Wait, what?!

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/29343402/andrej-jakimovski-play-washington-state-strong-european-season

i see a time on the article, but no date ... April 1st?

No, the story is very much real...it is one of the headline stories on the right side of ESPN.com.

The article gives absolutely no indication why dude thinks Pullman, Washington, is the best place for him -- as opposed to, say, Berkeley, California -- other than it points out that coach Kyle Smith has signed a bunch of other international recruits.

Which reminds me of my tongue-in-cheek suggestion to our oh-so-mediocre coach: focus your recruiting efforts 100% on South Sudan. Not only would it be a winning strategy, it would command media attention and, if all goes well, could result in a Disney movie.

Sudanese Basketball Players:
https://basketball.realgm.com/national/countries/11/South-Sudan/nba-players

Anyone have the insight on why he chose WSU?!?

Anyone have the insight on why he chose WSU?!? Was his brother named an Asst Coach 3 months ago?

"Mr. Jakimovski to the white courtesy telephone please! Willie... er... Andrej Jakimovski to the white courtesy telephone!"

75bear said:

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Anyone have the insight on why he chose WSU?!? Was his brother named an Asst Coach 3 months ago?

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Maybe he's coming for the hunting and fishing nearby. The Cascades and Northern Idaho all nearby. Ah, the wonders of the Palouse.

Chapman_is_Gone said:

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No, the story is very much real...it is one of the headline stories on the right side of ESPN.com.

The article gives absolutely no indication why dude thinks Pullman, Washington, is the best place for him -- as opposed to, say, Berkeley, California -- other than it points out that coach Kyle Smith has signed a bunch of other international recruits.

Which reminds me of my tongue-in-cheek suggestion to our oh-so-mediocre coach: focus your recruiting efforts 100% on South Sudan. Not only would it be a winning strategy, it would command media attention and, if all goes well, could result in a Disney movie.

Sudanese Basketball Players:
https://basketball.realgm.com/national/countries/11/South-Sudan/nba-players

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Nothing like consigning a coach to mediocrity after overachieving a little, with one of the worst hands ever dealt to a Cal BB coach for his opening season. Who says our fans are hard to please? We want an NCAA invite with a high seed, and we want it immediately, virus or no virus.

The list of 8 NBA players from the South Sudan since 1946, and only one of them, Luol Deng, could put a basketball into a basket. And Cal needs players who can compete in the NCAA before we need players who can sit on an NBA bench. I'd take a chance on one like Manute Bol, the Dinka Dunker, at 7-6, who could make a three sometimes and swat shots on defense.

I was thinking the Disney movie might have been made already, but "The Gods Must Be Crazy", a wonderful South African film shot in the Kalahari Desert, wouldn't fit, because much of the South Sudan is a swamp with a heavy rainfall.

SFCityBear:

I see that you are still sore that my assessment of Paris Austin proved more accurate than yours. Can we agree to move past that?

I feel you are foolish to consign the basketball players of an entire nation -- South Sudan -- to the "bench." Please view the raw basketball practice footage at the Youtube link below. This is self-filmed documentary footage taken by the coach of a smaller D2 school, on the coach's groundbreaking visit to South Sudan in 2017. I believe it aired on PBS. Outside of Juba, the capital city and largest city of South Sudan, the coach encountered members of the Malombo tribe, and he filmed his very first attempt at teaching them the wonderful game of basketball. Taking into account the primitive conditions, I would argue the young men demonstrated a remarkable ability to quickly pick up the game. With the advanced American teaching techniques taught by Coach Fox, I believe we could quickly move to the top of the Pac-12. What do you think?

hmmm smells like teen spirit > Airplane!
from hollywood's most famous triplets zucker, zucker, zucker



massive spoilers,, don't click-it..

Chapman_is_Gone said:

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SFCityBear:

I see that you are still sore that my assessment of Paris Austin proved more accurate than yours. Can we agree to move past that?

I feel you are foolish to consign the basketball players of an entire nation -- South Sudan -- to the "bench." Please view the raw basketball practice footage at the Youtube link below. This is self-filmed documentary footage taken by the coach of a smaller D2 school, on the coach's groundbreaking visit to South Sudan in 2017. I believe it aired on PBS. Outside of Juba, the capital city and largest city of South Sudan, the coach encountered members of the Malombo tribe, and he filmed his very first attempt at teaching them the wonderful game of basketball. Taking into account the primitive conditions, I would argue the young men demonstrated a remarkable ability to quickly pick up the game. With the advanced American teaching techniques taught by Coach Fox, I believe we could quickly move to the top of the Pac-12. What do you think?

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Hi Chapman,

Loved your video clip. Whaddaya mean "sore" at anything you ever said? You've never even made my Ignore List, while half the members of this board have made it one time or another.

Just for fun, what was your assessment of Paris Austin, and what do you think mine was? I have totally forgotten. Did we make the assessments before or after he had been coached for over half a season by the "mediocre" Cal coach, Mark Fox? Because Austin got a whole lot better on defense before the end of last season.

And where did I consign the players of an entire nation to anything? You were kind enough to give us a link to the statistics of all the Sudanese who had ever played in the NBA, and only one, Luol Deng, had spent appreciable time playing in NBA games, with Manute Bol maybe second, and most of that early in his career. The other 6 players warmed the pine, based on minutes played. I think Fox would have better luck focusing on LA and the Bay Area. I doubt we have a recruiting budget like Duke and Kentucky, and flights to LA are a lot cheaper than flights to the Sudan.

PS: Kuany may turn out to be better than all of them.