Recruit wrapup: Junior Cadougan
While the days of their starting point guard throwing down vicious alley-oop dunks are gone for the forseeable future with the impending graduation of Dominic James, Marquette Golden Eagles fans will probably be happy to know the odds-on favorite to replace him has been working diligently on his hops of late.
So much so, in fact, that Junior Cadougan recently tried to take the ball right down the lane on his coach at Christian Life Center, Carlos Wilson, and finish with authority -- a move neither could have foreseen previously.
"We were playing pickup the other day after workouts, and he tried to dunk on me," Wilson said. "I was like, ‘Wait a minute. I don’t want to hurt you. I’m 40. You just can’t be doing me like that.’ But that’s how confident he’s become – finger rolls have turned into dunks because he’s lost weight."
Added Cadougan with a laugh: "I tried to posterize him. He didn't like that."
Weight and conditioning have been continual battles for the 6-foot-1 Cadougan during his time at Christian Life in Humble, Texas.
Compared physically to Khalid Al-Amin and more recently Levance Fields because of his body type, Cadougan has apparently taken his commitment to reshaping his body to higher levels since he helped lead his team to a 35-2 record and a national championship in the Elite Division of the National Association of Christian Athletics.
"Right now he has a personal trainer that he sees," Wilson said on Monday. "After our workouts that we have at school, he goes on to his personal trainer, his dietician. He has people around him that really are conducive to him being in the best possible shape. He’s dunking the ball now. He’s down to about 210-212.
"So he’s working really, really, really hard, and it shows. His body’s looking better, his confidence is growing. He’s playing hard, he’s more athletic. And I think when he gets there he’ll take it to the next level, when he gets with the strength coach. He’ll continue to develop as far as that aspect is concerned."
Cadougan, who's well aware of the expectations that will be placed upon him as James' heir apparent, has taken all the direction and advice he can over the past few months in an attempt to hit the ground running once he arrives at MU in early June.
Agility and lateral quickness have been two focal points, he said, not worrying about how many minutes he's going to be playing or whether the starting job will be his from the outset.
"I’m looking forward to the challenge, and on top of that, as soon as I get there I’m going to take full advantage of the training from Coach Todd (Smith) so I can get my body right and be in the best condition I can be," said Cadougan. "Once your body and conditioning is at their best, you can perform at a high level. Right now I’m not really focused on (starting) all that; I’m focused on getting into the best shape I can be in, so I can play all those minutes and perform at the highest level."
Cadougan averaged around 22.0 points, 8.0 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 steals while shooting 48.0% from the floor and 42.0% from three-point range this past season.
His offensive numbers surged in large part because his teammates asked him to take the reins.
"The guys asked Junior, ‘We know you’re unselfish, we know you’re trying to put us in good positions, but we want to follow your lead. So you take the ball, you score, and we’ll just play off of you.’ Once the guys took that approach, we went on to the national tournament and won the whole thing," said Wilson. "The thing about it is, we were still winning prior to that. We just weren’t winning the right way, as far as our talent would parlay. Once he became option No. 1 offensively, it allowed us to really take flight. But those are the things where when you ask him to do it, he’s comfortable at adjusting for the sake of the team.
"If we would have called for him to be the third or fourth option and we’d win the championship, then so be it. But whatever you ask him as a coach, he’ll try his best to deliver."
It was all part of his role as point guard, Cadougan said.
"I have to be a leader on my team, and in order for me to do that I have to accept all roles," he said. "Know all the positions, all the plays, know where to place people. So them telling me to step up and score more, gave me more confidence to take over in games down the stretch, to start off big, start off real quick. So it wasn’t too big of an adjustment for me."
Wilson said Cadougan's offensive game expanded once he was able to find the range with his perimeter shot.
"It was just a deadly mixture," he said. "He’d hit three-pointers on the secondary break, pull-up jump shots from the three-point line. The mid-range has always been there. And he can get to the basket. The guy that was defending him was at his mercy a lot of times. Some of the plays that he made were just unbelievable basketball plays that only a special talent could do.
"But I think what was most improved was his three-point shooting. He really caught fire down the stretch, and they had to play him honest. So once he caught the ball they would crowd him and he would go past them. Then if they got over and helped he’d stop and pop. He had the total package."
Defensively speaking, Cadougan will have some adjustments to make once he begins acclimating himself to life at the Division I level. But his increased stamina, as well as improved focus on that end of the court, figure to serve him well.
"We never looked at him as a defensive stopper, and we’d always joke about it. But at the end of the day, if you look at the numbers, he led our team at steals," said Wilson. "He’d get in and get the defensive rebound. He played situational defense, with as much as we asked him to do offensively and where he gave all his energy on offense. But at the end of the day, he’s going to go at his guy, and he knows the situations where it’s time to make that play defensively that can turn the tide of the game.
"That’s another thing – down the stretch, we’re up by six, he may get two steals in a row and an and-1. He picked his moments. But he’s a more accomplished defender than people know, or seem to believe."
Looking at Cadougan's game as a whole, Wilson believes the Toronto native will have no trouble stepping in and making an immediate impact as a freshman.
"No, I don’t. I mean, you’re looking at a kid that started on Canada’s U-17 junior-national team at the age of 14. This is just the same transition," he said. "At age 14 he was playing with kids 18, 19 years old for his country. This is just another chapter in a book I feel I know the ending to. I know he’ll go up there and of course he’ll have growing pains, like all freshmen.
"But at the end of the day I don’t think there’s anyone better-equipped to come in and make a splash from Day 1 as far as the team and the team’s success than Junior."
This past season was one marred by foot injuries for MU, none bigger than the fracture suffered by James on Feb. 25. Cadougan actually suffered the same break and also had surgery midway through his junior year at Christian Life.
Wilson said while Cadougan never aggravated it, and he seemingly had no problems as a senior, he still wonders if it affects him and his game.
"It always bothers me, that foot. It still seems like his gait isn’t as smooth as it was prior to the injury," he said. "It doesn’t slow him down, but it’s something that’s concerning. He didn’t hurt it, he never missed a practice. He complained about it being sore a couple times, but that’s normal.
"It’s just something that really concerns me. But he’s tough as nails, and hopefully it’s something that’s behind him, and maybe once he gets down to his ideal weight and he continues training, it’ll be a thing of the past."
Cadougan, for his part, said he now feels as good as he has in recent memory.
"At the beginning of the season it bothered me a little bit, but it just got better and better throughout the season," he said. "The doctor told me by December or January I’d stop feeling it, and that all the scar tissue would go away, so right now I’m feeling like 100 percent. I’m feeling like I’ve never felt before. My sophomore, junior years I had some injuries, but right now I’m feeling real nice. On point."
Just prior to doing the interview for this story on Monday afternoon, Cadougan had finished taking his college entrance exam. Neither he nor Wilson expects any academic trouble as he continues to move toward joining the Golden Eagles' remade backcourt that will feature two other new players in Dwight Buycks and Darius Johnson-Odom, along with returnees Maurice Acker and David Cubillan.
"He’s working really, really hard in the classroom," Wilson said. "Just trying to get everything in order for him to get up there in June. That’s his sole focus, now that the season’s over, just making sure he finishes, makes the best grades possible and got to Marquette. He knows that academically he’s going to have to take care of business, so he’s taking care of everything we ask him to do as far as the classroom is concerned."
Note: This is the first in a series of season-ending updates on each of MU's signed recruits for 2009-'10. Updates on commitments for the 2010-'11 class will then follow.
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