Akok Enrolls; World Rejoices
The Story: Forget the Power 5 invite. The news everyone has wanted for more than a month finally arrived as coveted men’s basketball recruit Akok Akok enrolled at UConn on Monday in advance of yesterday’s start to the spring semester.
WILL HE OR WON’T HE? Akok (pronounced uh-COOK) withdrew from Putnam Science Academy, where he was playing as a postgraduate student, and committed to UConn on Dec. 1. The plan is for him to sit out this semester, practice with the team as a non-scholarship player and receive a scholarship ahead of next season. Even if the Huskies wanted him to play — let’s face it, he surely would help — he can’t because players who were recruited by a university are not allowed to play as walk-ons unless they pay for their entire tuition out of their own pockets.
“Having Akok in practice every day will help him get acclimated to the college game as well as provide high-level competition for our players,” Dan Hurley said in a press release.
Whether that happens remains to be seen — and complicating matters is that Akok is eligible for the NBA Draft in June and could bolt straight for the pros. (Everyone associated with Akok has denied he’ll do that, but it is an option nonetheless.) A rangy, 6-foot-9 forward/center from Sudan by way of New Hampshire, he has a knack for protecting the rim and also can knock down shots from the perimeter, which is why he already has pro scouts salivating.
SCHOLARSHIP SITUATION: Akok is penciled in as one of three players, including Jalen Gaffney and James Bouknight, who will join the program next season as scholarship players. The Huskies are set to lose five after the season — Jalen Adams, Eric Cobb, Kwintin Williams, Tarin Smith and Kassoum Yakwe are in their final year of eligibility — and because of UConn’s proposed self-imposed sanctions for recruiting violations, they’ll lose one scholarship in 2019-20.
That means the Huskies could be looking at a take-it-or-leave-it situation with their remaining targets, all of whom are big men: Precious Achiuwa, who Hurley watched play in person on Monday; Qudus Wahab, who is set to announce his decision on Jan. 30; and Tre Mitchell, who is considering taking a postgraduate year.
That assumes, of course, that no player with eligibility remaining chooses to leave the program. If that were to happen, of course, another scholarship would open up, but that player almost certainly wouldn’t have made the decision to leave with other top high school players still available.
Richardson Leaves Edsall for Moorhead
The Story: Running backs coach Terry Richardson, Randy Edsall‘s longtime right-hand man, surprisingly left UConn yesterday afternoon to accept the same position at Mississippi State under coach Joe Moorhead, the Huskies’ former offensive coordinator. To replace Richardson, the Huskies promoted Mike Moyseenko to coach the running backs.
A BIG LOSS: The history between the two coaches goes back decades. Edsall recruited Richardson to Syracuse, where he played from 1991-93, and Richardson began his coaching career at UConn in 1999, leaving the school once Edsall did in 2011. After two years at Miami and two years with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the two were reunited at Maryland in 2015 and once again at UConn once Edsall decided to return.
Richardson is the third on-field coach to depart UConn this offseason, though defensive coordinator Billy Crocker and defensive backs coach Curome Cox were fired. They were replaced by Lou Spanos and Darrell Perkins, respectively.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN? In addition to getting the best out of the Huskies’ accomplished running backs, from Terry Caulley to Donald Brown and Andre Dixon, Richardson was also a strong recruiter, having plucked numerous prospects over the years from his native Florida — including Darius Butler, Twyon Martin, Jasper Howard and Dwayne Difton. Defensive back Myles Bell, who is among the Huskies’ highest-regarded recruits for next season, chose UConn based primarily upon his father’s longstanding friendship with Richardson.
The Huskies will lose his instruction, which proved invaluable over the years, and his connections in the Florida market. It will be up to Moyseenko, a former walk-on quarterback at Maryland (before Edsall’s tenure), wide receivers coach at Towson and offensive quality control coach last season, to pick up the slack and see that the traditionally strong running game, behind Kevin Mensah, doesn’t miss a beat.
All Eyes on Individiuals vs. SMU
The Story: The women’s basketball team looks to continue its tear through the AAC by welcoming perennial conference also-ran SMU to Gampel Pavilion tonight (7 p.m., SNY).
BOUNCING BACK: Although the Huskies are on a bit of a roll, having won their five conference games since a loss to Baylor by an average of 28.8 points, their starters have been inconsistent.
Katie Lou Samuelson, who scored 10 points in the win against Temple on Saturday, is shooting 37.3 percent from 3-point range on the season but has made just four of her last 17 attempts over the last three games. Crystal Dangerfield scored two points against USF and five against Tulane, then had a career-high 26 against Temple. Christyn Williams has scored a combined four points in those last three games.
“I’m just trying to get over the hump,” Williams told reporters yesterday after practice, outlining her freshman-year struggles. “I’ll be back.”
YOUNG PONIES: The Mustangs (7-11, 1-4) have one of the best rebounders in the conference in Alicia Froling, a 6-foot-3 forward from Australia who is averaging 10.5 rebounds as well as a team-high 12 points per game. A senior, she’s just one of two upperclassmen on the team; in fact, SMU has seven players in its freshman class, including guard Kayla White and her cousin, JaQuia.
Morning Read
IS FOOTBALL THE ANSWER? There’s one place to look if UConn wants to try to cut sports to close its budget deficit, according to Mike DiMauro. (The Day)
TIDYING UP: With such a significant budget crisis, restructuring the athletic department will be at the top of the incoming UConn president’s list. (CTNewsJunkie.com)
THOMPKINS ARRIVES: Running back Art Thompkins, a graduate transfer from Toledo, also enrolled at UConn and began taking classes yesterday. (Art Thompkins on Twitter)
FEOLE HONORED: Junior left-hander Mason Feole was named to D1Baseball.com’s all-America third team yesterday afternoon. (D1Baseball.com)
