Rumor has it Akametu is redshirting and I’m guessing at this pint so is Bukky Oboye.
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For a guy who only had 4 points, Emsinger made a lot of really good plays out there tonight at both ends. He plays like the most experienced player on our team rather than a redshirt freshman.
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He has a nice combination of size and mobility, plus he seemingly has a high basketball IQ. It will be fun to watch his game develop over the next several years.
Akametu…I believe the medical redshirt qualifies are: play less than 1/3 of your team’s games, have an injury that prevents you from returning (ie- you can’t have a minor ankle sprain ithat only prevents you from playing a game or two and then try to medical redshirt). May also be an additional qualifier re: not playing in any games past a certain date. Appears Akametu meets the criteria.
Oboye…someone here mentioned that the rules changed in the last few years to allow players to play a few games early in the season and still redshirt. I imagine that was the plan for Oboye.
Football began doing this ~5-10yrs ago. I have not seen or heard the specifics and restrictions but I suspect the ‘games played’ threshold is less than a med redshirt and also suspect there’s a cut-off date sometime mid-season…otherwise you’d see teams play certain end of the bench guys late season or in the tourney.
Ensminger has become our glue guy, agree he appears to have one of the highest basketball IQ’s in the playing rotation…playing against grown men in the german pro league, even if at a relatively low level has to help.
He may not score a town but fills the stat sheet in other areas and just makes winning plays. A couple of times last night, either led the fast break or had a hockey assist as part of sequence of passes that led to bucket.
He has been backing up both O’neil at the 4 and Marshall at the 3…I tend to like him more at the 3 but his length and decent rebounding make him OK as a 4 particularly against teams that are playing a smallish 4 or stretch 4 who isn’t really a post player which is about half or more of the teams these days. And his ball handling and passing and past PG experience allows him to take defensive rebounds or TO’s and turn up the floor to lead the break without outletting, or help with press break, etc.
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I think the rule is still in place. They have simply discussed changing it but that change has yet to actually be made. Or that’s the conclusion from this article from last month regarding a U Dayton player:
If so, I would be a little annoyed wasting this season of eligibility with Bukky. You could tell he needed a redshirt from a mile away. A 7’1" former guard?! That oozes with potential, but guys like Holmgren and Wembanayama are exceptions that prove the rule. Those guys have to really work on getting their skill sets to match their bodies, especially with such a skinny frame. Bukky will need a season to learn to contend with D1 size and speed.
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Hmmm…if that’s the case, then I agree it was a huge mistake to burn a year of Oboye’s eligibility to play 2 games, 4 mins each. Even more of a head scratcher considering we have more than enough depth in the post, four+ deep at both the 4 and the 5. Oboye may be a several year project before he’s able to contribute significantly at this level, wasting a year of his eligibility seems irresponsible.
Maybe there is a medical redshirt angle with Oboye?
I hope so… but I thought I’ve noticed him wearing the same warm-up gear as the guys playing, not street clothes, but I could be wrong.
For those who have been able to see recent games in person…has Oboye been involved in pre-game warn-ups?
A couple of other random thoughts on Pepp…
I love Ajayi and his game, does everything well. Probably deserves consideration for league MVP but probably won’t get many if any votes w/ Pepp likely to finish in 6th or worse.
Romar…you may have noticed that I don’t have a lot of respect for Romar’s coaching ability. That opinion is formed not just by what I’ve seen of him at Pepp but more so his long stretch at Washington. As a northwest resident I see and hear a lot about UW hoops, they’re on the TV 100% of the time and his teams, especially during the later part of his tenure, were much like his Pepp squads. They often had one or two future NBA guys on the roster and a solid rotation of players but typically underperformed, played poor, uninspired defense and were less than disciplined at the offensive end.
But in fairness to Romar, my understanding is he is very well liked and respected by his players and has impacted many of his player’s lives in a very positive way. Others in basketball consider him a genuinely good person. He is not the smarmy coach we see often throughout college basketball. Parents trust him. Former players are extremely loyal to him. At the end of the day, that stuff matters more than W/L’s and is probably part of the reason he lasted as long as he did at UW and will probably do the same at Pepp.
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I’m not going to the St Mary’s game. If anyone needs my four tickets - send me an email: nicole@invoke.media. The guys will need a lot of noise - so as many Bronco fans that can go - I am happy to share my tickets.
Same for San Francisco game.
Pepperdine has some very good players, but my sense was that they’re all looking to get their own shots up - irregardless of how that affects the team.
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The most interesting thing to me about Romar is that he has never been all that successful anywhere and yet has gotten 4 different head coach gigs for 27 seasons. He never did better than 2nd in the WCC at Pepperdine (first time) and left before Gonzaga made the Elite Eight in 99 and long before SMC was a factor or BYU joined. Then he did a middling job at St. Louis that somehow got leveraged to taking the UW role. He did best at UW but was always considered someone who underperformed based on the talent he had. Boomerang back to Pepperdine, and his teams rarely even get into the top half with NBA talent.
In his 27 years as a head coach, he has won two league titles (both in PAC) and finished 2nd in conference five times. That’s quite a poor record for someone who has gotten 4 head coaching jobs. He must be an absolute powerhouse of charisma and relationship building.
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To Romar’s credit, he is an exceptional recruiter. Can you imagine if he had an excellent Xs-and-Os assistant head coach? Also, I’m not so sure that Pepperdine’s administration is overly concerned with success in basketball. They already have some other exceptional sports programs, water polo is one that immediately comes to mind if I recall correctly.