Unshakable point guard rises
4-year starter has colleges lining up to land him
James Akinjo is unflappable. Nothing gets him too riled. A bad pass. Missed shot. Stupid foul.
“It’s on to the next play,” he said.
But the inner calm of the Salesian-Richmond point guard — considered one of the top 100 seniors in the country by recruiting services — was sternly tested as his high school career came to an abrupt end.
First, the Pride, the top-ranked team in the state, lost a first-round Northern California Open Division game to Folsom 75-70 in overtime. Salesian squandered a 10-point lead in the final 5:30 of regulation to lose for the third straight time in the first round at NorCals. Despite Akinjo’s 28 points, his team’s 22-game win streak was snapped.
“Frankly, I still don’t want to talk about it,” Akinjo said Wednesday night.
He didn’t really want to talk about it the next day either, when his presumed college coach, Kevin Ollie, was fired at Connecticut. In less than 24 hours, Akinjo’s hopes of winning a state high school title and his dreams of starring for the Huskies were wiped clean.
And yet, Akinjo’s demeanor couldn’t be shaken. He quickly asked for — and was granted — release from his letter of intent to UConn, and over the past two weeks there has been a carousel of college coaches walking through the Salesian campus.
Patrick Ewing (Georgetown), Gregg Marshall (Wichita State), Larry Krystkowiak (Utah) and Sean Miller (Arizona) have all sat down with Akinjo, his family and Salesian coach Bill Mellis to discuss how to turn a bad ending into a new beginning, a new “next play.”
“Just shows what kind of special player and kid James is,” Mellis said. “Some of the biggest names in college basketball jumped to get here.”
That’s because the 6-foot-1, 185-pounder can really run a show.
The four-year starter averaged 20.7 points, 5.2 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 2 steals for the Pride (30-2). He was impeccable with the ball — “You cannot take the ball away from him,” Mellis said — and a keen defender, decisionmaker and shot-maker from the perimeter or going to the basket.
That’s largely why he is The Chronicle’s 2017-18 Metro Player of the Year.
“The best part about James is he got better every single year,” Mellis said. “He’s the biggest gym rat we’ve ever had.”
And perhaps the greatest guard the school has produced; and they’ve had good ones: Jabari Bird, Jabari Brown, Dominic Artis and Mario Dunn to name a few.
He finished fifth on the Salesian career scoring list with 1,597 points.
“When I came in here, I was a little guy (5-8, 160 pounds), but I focused and tried to be a spark,” Akinjo said. “I heard what a great coach coach Mellis was and I tried to soak up everything I could.
“I know it didn’t end well, but we had a great year. Our team got real close. These guys are like little brothers to me and I love them to death.”
As far as winning Player of the Year, Akinjo said: “It’s obviously a huge individual honor, but I’m going to stay humble. You’ll never hear me brag about it. If anything it just motivates me even more because I always want more and more.”