Mbakwe's performance

[Falkinator]

Got a chance to see Mbakwe play yesterday at the Al. There team ended up winning by two. He looked very good for the most part. He was constantly being doubled, but he didn't force anything and played with composure. He finished with 23 pts, 9 reb, and 5 blocks. The most noticeable thing about him is his insane leaping ability. He threw down a couple of ridiculous dunks early in the game and that was all i needed to see to know that he will have an impact next year.

[Big Papi]

Got a chance to see Mbakwe play yesterday at the Al. There team ended up winning by two. He looked very good for the most part. He was constantly being doubled, but he didn't force anything and played with composure. He finished with 23 pts, 9 reb, and 5 blocks. The most noticeable thing about him is his insane leaping ability. He threw down a couple of ridiculous dunks early in the game and that was all i needed to see to know that he will have an impact next year.

Would you compare him to Trend in his leaping skills but with much more all-around ability?

[Nukem2]

Far different players.  Mbakwe is much more physical.  Both can leap.

[bs4173]

There's a good post somebody just put up on www.crackedsidewalks.com about Mbakwe's performance last night. It's a comment on the "Media Update" thread.

[NYWarrior]

nice catch -- we re-posted that excellent evaluation as a stand-alone post moments ago!

[TVDirector]

"Mbakwe's Weaknesses:
1. Seemed a little lazy for long stretches, not going up for rebounds or running to play D. "

can't imagine TC would go for any of that...
he'll bench him despite his talent... and for looong stretches at that.
hope the kid has the maturity to learn from that, and not say the hell with it and head to UNLV.

[The Lens]

"Mbakwe's Weaknesses:
1. Seemed a little lazy for long stretches, not going up for rebounds or running to play D. "

can't imagine TC would go for any of that...
he'll bench him despite his talent... and for looong stretches at that.
hope the kid has the maturity to learn from that, and not say the hell with it and head to UNLV.

I was at the MUHS game tonight and to be honest his effort never seemed to be an issue.  He did sit out for exteneded periods with fouls but when on the court he did hustle back more than reported yesterday.  Bothe Trev and Scoot looked like players.  I was pretty pleased with what I saw.  Mbakwe may have the best body of any TC recruit...and he went 8-8 from the line, can he play on Sat?

[Big Papi]

Mbakwe may have the best body of any TC recruit...and he went 8-8 from the line, can he play on Sat?

A big who can hit his throws is huge.  Good to see.

[MonsterWebWarrior]

I saw him play last night too.  You could tell after the first play of the game that he was the best player on the court when he jumped a foot higher than everyone else out there on the first missed shot, then came down and split a doubleteam in the post and practically dunked the ball from the middle of the lane.  And it's not like MUHS is a slouch of a team.  They're consistently good every year.  But there was no one person on the court who had the athleticism to stop him.  I have to agree, I thought he was a bit lazy.  My buddy and I both said the same.  He wasn't real aggressive going after rebounds.  He stood around watching a lot.  Crean definitely won't go for that.  But when the guy wanted to, man was he explosive.  He just LOVED to block shots.  He didn't just block shots, he tried to injure people from swatting the ball.  We counted 5 monster blocks that guy had where the crowd went nuts (and they were mostly MUHS fans).  And the fast break dunk that he had, he literally jumped over the defender in front of him who was trying to take the charge, hung on the rim and pulled it down like Shaq used to do.  It was the biggest dunk over someone I've ever seen.  He was impressive.  

I was much less impressed with Christopherson the game before.  He showed a nice touch from outside in the second and bits of the third quarter, but had a little bit of McNeal in him yesterday - constantly driving the lane and getting tied up by 3 defenders and not getting a good shot off (you all know exactly what I'm talking about).  If you didn't know he was a Marquette recruit, you may not have even thought much of seeing him (though like I said, he showed a nice touch from outside shooting threes, especially in the 2nd quarter).  But that was only one game.  I'm sure he's looked better in most of his other games.

[miltownsports]

Crean did bench Blackledge for the entire Wisconsin cuz he failed teh pre-game test on assignments and players' tendencies so i dont think TC will have any qualms about sitting MBakwe if he isnt givin effort.  We coulda used Blackledge too... Barro was in foul trouble.

[SoCalstu09]

Crean did bench Blackledge for the entire Wisconsin cuz he failed teh pre-game test on assignments and players' tendencies so i dont think TC will have any qualms about sitting MBakwe if he isnt givin effort.  We coulda used Blackledge too... Barro was in foul trouble.

Well that's why we lost! Crean is giving out additional tests during finals week! It all comes together now.

[HoopDreams]

I cannot wait for Mbakwe..great post Falkinator. It will be interesting to see if the dynamics of our offense change (especially our set offense) with a new post presence. We will see..