Jamar Akoh's importance to Montana

[grizzlyjournal]

It happens all the time in sports, but when injuries happen, individual and team fortunes change. An experienced Montana team was projected as a high mid-major this season, but a wrist injury to senior power post, Jamar Akoh, has had an impact. Despite it all, the Griz have had a good pre-season.

But the Montana@SDSU post-game quote by Griz coach Travis DeCuire really put things into perspective for this team moving forward. To me, it has looked like Akoh's injury is now in the "nagging" category. It kept him out a month, he's pushing to get back into action... yet it's obvious he's still experiencing pain. Even the SDSU announcers noticed him holding his wrist after a clash with Jacks' big man, Mike Daum.

So, for Akoh to have the all-star game he had against SDSU is huge. His numbers: 8 points on 3-for-8 shooting and and 2-3 free throws...7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals (the second one huge) against only 2 turnovers. And he was all over the floor on D, disrupting anything SDSU tried to run, commanding the baseline to stop drives by Jacks guards.

So, here's DeCuire's quote regarding Akoh: (4:33 left in the game)..... "We were in a time-out… I said to Jamar, 'Hey man, you have to use your right hand.' He comes up right out of the time out… right hand jump hook… to me that was the dagger." And then DeCuire said, "The presence of Jamar changes everything about who we are."

[media]https://twitter.com/quartzglen/status/1077301406581764096[/media]

 

[Sport]

No question regarding Jamar’s importance to the Griz basketball team. With Jamar’s presence in the middle we could have easily been 9-2 going into conference play. The contrast between the Arizona game, I was there, and the SDSU game were night and day different. Santa Claire only lost by two points to the Wildcats and while SC is good I think the Griz could beat them 8 out of 10 times. It was just one of those nights where we just couldn’t bring both our defense and offense. The Wildcats are probably middle of the pack in the PAC-12.
The Achilles heal I think for the Griz this year is there is no Fab to compliment Jamar. If he gets in foul trouble or his wrist continues to bother him we are weak at the 5 spot. I had hopes that Kramer or even Dorsey would take up some of the slack. I haven’t seen enough of Mac to really evaluate his contribution but obviously the coaches feel he’s not ready for prime time. It’s a shame they had to burn his red shirt. I know his high school coach pretty well and he felt he needed a red shirt to bulk up and gain strength. He did say no one works harder than Mac on his game so maybe by mid season he can be a contributor. Regarding Cobb, he has gotten a lot of negative press but he missed a lot of the preseason workouts with an injury and has developed more slowly than the coaches had hoped. He too would have benefited from a red shirt year but our injuries have negated that possibly.
My assessment, and I’m in no way an authority on the subject but Dorsey has to pick up his game and Manuel (? Spelling) needs to get 12/14 minutes a game and shoot 40% from beyond the arc. And not to forget Timmy but he needs to find his stroke. He has such an unorthodox shot release that coaching is difficult to do with his shot he just needs to gain more confidence.
This comes from someone who played high school ball in the early 60’s and pick up ball in college. As stated I’m no expert but I do try and look beyond the X’s and O’s.

 

[IdaGriz01]

... I haven’t seen enough of Mac to really evaluate his contribution but obviously the coaches feel he’s not ready for prime time. It’s a shame they had to burn his red shirt. I know his high school coach pretty well and he felt he needed a red shirt to bulk up and gain strength. He did say no one works harder than Mac on his game so maybe by mid season he can be a contributor. ...

A lot of people are starting to ask why the four-game leeway allowed for football players to preserve their redshirt doesn't apply to other NCAA D-I sports. They're not even suggesting that the number be "adjusted" for sports (like BBall) where many more events are scheduled. (I suspect that will come.)

This is a prime example of where it would benefit a program and the player. One of the many benefits for the rule in football, often touted, is that it keeps the bench players "more engaged" in the process (practice) ... because they know they could actually get some playing time without losing a year of eligibility. I honestly think this could be an even bigger thing in basketball, where the squad is so much smaller and virtually everybody works their a** off in practice.

I think the rule will eventually change for other sports, but it always takes the NCAA a long time to get the message.

 

[grizzlyjournal]

... I haven’t seen enough of Mac to really evaluate his contribution but obviously the coaches feel he’s not ready for prime time. It’s a shame they had to burn his red shirt. I know his high school coach pretty well and he felt he needed a red shirt to bulk up and gain strength. He did say no one works harder than Mac on his game so maybe by mid season he can be a contributor. ...

