Spring Break
Thabeet May Return Next Year
Men's Basketball Notebook
Zac Boyer
Issue date: 1/29/07 Section: Sports
The speculation before the season was that the Huskies would be lucky to get more than a year out of 7-foot-3 freshman center Hasheem Thabeet. Now, it appears increasingly likely that this may be the case.
Thabeet, who finished Saturday's game with 5 blocks but just 1 point, has been widely predicted by scouts to be a first-round pick should he declare himself eligible for the 2007 NBA Draft. But his recent performance - the center is averaging 5 points, 5 rebounds and 5 blocks in nine Big East games - suggests that may no longer be the case.
In last years, scouts have drooled over players with height and length, regardless of their skills. Mouhamed Saer Sene, a Senegalese center who was selected No. 10 overall in the 2006 NBA Draft by Seattle, was drafted mainly for his 7-foot-9 wingspan despite the fact that he only began playing basketball in 2003.
Head coach Jim Calhoun recently said that he believes any hope of Thabeet going to the NBA after this season and being ready to compete is no longer there and briefly, yet succinctly, summed up his season Saturday.
"I know one thing - it's incredibly upsetting to me and not the most comforting thing," Calhoun said.
Heart Stopping
Providence's Weyinmi Efejuku finished Saturday's game with 19 points and 4 steals, but it wasn't the statistics that set him apart - it was the mere fact that he was able to take the court against the Huskies.
Efejuku was the victim of a hard foul by Rutgers' Frank Russell in the second half of the Friars' Jan. 20 game that resulted in him needing medical attention after the contest. Welsh said he was discovered to have bleeding in his lower back as a result of the injury.
With Efejuku still recovering from the injury Saturday, Welsh said he was shocked the sophomore guard was able to play so well under the circumstances.
"Today, he was out, he was moving fast, and you just saw his athleticism," Welsh said. "For that reverse dunk, I almost - my heart almost came out of my chest. It's a little early in your recovery to do that."
Thabeet, who finished Saturday's game with 5 blocks but just 1 point, has been widely predicted by scouts to be a first-round pick should he declare himself eligible for the 2007 NBA Draft. But his recent performance - the center is averaging 5 points, 5 rebounds and 5 blocks in nine Big East games - suggests that may no longer be the case.
In last years, scouts have drooled over players with height and length, regardless of their skills. Mouhamed Saer Sene, a Senegalese center who was selected No. 10 overall in the 2006 NBA Draft by Seattle, was drafted mainly for his 7-foot-9 wingspan despite the fact that he only began playing basketball in 2003.
Head coach Jim Calhoun recently said that he believes any hope of Thabeet going to the NBA after this season and being ready to compete is no longer there and briefly, yet succinctly, summed up his season Saturday.
"I know one thing - it's incredibly upsetting to me and not the most comforting thing," Calhoun said.
Heart Stopping
Providence's Weyinmi Efejuku finished Saturday's game with 19 points and 4 steals, but it wasn't the statistics that set him apart - it was the mere fact that he was able to take the court against the Huskies.
Efejuku was the victim of a hard foul by Rutgers' Frank Russell in the second half of the Friars' Jan. 20 game that resulted in him needing medical attention after the contest. Welsh said he was discovered to have bleeding in his lower back as a result of the injury.
With Efejuku still recovering from the injury Saturday, Welsh said he was shocked the sophomore guard was able to play so well under the circumstances.
"Today, he was out, he was moving fast, and you just saw his athleticism," Welsh said. "For that reverse dunk, I almost - my heart almost came out of my chest. It's a little early in your recovery to do that."
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