James Akinjo

[tcf15]

I'm genuinely curious why Goodman is getting flak from UConn fans for that tweet. He's literally just stating a fact.

 

[elmcityboy]

all the folks saying we traded akinjo for hurley -- don't forget, we got brendan adams, too! not a bad consolation prize.

that being said, akinjo looks really good.

 

[intlzncster]

Don't you want Chief to be right at least once?

Chief may be the chief at taking credit where it isn't due, but he positively nailed 2 things: Glen Miller and Travis Illian.

 

[unhpuck]

I could care less about Akinjo's stats, the move he made late where he split the trap and drilled a foul line floater isn't something you see from 17 year olds. Much more like Waters than Gilbert.

Speaking of, Ollie was an abomination his last few years at UConn, but if Durham and Gilbert don't get hurt in high school, who knows if people even notice...

 

[intlzncster]

I'm genuinely curious why Goodman is getting flak from UConn fans for that tweet. He's literally just stating a fact.

Ourfanbase has turned into a bunch of oversensative tw@ts over the last few years.

Add to that the constant overarching insecurity RE blue blood status and there you go

 

[Lefty2one]

Speaking of, Ollie was an abomination his last few years at UConn, but if Durham and Gilbert don't get hurt in high school, who knows if people even notice...

At the same time, if those two weren't injured in HS who knows if they end up at UConn. I don't follow recruiting as closely as some but I vaguely remember something about Durham and a lot of top schools backing off him after his umpteenth knee injury.

 

[superjohn]

At the same time, if those two weren't injured in HS who knows if they end up at UConn. I don't follow recruiting as closely as some but I vaguely remember something about Durham and a lot of top schools backing off him after his umpteenth knee injury.

Yep, fans were also duped into thinking we got a prize in 7'1 Zach Brown at the time, when Ollie was the only one who really wanted him.

 

[Connrack]

Against Central CT Akinjo was out of control, took some bad shots, and was as sloppy with the ball as Gilbert was in the last couple minutes of the Morehead State game. Didn't see Illinois. Confident they will both have great games. I wanted Akinjo but I do feel he has been 'replaced'. I thought Kisunas played great against North Carolina in the minutes I saw channel flipping. I have watched him a number of times at Brewster and posted my evaluation that he was an adequate rotation player but not the impact scoring player in the front court that we needed. On the other hand, he looks like he has added weight and power and will give Stanford everything that Jake Voskuhl gave us. His basket was running the floor on the break. Stats don't show it, but he conducted himself against UNC like he owned the defensive paint. UNC. Some rebounds went to teammates because he was keeping UNC rebounders off the glass. You need impact players around him but we did not 'replace' him for this year and he might have been just the power low post player this year's team needs, and the rotation player when our front court stars commit. Plus, he would still be here if our potential 5 stars move on to nba careers early.

Kisunas looks like he'll be a solid mid-major center. My observations based on the North Carolina game is that he has good hands, good court vision, moves the ball quickly with crisp accurate passes, plays with energy and possesses above average basketball IQ. He understands and plays within his limitations which translates into very few offensive impulses. He could be a solid component of a UConn team now, and possibly, in the future. That said, I feel he has a low ceiling for improvement. He is Stanford's version of Greg Kite (a former center of the Celtics).

 

[husky429]

Yep, fans were also duped into thinking we got a prize in 7'1 Zach Brown at the time, when Ollie was the only one who really wanted him.

Any idea what happened with that kid? Really sad story...

I remember the dismissal from St. John's after the umpteenth arrest, and nothing but silence since. He (or she? not sure how the person identifies...) might be in prison?

 

[Lefty2one]

Yep, fans were also duped into thinking we got a prize in 7'1 Zach Brown at the time, when Ollie was the only one who really wanted him.

So Ollie's recruiting was the equivalent of waiting until last call to hit on the desperate drunk girls who hadn't yet found someone to go home with. Nice.