A lot of people are starting to ask why the four-game leeway allowed for football players to preserve their redshirt doesn't apply to other NCAA D-I sports. They're not even suggesting that the number be "adjusted" for sports (like BBall) where many more events are scheduled. (I suspect that will come.)

This is a prime example of where it would benefit a program and the player. One of the many benefits for the rule in football, often touted, is that it keeps the bench players "more engaged" in the process (practice) ... because they know they could actually get some playing time without losing a year of eligibility. I honestly think this could be an even bigger thing in basketball, where the squad is so much smaller and virtually everybody works their a** off in practice.

I think the rule will eventually change for other sports, but it always takes the NCAA a long time to get the message.

Agree 100% IdaGriz01. The either-or of basketball redshirt policy wreaks havoc with teams and players often forced into burning a redshirt because the team is short-handed, but where the player is played very little. To modify it a bit for hoops players, they could make a deadline of Jan 1 as a window to retract active roster status.

 

[Sport]

My mistake, substitute “Carter” for “Cobb” in my previous post. Blame it on old age. And I do agree with IdaGriz01. I think there will be rule change from the NCAA regarding freshman playing time. But when is the question. Maybe limited to non conference games. I think the NCAA could make the rule change retroactive to 2018 season but if Carter or Anderson were to play in conference they would lose that option. Oh wait, it’s the NCAA, forget it.

 

[IdaGriz01]

... Maybe limited to non conference games. I think the NCAA could make the rule change retroactive to 2018 season but if Carter or Anderson were to play in conference they would lose that option. Oh wait, it’s the NCAA, forget it.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Restricting the "exemption" by date of OOC seems like good point for discussion. It would certainly give the staff a chance to evaluate players based on actual game-time performance. On the other hand, it would defeat the "engagement" benefit of the notion. Once the player was past such a dedline, we'd back to the situation we have now.

 

[first11]

A tale of two teams...

With Akoh, a team that appears to have identity and “chemistry” to win out

Without him a team that has a struggle to come close to last season

Kinda scary our Griz season or post season rides on the availability of Akoh.

 

[Zirg]

No question regarding Jamar’s importance to the Griz basketball team. With Jamar’s presence in the middle we could have easily been 9-2 going into conference play. The contrast between the Arizona game, I was there, and the SDSU game were night and day different. Santa Claire only lost by two points to the Wildcats and while SC is good I think the Griz could beat them 8 out of 10 times. It was just one of those nights where we just couldn’t bring both our defense and offense. The Wildcats are probably middle of the pack in the PAC-12.
The Achilles heal I think for the Griz this year is there is no Fab to compliment Jamar. If he gets in foul trouble or his wrist continues to bother him we are weak at the 5 spot. I had hopes that Kramer or even Dorsey would take up some of the slack. I haven’t seen enough of Mac to really evaluate his contribution but obviously the coaches feel he’s not ready for prime time. It’s a shame they had to burn his red shirt. I know his high school coach pretty well and he felt he needed a red shirt to bulk up and gain strength. He did say no one works harder than Mac on his game so maybe by mid season he can be a contributor. Regarding Cobb, he has gotten a lot of negative press but he missed a lot of the preseason workouts with an injury and has developed more slowly than the coaches had hoped. He too would have benefited from a red shirt year but our injuries have negated that possibly.
My assessment, and I’m in no way an authority on the subject but Dorsey has to pick up his game and Manuel (? Spelling) needs to get 12/14 minutes a game and shoot 40% from beyond the arc. And not to forget Timmy but he needs to find his stroke. He has such an unorthodox shot release that coaching is difficult to do with his shot he just needs to gain more confidence.
This comes from someone who played high school ball in the early 60’s and pick up ball in college. As stated I’m no expert but I do try and look beyond the X’s and O’s.

Anyone paying attention should agree that Akoh is, by far, our most important piece that we have no comparable replacement for. Rorie and Oguine are "better" players than Akoh, but since we start 4 guards if Rorie or Oguine or Pridgett or Moorehead were unavailable, we have capable replacements. The drop-off behind Akoh is a giant chasm-Carter, Kramer&Anderson are monumental drop-offs to Akoh.