d be jumping in the transfer portal the day it becomes public.

Is there anything worse than people speaking authoritatively on things they know nothing about?

 

[ZenConn]

Took a look at this stats for the first time the other day and was really struck at how much worse he's gotten since his freshman year. I really figured that worst case he could just settle in as a spot-up three point shooter but it seems that he wants to be the guy and hasn't quite realized that is just not his game right now.

For what it's worth, I think KO was right. He needed to work on everything - ie. "Hit the gym."

 

[DonaldDraper]

Nuts. After reading about 200 comments on the Hoya board, folks are looking for accountability from the school on all this stuff. If this is tacked on to the two dismissals, man, Ewing is in a terrible mess.

As he should be. If you don’t put a full night sleep between press releases on a #metoo + assault and restraining order transfer and a player personality issue transfer then you deserve what comes to you.

Pros have agents with press shops to handle this. Akinjo is 19 and has his aunt’s twitter feed. If Akinjo had nothing to do with the other stuff it is a total sham that he got bruised with this association on his way out.

The only other side I can think of is if he was somehow associated but in a non-police report type of way and he needed to leave but they didn’t want him to get implicated further.

In any case there needs to be more accountability for the schools actions. Maybe Akinjo commits to Gonzaga quick and uses their press team to clean this up.

 

[ctchamps]

We also don’t go after him because of the Big East rules that we agreed to abide by when we signed to join the Big East. Please refer to page 3-10 for this being referenced a mind numbing amount of times.

Our minds are numb which is the problem.

 

[Burnsbros23]

Significantly better than Cole? Really? He must be pretty good - and I don't deny it. But - significantly? Cole is tremendous talent - from what I seen. But again, I'm just a fan - no basketball scout. Significantly - huh?

The MEAC is really bad basketball. Not only that his team was 10-23 and 17-17. So he was the best player on a bad and average team in a horrible conference. Most schools in the MEAC lose to good division 2’s. Hopefully he provides some shooting and another ball handler. Akinjo was freshman of the year in the big East. His shooting numbers do suck tho.

 

[ctchamps]

Depending on what was said it could be bullying or intimidating behavior. That would be enough to consider hardship. He wouldn't be leaving for lack of playing time or I'm homesick or I made the wrong decision. I can see him getting a waiver.

Didn't help Westbrook for the women's team.

 

[browndog319]

I don't see any way this doesn't happen, unless somehow the university and the athletic department were both in the dark about the legal proceedings, which I find very hard to believe.

How wasn’t this national news? I read about Bouknight not here. Not on the UConn blog or Hartford Courant. I don’t even live in the state...

 

[Towney007]

Yeah, I mean... w/ Ewing, he's a big, mean, tough dude. The poster boy for Georgetown basketball, their attitude, mentality, all of it. My concern for them though - is whether a program like John Thompson's Georgetown could ever exist in today's world. Kids are just different. That was my biggest concern with Ewing getting tapped there.

I have a feeling like if they do part ways with Ewing - that they've gotta go in an almost totally opposite direction.

 

[superjohn]

I always think and wonder what life would be like had Dan Hurley had guys like Facey, Calhoun, Purvis and Gibbs.

You'll get to see what life is like with Hurley coaching better players. It should be pretty good.

 

[ctchamps]

How wasn’t this national news? I read about Bouknight not here. Not on the UConn blog or Hartford Courant. I don’t even live in the state...

Public vs. private institutions. It will go national now.

 

[kemba]

I'm not saying starting at all but they all have some game to offer a deep program. I admitted he didn't do a good job with high end recruits although he did have some misfortune there too, but he had an eye for talent nonetheless..

Right. All those guys could play a role at UConn or other big program.

And regardless the "If Ollie wanted him than I don't want him" is such a stupid argument. His problem was development, and towards the end at least, landing the guys that he really wanted.

 

[browndog319]

Public vs. private institutions. It will go national now.

Ah, good point. That makes sense considering nothing was heard till today. Some of the stuff going on since September is pretty crazy.

That said, if Ewing was awful to Akinjo maybe it was just the stress of all of this (explanation, not an excuse - obviously you can’t do this when you are dealing with students). I’m wondering if it’s the perfect storm.

 

[UconnU]

The MEAC is really bad basketball. Not only that his team was 10-23 and 17-17. So he was the best player on a bad and average team in a horrible conference. Most schools in the MEAC lose to good division 2’s. Hopefully he provides some shooting and another ball handler. Akinjo was freshman of the year in the big East. His shooting numbers do suck tho.

We’re going to be really strong 2-5 next year but I’m not confident in our PG situation at all. Cole’s defense at Howard was also a little suspect. We just have too many question marks at the position.

 

[businesslawyer]

The MEAC is really bad basketball. Not only that his team was 10-23 and 17-17. So he was the best player on a bad and average team in a horrible conference. Most schools in the MEAC lose to good division 2’s. Hopefully he provides some shooting and another ball handler. Akinjo was freshman of the year in the big East. His shooting numbers do suck tho.

To be clear, he was not the best player on his team. He was the best player in his conference.

That having been said, Akinjo has already proven he can play at a Big East level (not an NBA level but a Big East level) and Cole hasn't.