James Akinjo

[kbones17]

James is tenacious. Love that intensity. He lead this team tonight. He was far from perfect (it was a sloppy game in a lot of ways on both sides) but he kept grinding away.

[seaweed]

Onions. Watched the game on tape delay, was laughing in bed at 230a. Wife still thinks I am batty, probably right, but this scene elevates the outlook for the next two year radically. Just giddy about this mensch

[lda05816]

His issues finishing around the bucket have been well documented but his ability to get to the free throw line is underrated imo. He's attempted 27 more free throws than anyone else on the team and is hitting them at 82% clip. I know some of that is having the ball in his hands late when the opponent is fouling but his ability to draw fouls is a strength.

[smokeyjack]

Mar 2, 2019 23:30:48 GMT -5 Ranch Dressing said:

Mar 2, 2019 21:34:26 GMT -5 wponds said:

That's our point guard

Literally gave me the chills. So frigging awesom.

Completely agree. Best sequence of the season by miles. Chills. That is how you do it young buck!!

[Ranch Dressing]

Mar 3, 2019 11:14:30 GMT -5 smokeyjack said:

Mar 2, 2019 23:30:48 GMT -5 Ranch Dressing said:

Literally gave me the chills. So frigging awesom.

Completely agree. Best sequence of the season by miles. Chills. That is how you do it young buck!!

What that clip doesn’t show is I think on that very defensive sequence, James steals it, leading to a fast break slam by LeBlanc.

The hairs on my neck stood up. The kid WOULD NOT LOSE!!!!

[jwp91]

More accurately....the kid would not back down.

[Deleted]

Rather than let bygones be bygones, Akinjo immediately bodied up McKnight before the inbounds pass had even been thrown. Once the Seton Hall guard got the ball, Akinjo immediately slapped the floor in retaliation. Unlike the cautionary tale that happened just seconds earlier, the freshman guard’s defense proved useful and forced McKnight to give the ball up before getting a shot off.

The best part about all of this is how the referees let these players hash things out on the court without feeling the need to intervene. It’s cool when this kind of harmless back-and-forth happens in sports and it should happen more often.

[wnyhoya]

It’s all been said already but James is a dog. His fight and tenacity just exude that “we’re not gonna lose mentality.” The floor slap sequence might just put him over the top in his BE ROY candidacy. Love this kid

[jwp91]

I am just glad the floor slapping episode didn’t bait him into a hero ball mistake. The kid won’t back down, and I admire that. Sometimes, wisdom necessitates not taking that bait.

Glad it worked out at the end of the day.

[LCPolo18]

[Deleted]

[wponds]

Mar 3, 2019 14:12:22 GMT -5 LCPolo18 said:

James and Pat's relationship is so funny to me, I love it

[blueandgray]

Best part of the whole slap on the floor exchange is when after Akinjo scored and was pressuring McKnight all the way up court, McKnight had to pick up his dribble at halfcourt. You could see the fear in the kid’s eyes.

[jwp91]

I did notice that James didn’t seem to react to the slap visibly until he made his contested lay-up. THEN, he invaded the space and started slapping the floor. Always good to put up first.

[hoya95]

Mar 3, 2019 14:12:22 GMT -5 LCPolo18 said:

Just after this picture, Akinjo either patted Ewing on the forehead or just put his hand on the top of his head. (Couldn't quite see.) I thought it was extremely funny, but then I tried to imagine what would have happened if any player ever put his hand on John Thompson, Jr.'s head. There might have been a hole in the floor all the way to China. The world has changed, that's for sure.

[hoyacane11]

Man I absolutely LOVE that kid.

[justsaying]

With that slap; it is starting to turn in HoyasLand (dog attitude) that this is our house. Love it.

[blueandgray]

Mar 3, 2019 16:17:45 GMT -5 hoya95 said:

Mar 3, 2019 14:12:22 GMT -5 LCPolo18 said:

Just after this picture, Akinjo either patted Ewing on the forehead or just put his hand on the top of his head. (Couldn't quite see.) I thought it was extremely funny, but then I tried to imagine what would have happened if any player ever put his hand on John Thompson, Jr.'s head. There might have been a hole in the floor all the way to China. The world has changed, that's for sure.

Iverson may have gotten away with it. maybe not though.

[SirSaxa]

Mar 3, 2019 23:33:00 GMT -5 blueandgray said:

Iverson may have gotten away with it. maybe not though.

Iverson brought JT back to life.  He had lost his way, lost his focus, lost the mission.
But AI gave him a whole new reason, a new motivation.
At least, that's how it looked from afar.
JT stopped complaining about having to recruit knuckleheads and burger boys.

Damn.. Iverson was ... a game changer?  A whole new type of baller?  A once in a lifetime recruit?
Really have no idea what words might describe him.
I only wish JT could have gotten the both of them a title.  That game v UMASS killed us.
Victor was scoreless, as I recall.
And that was shortly after that Ray Allen dagger.

Can't blame Iverson for wanting to capitalize.  He almost lost it all with that jail business.
Then his mom reached out to JT and... we know the rest.

Back to today, I like what Coach Ewing is doing with the program.  Bringing in a different type of kid.
He is going to add at least two more to the team before next season.
But man, it sure would be nice if the team has finally grown up enough to run off 3-4 more in a row right about now.
That would certainly get us into the NCAAs for the first time in years, and ... with Pat staying around... the first of a new string of NCAA seasons.




 

[hoyazeke]

Mar 3, 2019 23:46:17 GMT -5 SirSaxa said:

Mar 3, 2019 23:33:00 GMT -5 blueandgray said:

Iverson may have gotten away with it. maybe not though.

Iverson brought JT back to life.  He had lost his way, lost his focus, lost the mission.
But AI gave him a whole new reason, a new motivation.
At least, that's how it looked from afar.
JT stopped complaining about having to recruit knuckleheads and burger boys.

Damn.. Iverson was ... a game changer?  A whole new type of baller?  A once in a lifetime recruit?
Really have no idea what words might describe him.
I only wish JT could have gotten the both of them a title.  That game v UMASS killed us.
Victor was scoreless, as I recall.
And that was shortly after that Ray Allen dagger.

Can't blame Iverson for wanting to capitalize.  He almost lost it all with that jail business.
Then his mom reached out to JT and... we know the rest.

Back to today, I like what Coach Ewing is doing with the program.  Bringing in a different type of kid.
He is going to add at least two more to the team before next season.
But man, it sure would be nice if the team has finally grown up enough to run off 3-4 more in a row right about now.
That would certainly get us into the NCAAs for the first time in years, and ... with Pat staying around... the first of a new string of NCAA seasons.




 

I always felt like the UCONN BET final game killed us. I think we get a 1seed out west instead of UCONN if we win that game. We avoid UMASS and UK until the final 4. I also think we handle going west better than UCONN and keeping UCONN east probably helps them as well......a funny story of how big AI was/is in Newport News. I moved to NN when I was 15yrs old('91). I'm around 2wks older than AI for reference. There's a gym downtown that we ball at on the weekends (Magruder). Usually adults 30yrs old to youngins like myself 14/15yrs old. But normally the older men run the gym. There was a rumor that AI was coming and the gym was shutdown for 30mins waiting to see if he was coming. For those that don't know, 2 older guys pick their teams from the pool of people in the gym.....well these 30yr old men would not pick their teams for 30mins waiting for a 15yr old kid.......A 15 YEAR OLD KID!!!!!! Crazy.....but that's the rock star treatment he received since he was around 12.....