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Sidelines Kalani Simpson |
Akpan can’t afford
to lose focusIT was a sad ending to (or, more hopefully, a sad middle of) the Tony Akpan era in Rainbow basketball history.
It's a shame, because I don't care how good he becomes in football, this guy was something special on the basketball court. (No, not great. But special.)
But this is no bombshell, or at least it shouldn't be. It was sad the day he left hoops for football. The die was cast months ago. This is just the inevitable result.
And once we get past the emotion of the moment, you really can't argue with Riley Wallace here, depressing as it is.
If Tony really is going to have a chance to turn into a football pro prospect, he'd better throw himself into it, without distractions.
And if he's not really focusing on basketball, that's not going to work, either.
Don't forget, this is a guy who took on a new sport while he was still learning the old one. (Yeah, Tony has great potential in both sports, but at this point in his development he's not a guy who can afford to do anything part-time.)
Don't forget, Wallace isn't the kind of coach who lets players do things part-time or halfway. That Wallace was going to try it with this guy at all speaks volumes about Akpan and about their relationship.
But for this to have worked everything would had to have gone perfectly. Tony needed to handle everything perfectly. The basketball staff had to have done everything perfectly.
And the football staff, too.
Apparently one or all fell short, and that's no surprise. That's a lot of perfection to ask.
And it's unfair to either team to have him coming and going and never quite clicking. It would be unfair to Akpan -- if he's going to be good in either sport he can't afford to let his progress slip.
Yes, there will be some outcry over this. Basketball fans loved Tony. But more than his coach, more than Wallace? I don't think so.
It's just sad, though. I don't care how good Tony becomes in football (or doesn't). I don't think it equals the excitement he brought to that Stan Sheriff Center court.
>> How many "future first-round picks" are currently on the UH football roster, anyway?
>> The UH football sub scrimmage the other day was great fun. But the defense (including the aforementioned Mr. Akpan) pounded the offense so badly that when June Jones announced near the end that the defense was leading by a score of 57-32 it prompted offensive lineman Chad Kahale to wonder: "Is a fumble 13 points?"
>> Big news that the OIA and ILH are getting back together. But the announcement drew this response from one of our guys in the newsroom: "How is that different from what they do now?"
Uh ... I guess they won't call them "preseason games" anymore?
>> Did anybody else see that the Southern Methodist football coach (who I like, by the way) is threatening to not play Texas Christian ever again if the Horned Frogs leave Conference USA for the Mountain West?
It seems that the Mustangs coach is shocked and disgusted that a school would jump from one conference to another in search of a better deal.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com
