WV transfer: James Okonkwo | The Boneyard

WV transfer: James Okonkwo



He only played 11 minutes a game, but those rebounding and block numbers are fantastic. For reference, here are Clingan’s and Sanogo’s numbers from this year.

Clingan: 20.0 OR%, 29.4 DR%, 14.4 Block%
Sanogo: 11.7 OR%, 21.4 DR%, 3.2 Block%
 
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HailUConn said:
Our coaches seem to think he is worth our last open scholarship. Hurley and his coaching staff are just relentless and never stop working.


Anyone has his stats from his tenure at WV?

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My interest is piqued.

Caught a few West Virginia games this year and Okonkwo is exactly the type of backup big I'd want to pickup with our last scholarship.

He's a 6'8 240 kid from England who has a tennis background and didn't really play organized basketball until 2020. Strong body, very strong rebounder, love his motor/energy, decent rim protector.

Bottom line, if we end up with Okonkwo, then he'd easily slot in as the backup 5, meaning Johnson would play the 4 and Singare would ride the pine.

Last year, Okwonko played almost all of his minutes with Tre Mitchell, since Mitchell's spacing allowed Okwonko to do his work down low. Unless Clingan's three point shooting is true, doubt Clingan will play with another big.

Per 40 stats: 9.1p, 11.8r, 2.6b
 
Question for my own understanding: Since Hurley has gone on record as saying that they were probably going to "eat" the last open scholarship heading into this season, is there any benefit to that? If you're a coach, I don't know why you wouldn't want to get an extra body on campus, if for no other reason than adding a scout team player.

We saw how valuable depth was last year, especially for opponent game-planning, so why not try reasonably hard to bring someone else in? But maybe I'm missing something.
 
PlayItLeo said:
We saw how valuable depth was last year, especially for opponent game-planning, so why not try reasonably hard to bring someone else in?
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If he did that, he wouldn't have a schollie for this guy.
 
It’s good if you have injuries. It’s bad because it leads to more unhappy players out of the rotation if there isn’t injuries. You never really know.
 
PlayItLeo said:
Question for my own understanding: Since Hurley has gone on record as saying that they were probably going to "eat" the last open scholarship heading into this season, is there any benefit to that? If you're a coach, I don't know why you wouldn't want to get an extra body on campus, if for no other reason than adding a scout team player.

We saw how valuable depth was last year, especially for opponent game-planning, so why not try reasonably hard to bring someone else in? But maybe I'm missing something.
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Mostly because any guy that comes in will likely take minutes from guys near the bottom of the roster. We don’t have big minutes to offer and we have a lot of young players who need experience. Could be that Hurley sees what we have as serviceable with higher upside than potential transfers.

We’ve been able to use some preferred walk-ons to help out in practice so I don’t think we’re hurting for bodies
 
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PlayItLeo said:
Question for my own understanding: Since Hurley has gone on record as saying that they were probably going to "eat" the last open scholarship heading into this season, is there any benefit to that? If you're a coach, I don't know why you wouldn't want to get an extra body on campus, if for no other reason than adding a scout team player.

We saw how valuable depth was last year, especially for opponent game-planning, so why not try reasonably hard to bring someone else in? But maybe I'm missing something.
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It just leads to more roster turnover, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's a tradeoff and not one that everyone sees value in. You have to weigh the options of whether bringing in a big man who is going to be 3rd or 4th on the depth chart and may make some current players unhappy is worth the depth in case of injuries.

We saw it manifest last year, but luckily the staff kept it under wraps and it didn't derail the championship season. And we were able to replace and probably upgrade on the resulting transfers, but that may not always be the case and you could lose guys you're hoping to have as rotation players for future years
 
All good points. I guess I was overthinking it as an 'embarrassment of riches' thing, i.e. better to have more bodies that you can direct than fewer, especially in the day and age of instant transfers regardless of a coach's intention to build a 'long-term' roster. If the last scholarship remains open, which it obviously may not if we're reaching out to this guy in the first place, then Hurley is clearly content with what he has going into next year.
 
PlayItLeo said:
Question for my own understanding: Since Hurley has gone on record as saying that they were probably going to "eat" the last open scholarship heading into this season, is there any benefit to that? If you're a coach, I don't know why you wouldn't want to get an extra body on campus, if for no other reason than adding a scout team player.

We saw how valuable depth was last year, especially for opponent game-planning, so why not try reasonably hard to bring someone else in? But maybe I'm missing something.
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It leaves room to add a reclass in January. My initial thought on the interest was the staff doesn’t have great confidence in Johnson and Singare being effective at the backup 5.
 
Would take a unique mindset and mature player to be ok with occupying the 13th spot on a team constructed like UConn's. Is he that guy? Don't know.. I don't think Danny is in any rush to fill the spot.. if at all. Gotta trust the staff on this one.. Have no problem keeping it open and rolling with who we have.
 


This would be a great addition and I think solidify us as preseason #1, plus he has two years of eligibility, it's easy to project him as a starter his second year. It would stink to have next year's championship run torpedoed because we lacked front court depth.
 
