What is the story with Jon Bol Ajak?

[Cuse Action]

Will he see the court at all this year? I was surprised he didn't make an appearance against Bryant.

 

[ElwoodJBlues]

Will he see the court at all this year? I was surprised he didn't make an appearance against Bryant.

He’s a redshirt freshman big and the first game was very close. He will get in at some point during a blowout.

 

[orangezen]

Will he see the court at all this year? I was surprised he didn't make an appearance against Bryant.

with no practice for 14 days he needed players who knew he defense

 

[moqui]

i always had high hopes for him but beginning to fear jba=justa body apparently

 

[jdubs30]

With Sidibe out for a month .. hopefully someone steps up

 

[orangenauburn]

I mean Edwards made strides end of last year, and against Bryant he held the bench down like a champion

 

[Zelda Zonk]

with no practice for 14 days he needed players who knew he defense

We had him all last year. Shouldn’t he know the defense better than Frank?
If not... oh, boy.

 

[Fly Rodder]

Via The Athletic from October:

Redshirt freshman center John Bol Ajak faces an uphill climb. A team source says Ajak will be hard-pressed to find playing time. Three other centers are on the roster, arguably all ahead of him on the depth chart. He also hasn’t developed as quickly as some had anticipated. “Hate to say it, but I can’t see how he can play at the ACC level,” the person says. “He’s a guy who probably won’t play here at any point.”

Apparently not much has changed since then.

 

[SU94]

“Hate to say it, but I can’t see how he can play at the ACC level,” the person says. “He’s a guy who probably won’t play here at any point.”

Well, you know, ... "person" knows best.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

Via The Athletic from October:

Apparently not much has changed since then.

Holy crap. That's rough.
He is such a 'weird' recruit. A guy who looked—in highlight footage—to have size, skills, range. Looked like he was going to be a Tyler Lydon type. But, then... he didn't even start for his high school team, and people here who tend to inflate our recruits rationalized that by saying there were some 'really good players on that team.' Uggh. If you can't crack the starting rotation of a high school team, how can you expect to contribute in the ACC? But, whatever. Then, when he was here, instead of him being a 3/4, we heard he was being 'groomed' to play center. "I was like, 'what?'" Weirdness.

Can any of our insiders chime in? Anyone seen him in practice? What's the straight skinny?

I'm kinda sad. He was the player i was most curious about—the one i was most interested in seeing.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Can any of our insiders chime in? Anyone seen him in practice? What's the straight skinny?

He's straight.

And he's skinny.

 

[moqui]

i have to say i was relieved to finally see him play last night. he didn't do anything at all remarkable & he wasn't asked to do much beyond setting picks on o & being in position on dee. but he didn't make any glaring errors. certainly was not the unplayable kid rumors had made him out to be.

 

[Ghost]

i have to say i was relieved to finally see him play last night. he didn't do anything at all remarkable & he wasn't asked to do much beyond setting picks on o & being in position on. but he didn't make any glaring errors. certainly was not the unplayable kid rumors had made him out to be.

Yeah, he may lack enough strength to really battle underneath, but I was pleasantly surprised in his few minutes. He seemed to move very well, showing at the very least he's coordinated - that's something to work with. Whenever bigs seem to have concrete in their shoes, or appear to lack balance, that's usually a bit more worrisome for me early on if nothing else stands out.

Not much to evaluate so no grandiose conclusions yet, but better than I expected.

 

[Trueblue25]

He’s a good teammate, and buddies with multiple sports teams.

When other players are spamming their instagram stories with their own highlights, JBA has a couple pictures of himself but then a post on missing Bourama’s presence and wishing him well in recovery.

Hope he carves himself out a role and continues to develop. If nothing else he’s a positive presence on our team.

 

[orangecuse]

He’s a good teammate, and buddies with multiple sports teams.

When other players are spamming their instagram stories with their own highlights, JBA has a couple pictures of himself but then a post on missing Bourama’s presence and wishing him well in recovery.

Hope he carves himself out a role and continues to develop. If nothing else he’s a positive presence on our team.

That's so nice and sweet. So much for him being/landing our top priority 5 spot recruit from a couple years back. Well, at least according to one in particular here.

 

[adab1217]

Done many interviews with many basketball players through my short time covering high school and college hoops, and Bol is top 3 on my list of favorite interviews ever.

Good sense of humor

 

[Trueblue25]

That's so nice and sweet. So much for him being/landing our top priority 5 spot recruit from a couple years back. Well, at least according to one in particular here.

I don’t think I ever mentioned him being the priority/top 5 recruit?

I know I posted a thread about his shot and progress gaining size during his freshman year.

I think the recent Athletic article took my people by surprise

 

[Orangezoo]

And then last night he got decent run.

 

[orangecuse]

I don’t think I ever mentioned him being the priority/top 5 recruit?

I know I posted a thread about his shot and progress gaining size during his freshman year.

I think the recent Athletic article took my people by surprise

It wasn’t you. However, it was a poster in this thread who was quite emphatic on him being
our #1 5 spot guy, all the while after swinging & missing on all of those top/highly ranked 5 guys. Same poster that vehemently stated that Taurean Thompson was recruited here specifically at the 5 spot to replace Rak Christmas. An area to this day that is still a liability, especially in league play and against other P5 schools.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

It wasn’t you. However, it was a poster in this thread who was quite emphatic on him being
our #1 5 spot guy, all the while after swinging & missing on all of those top/highly ranked 5 guys. Same poster that vehemently stated that Taurean Thompson was recruited here specifically at the 5 spot to replace Rak Christmas. An area to this day that is still a liability, especially in league play and against other P5 schools.

 

[orangecuse]

However, if you look closely enough, I think that you may find it still being a 'dead giveaway.'