Will UConn’s Bouknight learn from his bad decisions?

STORRS — Rashad Anderson, wearing a ski mask and wielding a 14inch knife, was a freshman when he hid in the woods near the Hilltop dormitories shortly before midnight on Sept. 16, 2002. It was there that immaturity, stupidity, and poor timing got the better of one of the best 3point shooters in UConn basketball history.

Convinced he was a master prankster, Anderson started jumping out of the bushes and scaring the bejabbers out of fellow students. The knife turned out to be plastic. The blood on the knife turned out to be fake. The charges of threatening and breach of peace turned out to be real.

As news surfaced Tuesday that UConn freshman James Bouknight had been charged with evading responsibility, interfering with a campus police officer, traveling too fast for conditions, and operating a motor vehicle without a license, you couldn’t help but think of Anderson and a more recent scooter driver named Jalen Adams.

Too often college kids don’t think about the consequences until they’ve done something stupid.

Sometimes freshmen don’t think at all.

By the time social media and competing fan sites are finished with Bouknight in the coming days, he will either be worse than Jack the Ripper or guilty of nothing worse than an expired parking meter.

Neither are true, of course, yet that doesn’t matter if you, A. want UConn to win every game, or B. want UConn to lose every game. Competing pompoms do not weigh equally on the scales of justice.

Bouknight is a terrific young guard, capable of scoring from all three levels, for a program hellbent on returning to its glory days.

Lots of people are watching. If he didn’t before, James Bouknight most certainly understands the glare now.

“You walk in here today to see the type of media attention and social media that this thing has gotten, it definitely will scare you straight,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “If it doesn’t, then you’re an idiot.”

According to the campus police, Bouknight was operating a speeding vehicle around 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 27. Dangerous.

He hit a street sign at the intersection of Royce Circle and Wilbur Cross Way.

Fortunately, no one was hurt.

When officer Gary Bourgoin approached, Bouknight started to exit the vehicle. Bouknight, ordered to remain, told Bourgoin he had no identification. And as the two continued to speak, Bouknight suddenly ran from the scene.

Panic.

During these tense days in America, I’d be lying if I tried to pretend to know

what is going through the mind of a young black man when he’s faced with what Hurley said was his first real interaction with law enforcement.

“It’s too hypothetically hard for me to put myself in his shoes, having just been in a minor crash in a pole,” Hurley said “I don’t imagine you’re thinking very clearly at that stage. It just became one bad decision that led to another bad decision that led to another bad decision.”

It turned out Bouknight does not have a valid driver’s license. That’s plain irresponsible.

Bouknight, found at his residence hall, gave sworn, written statement admitting to the actions. Immaturity? Guilty. Irresponsibility? Guilty. An Oct. 29 court date figures to leave him with fines and an assortment of legal directives to get himself back in good standing.

Although internal team discipline has already begun, Hurley said there hasn’t been a decision yet on any game suspension. You can learn as much about a college coach in these circumstances as you do about the athlete and, on the front end of this, Hurley was strong, open, frank in discussing Bouknight’s string of bad decisions.

“I run a tight ship and this isn’t a good look,” Hurley said.

He has been wise to keep Bouknight involved in demanding practices and even in First Night. Alienating a teenager risks losing him. Yet there needs to be some kind of game suspension to start the season.

“In the end, the biggest fallout from this thing is going be the damage to his reputation,” Hurley said. “The shame, the embarrassment, that he’s caused himself, caused his family, the program, his teammates, the university, all of us here.

“James comes from a great family, two great parents that have raised him to make much better choices than he did that night. He’s going to have to live with this thing. This is going to be attached to him in his career for the next several years, minimum. That’s a hard thing. He’s struggling and he should be. He made some bad choices that night.”

It isn’t clear why it took nearly a month for Bouknight to turn himself in on the warrant for his arrest. Hurley said he has known of the situation since the day after the incident. On Tuesday, Bouknight issued a statement calling himself irresponsible and having made foolish choices that he regretted. He apologized to his family, coaches and teammates and said he will use the experience to learn from his mistakes. After doing all the wrong things on Sept. 27, he said all the right the right things on Oct. 22. That’s a start. Yes, he went away from home to play at prep school, but that’s a different story than the independence of a university campus.

“He’s a college freshman that has never had this much freedom in his life,” Hurley said. “This was very outofcharacter for James. James has been a model studentathlete since he’s been here. I haven’t had a complaint about a lapse of effort in study hall. James is a great kid.

“What do you do from here? Obviously, he can’t have another situation. He’s got to carry himself with humility and also strength here, too, in being able to handle this situation and take everything that comes with it and not let it define him.”

Hurley said it once, twice, three times: Bouknight has been in a bad way and he should be. The coaches are down on him. He has known public embarrassment was coming and, yes, now it is here. There are going to be tough things said on social media. There are going to be tough things said this season in opposing arenas.

“That’s the state you put yourself in when you make bad choices,” Hurley said. “He is going to have to be incredibly strong. He’s a quality person who did some dumb stuff.

“I believe in James Bouknight. We got to know him very well during the recruiting process. I’ve got extreme confidence that from here on out, everything that’s attached to James Bouknight is going to be really, really positive.”

This is three autumns in a row there have been preseason disciplinary issues. Two years ago, as a junior, Jalen Adams left the scene of a minor motor scooter accident caused while racing. He was charged with evading responsibility — the perfect charge for what he did — and had to pay a $50 fine. Kevin Ollie kept Adams out of the opener against Colgate. Last year, Hurley held Adams out of a scrimmage and Sidney Wilson for several weeks for undisclosed violations.

“No matter how strong your culture is, no matter how much you emphasize things with your program, things are going to come up with players on a college campus,” Hurley said. “This is a great opportunity for everyone in that locker room to see what James has gone through.

“If there is anything loose in terms of his approach on campus, if he can’t reevaluate the choices he’s making in the evening, people he’s hanging around, every aspect of what’s going on, he’s not as smart a guy as I believe he is.”

Like Hurley said, if it doesn’t scare you straight, you’re an idiot.