George Mason Basketball: Paul Hewitt wastes no time filling the open scholarship left by Luke Hancock

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Paul Hewitt wastes no time filling the open scholarship left by Luke Hancock

It certainly didn't take long for new head coach Paul Hewitt to fill the open spot on the roster left by Luke Hancock's departure to Louisville. By now you have probably seen the news that Seton Hall forward Anali Okoloji will be transferring to George Mason. The 6'8" forward didn't play much in his freshman season at Seton Hall but was a highly coveted recruit back coming out. You will notice he was listed as a shooting guard on the recruiting sites and has been described as a 'wing forward' who can rebound and score inside and out. Although he couldn't get on the floor at Seton Hall the hope is a change in scenery and a new coaching staff will help bring out his potential.

Okoloji will sit out the 2011-2012 season by NCAA transfer rules and then join the class of Erik Copes, Corey Edwards, and Vaughn Gray in 2012-2013.

Labels: recruiting

18 Comments:

Bryan said...: He didn't waste any time because he knew Luke was leaving.; 10:12 AM
Kdenton1 said...: Luke, how's that pine taste over at Louisville?; 11:03 AM
c hirsch said...: This seems insanely premature.; 12:53 PM
Taylormade703 said...: But he can't play this year. What about this upcoming season? How are we looking there?; 1:15 PM
out1aw said...: It's rare for a 6 foot 8 guy, who can do it all, to sit for an everage team. Is it possible? sure, but i'm realistic.; 1:34 PM
out1aw said...: *average team being Seton Hall; 2:46 PM
Eddie Cochran said...: You hear anything about a Jonathon Miller from Texas-Arlington coming to Mason? Anthony Morrow (Nets/Ga Tech) said that he was coming to play for Hewitt at Mason on his twitter this week...; 3:13 PM
Dan said...: How is Anali Okoloji's name pronounced?; 3:27 PM
gmuhoops said...: Good question. Hopefully gomason.com will add that in his profile bio; 3:36 PM
Taylormade703 said...: On a youtube vid the announcer called him On-Ah-Lay Oh-Kuh-Low-Gee. I don't know if that's right or not but that's what he said.; 3:54 PM
Justin Hay said...: I saw that tweet too...can't find any info on the kid for the life of me.; 4:07 PM
Egross said...: I believe it is pronounced "An-nal-ee Oh-Kill-oh-gee". Like Anali, I too transferred from Seton Hall to George Mason so I kept an eye on their team and his play this year. He didn't get much playing time because of the lineup and style of play at Seton Hall. SHU had 2 good big men in Herb Pope and Jeff Robinson taking the starting time, and the head coach at SHU preferred a guy named Patrick Auda coming off the bench because he was bigger and could spread the floor pretty well by making 3's. SHU was mostly a guard oriented team that had a lot of talent (enough to make the NCAA) but the coaching change and some off-the-court nonsense hindered the team. I hope that Anali gets a chance to play minutes at GMU, because he is hard to match up against, given his size and ability to make mid-range jump shots.; 6:31 PM
Nicholas Schulz said...: just watched some video of him on youtube.com. He is a confidence player, no doubt, and can hit mid range jumpers pretty nicely, which will be hard for other to defend; 10:34 PM
Nicholas Schulz said...: I just watched some video of him on youtube.com. He is confident, no doubt. He can hit the mid range jumper which will be hard for people to gaurd; 10:35 PM
CN said...: Sounds like he would be a solid 3/4 guy in the system. Pending his development, of course... This team's picked up a lot of size so far, which was not really a focal point of Larranaga. We'll see how it turns out, but I like what I am seeing right now, but it may be difficult to mesh the two different types of players that are now on the team.

Here's Okoloji's ESPN profile coming out of HS:
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/102087/anali-okoloji; 10:45 PM
Keith292 said...: As in he did just announce it today.. So either he is walking on or someone else we don't know about is leaving. Correct?; 12:33 AM
Kdenton1 said...: That's the whole point. I make an early prediction. When the time comes you all can say, "Denton called it." or "That Denton is full of it." He will def. play because they wanted him and he is good and blah blah blah but if I was a starter or a bencher at the Lou last year I would die before a mid-major transfer came in and took my spot. The dirty Lou is a school with lots of early leaves so he will play but I predict the first game of the season Luke does not start.; 10:04 AM
c hirsch said...: I don't think Luke is going in with the expectation that he would start the first game. Lineups change throughout a season, Luke will do fine at Louisville.; 11:27 AM

Paul Hewitt wastes no time filling the open scholarship left by Luke Hancock

George Mason Basketball

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Paul Hewitt wastes no time filling the open scholarship left by Luke Hancock

18 Comments:

Post a Comment

About Me

Previous Posts