Katenda chooses Notre Dame over Wake Forest
by RAJohnston on Apr 26, 2011 3:44 PM EDT
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Notre Dame's Class of 2011 just got a whole lot better with the addition of 6'8, 210 Eric Katenda.
Katenda goes to Notre Dame from Sunrise Christian Academy (KS). This should finish up the recruiting for the the Irish for next year.
After a lengthy recruiting process, Katenda chose Notre Dame over Wake Forest and Iowa.
I'm eager to see where the Deacs will turn now for a bigger man for next year. Until we land one I would not expect any great improvements next year. It will be fun to follow Katenda at Notre Dame and see what he can do there.
Apparently Katenda flipped from Wake Forest to Notre Dame earlier today before the decision.
Click through the jump for ESPN's scouting report of Katenda's game.
Strengths:
Katenda is a long and athletic hybrid forward who has a very high ceiling. He runs the floor very well, moves well laterally, is extremely bouncy, and plays high above the rim. He has a good skill base facing the basket as he is very smooth handling the ball in the open floor or facing up and attacking his man in the quarter court. He has a soft touch in the mid-range area and can even step out and knock down the occasional three-pointer. His mobility is a major weapon defensively and he is already a good shot blocker and high volume rebounder.Weaknesses:
While Katenda is very skilled for a player his size, he gets a little too enamored with the perimeter at times. He is much more comfortable facing the basket then playing with his back to it and would do well to capitalize on his athleticism more consistently in the post instead of settling for so many long jumpers. He isn't a big fan of contact inside the paint on either end of the floor and needs to develop the killer instinct to be great.Bottom Line:
Katenda is an undeniable talent with great size, length, athleticism, and skills for a player his size. He needs to become a little more physically assertive and concentrate on impacting the game more in the paint instead of constantly trying to prove his worth on the perimeter.Notes
Native of Cameroon...
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So disappointing.
I was really feeling good about this. So much for that.
“I was still confused when I woke up,” Katenda said. “I barely slept [Monday] night. I woke up and went and did a workout. I wasn’t even focused. My AAU coach talked to them with last questions and that helped.”
Evidently, the school helped the most by Katenda’s line of questioning was Notre Dame. He’ll play the next four years as a combo forward for Irish coach Mike Brey.
http://insider.espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/blog?name=telep_dave&id=6431898
Moving On...
I’ve seen several sources that say Joseph Uchebo has Wake, FSU, and Kentucky in his short list of schools. What a steal that would be.
Surprise surprise
Not. We all knew this would happen, deep down. Get ready for the wilderness years recruiting-wise around here. At least until a few changes are made (read that saying goodbye to Wellman and Coach Buzz). I gave the benefit of the doubt this past year, but I’m more and more convinced the absolute wrong choice was made.
I don't really see how this is a surprise when he said himself that he flipped at the last second.
That means we were in position to get him and he just changed his mind. 18-year olds tend to do that. It seems like Wake Forest is always on the wrong end of every decision when it gets down to 2-3 schools. That is not a Coach Bzdelik thing.
Should we be happy that we lost out for Katenda, or even that we got in the last 2-3? Or course not, but it does show that we can be competitive in recruiting for pretty good players despite an 8-24 record last year. That means he should experience better success down the road when we win more games.
Wake Forest '12
Mother So Dear
by RAJohnston on Apr 27, 2011 11:20 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
One can hope
I’ve been following Wake since Tacy’s early years (Class of 86 here), so I know the roller coaster history of the program, even back to the McKinney days. Tacy was solid, but never built a sustained program. Staak, well, we all know how that went. Odom was very good, and the best we’ve had, in my opinion. Skip was good, too, but his last couple of years were mediocre. Dino did a great recruiting job, but his teams always faded. As for last year? Nothing can be said to sugar coat it.
Staak’s first team went 0-14 ACC and 8-21 overall, and the league was a lot tougher then. Still, they were competitive, and pushed a number of teams to the limit, to include Duke in the ACC Tourney. That was the Dawkins, Alarie and Bilas team. Far less talent for us then too, as all but one of the recruits Tacy brought in transferred out. Only Cal Boyd stayed. Muggsey Bogues and Mark Cline were pretty much the team that year. This past season, I didn’t see that competitiveness other than the UVA and Miami games. I should say “sustained” competitiveness. They showed flashes of it, but those long droughts and defensive lapses have to go. McKie was the only consistent player on the team this season.
I guess my point is, I hope they do improve and build back to a place as a challenger in the ACC, but right now I just don’t see it.
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