 

[Excalibur]

How is CVs attitude poor? Kid busts his balls. All the time, incl all throughout last year's dumpster fire.

He plays completely stupid (selfish) at times, and jacks too much. But I'll take a kid like that every time and simply coach it out of him.

He's another kid that was let down by lack of coaching/accountability over the last 2 years. Hopefully it's not too late.

Yeah that was a really strange post. I see little similarity between Vital and Jackson’s attitudes.

 

[unhpuck]

At the same time, if those two weren't injured in HS who knows if they end up at UConn. I don't follow recruiting as closely as some but I vaguely remember something about Durham and a lot of top schools backing off him after his umpteenth knee injury.

Everyone knew about the injuries, including the recruiting services, and they were still two of the most highly coveted prospects in America. If anyone backed off, it was after they had already verballed to UConn. There was no fine print to that haul.

 

[unhpuck]

So Ollie's recruiting was the equivalent of waiting until last call to hit on the desperate drunk girls who hadn't yet found someone to go home with. Nice.

Things didn't really go off the rails til the 2017 class. Prior to that, Ollie brought in a monster class that was thought of to be among the best in the country. The problem was that three of the five players he brought in only combined to play 800 minutes for him, and of the remaining two, one transferred after one season and the other had to be talked into returning.

These were not desperate drunk girls. They are players who in a different world could have been juniors on a UConn team ready to compete for a championship this April.

 

[jibsey]

Rather than focus on Akinjo my mind is racing with when are we gonna get Wilson on the floor and how good will he be?

 

[superjohn]

Yeah that was a really strange post. I see little similarity between Vital and Jackson’s attitudes.

Maybe he is referring to both of them having a higher opinion of their games than they should.

 

[UConnRock]

Ollie reputation fizzled on the local level well before the national scale. He had no inroads to the top players in the NE preps after getting Jalen and Enoch in 2015. He was left with Vital, Diarra after bombing out on many top recruits in 2016. In 2017 was even worse with no NE players. In 2018 he got Kisunas very late, but he was far from a top recruit. The local coaches and players saw and knew what was happening. These were guys with NBA hopes and they saw that Ollie was not coaching guys up. Ollie had to tap into Chillious connections out west to get a semblance of a class in 2018 before getting canned. The biggest difference between Hurley and Ollie is the local connection and respect among the NE prep coaches.

 

[glastonbury50]

Is this KO's backup account?

 

[tcf15]

Is this KO's backup account?

I think it's actually a boneyarder's.

 

[glastonbury50]

Nobody here has seen AG enough to make any determination about how good he really is. Classic boneyard where Akinjo looks good in 1 game against a bottom ranked team in the B1G and conclusive statements are made. Illinois was ranked only above Rutgers in pre-season predictions. Dosunmu put up 25 points on 9-15 shooting in a battle of freshman PGs, so Akinjo apparently need some work on defense.

I agree with this. No one has seen either play enough to determine. Both very good players but you can't determine their ceilings as of yet.

 

[UConnStats]

Ewing is so crazy lucky to have Akinjo and McClung fall in his lap.

They probably aren’t even the best part of the class either. LeBlanc is a beast. Had some of the best numbers on the UA circuit period. Outplayed a ton of five star 4s and 5s. Really overlooked. He and Akinjo will be a great combo for them. I like Ewing. He doesn’t mail it in like most stars turned coaches.

 

[RedsoxCowboys]

You don’t think he is?

Ummm no!

 

[RedsoxCowboys]

Very dumb post. Akinjo is great. Eventually, 1st team all-Big East good. He is not better than Gilbert. He’s played, what, 5 games over the past 2 years? Once the rust is gone AG will be All-American good. Also, no question/no debate: No Akinjo + Hurley >>>>> Akinjo + Ollie. I can live with his decommient no matter how good he becomes. Best of luck to the kid

I hope you are right about Gilbert. I don't have the confidence you do with saying he will be all-american good.