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metsfan2323 said:
This guy would be our backup center, not the 13th guy.
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What happens to Singare?? I see Samson as getting backup minutes at the 4/5 with Singare earning some PT through practice/scrimmages productivity. If you're saying Dan Hurley already knows neither will perform as advertised.. And Okonkwo(or someone like him) is a necessary piece to complete the roster.. Dan Hurley/staff pride themselves on skill development.. I expect Samson/Singare to benefit from that and be productive in the roles they earn.
 
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Umami Zen said:
What happens to Singare?? I see Samson as getting backup minutes at the 4/5 with Singare earning some PT through practice/scrimmages productivity.
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The only thing that matters is what the coaching staff sees in practice. Next year is not a rebuilding season, we have a legit shot to win two in a row with a couple generational talents, this is a time to be aggressive and go for it. Players will need to earn minutes.
 
metsfan2323 said:
The only thing that matters is what the coaching staff sees in practice. Next year is not a rebuilding season, we have a legit shot to win two in a row, this is a time to be aggressive and go for it. Players will need to earn minutes.
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Who said anything about rebuilding?? You reload and move on .. Players always earn minutes.. There are other Bigs in portal who are still available and can play.. Why isn't UConn interested in them?? They want the ball and what to be a featured player.. That role doesn't work with our roster as its constructed.

I am optimistic about next year and expect us to be successful based on the development of our younger guys supporting our veterans. With or without Okonkwo
 
Umami Zen said:
Who said anything about rebuilding?? You reload and move on .. Players always earn minutes.. There are other Bigs in portal who are still available and can play.. Why isn't UConn interested in them?? They want the ball and what to be a featured player.. That role doesn't work with our roster as its constructed.

I am optimistic about next year and expect us to be successful based on the development of our younger guys supporting our veterans. With or without Okonkwo
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I'm sorry but leaving a scholarship open when we have a chance to improve the team is dumb. Pitino is going after player #14 and you seem worried about hurt feelings. I'm glad you are not the coach.
 
metsfan2323 said:
I'm sorry but leaving a scholarship open when we have a chance to improve the team is dumb. Pitino is going after player #16 and you seem worried about hurt feelings. I'm glad you are not the coach.
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You never know when the 6OT game or the next injury bug will hit, gotta fill these scholarships. The other angle is that it's the right thing to do even if we give it to a walk-on who could benefit from a year off tuition.
 
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We just saw Johnson miss a whole year due to injury. Sanogo missed games in our injury plagued year. How does everyone feel about Clingan missing 3-4 games with a turned ankle? This might not be the guy, but we need 1 more piece in the post. I also think in 3-4 games we might use all 15 fouls with Clingan, Johnson, and Singare.
 
metsfan2323 said:
I'm sorry but leaving a scholarship open when we have a chance to improve the team is dumb. Pitino is going after player #16 and you seem worried about hurt feelings. I'm glad you are not the coach.
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Not worried about hurt feelings.. Following the lead of our coach saying he'll probably leave spot 13 open as he has done in the past.. My original comment was about a player coming onto a team that has a roster that is solid and is ok with how that stands.. It takes an unusual kid.. I think Dan Hurley/staff think more about roster construction this year and next than you think .. Portal moves can be outliers.. Wouldn't say that Pitino is an example of a coach who is concerned about anyone but himself and his legacy.. Poor example to compare to Dan Hurley
 
Ricker said:
We just saw Johnson miss a whole year due to injury. Sanogo missed games in our injury plagued year. How does everyone feel about Clingan missing 3-4 games with a turned ankle? This might not be the guy, but we need 1 more piece in the post. I also think in 3-4 games we might use all 15 fouls with Clingan, Johnson, and Singare.
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I do agree having another big would be ideal. If not you are looking at a froncourt of Karaban and two freshmen not named Singare. Even if it's only one game of foul trouble I would prefer having that extra body. I don't know if it is worth it for any player but Okonkwo is quality enough to reach out. Actually he might be ideal. Good enough to have played in the B12 but not good enough to have started last year and probably would be fourth or fifth on the front court depth chart.

Wouldn't mind Wague either.
 
Umami Zen said:
Would take a unique mindset and mature player to be ok with occupying the 13th spot on a team constructed like UConn's. Is he that guy? Don't know.. I don't think Danny is in any rush to fill the spot.. if at all. Gotta trust the staff on this one.. Have no problem keeping it open and rolling with who we have.
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I don't think this is a 13th guy... I think he's a 10mpg back up center. This is a likely indication the staff isn't sold on Singare or Johnson backing up ClingClong
 
husky429 said:
I don't think this is a 13th guy... I think he's a 10mpg back up center. This is a likely indication the staff isn't sold on Singare or Johnson backing up ClingClong
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If that's what's going on.. I get it.. No argument if true/feasible..
 
Umami Zen said:
If that's what's going on.. I get it.. No argument if true/feasible..
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Why wouldn't it be? We wouldn't recruit an unknown 13th scholly in the middle of the summer. We already have players who won't see the floor.
 
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