The JUCO Files Part 22
It's simple: JUCO is college basketball's backbone. There's a world of talent to discover, of which many belong in Division I. Here in-depth analysis on five must-follow prospects for D1 coaches:
Why JUCO?
It’s not only the Diego Pavia case that’ll potentially lead to NJCAA athletes maintaining their four years when they transition to the NCAA. Fringe D1 prospects must go play JUCO basketball to maintain their valuable minutes while developing must-have skills and going through adversity. The result after two years is a associate’s degree and valuable experience today’s average D1 program seeks.
Instead of paying average players a lot of money in the portal, they’ll gladly shift to JUCO prospects who’ll come in fresh, and are in most cases even better prepared than their D1 peers. It’s a situation where everyone wins.
That’s why I focus on JUCO prospects who should play Division I basketball. I’ve written 15 articles last season, covering close to 100 players of which a majority signed a deal with a D1 or D2 program. I’m ensuring to keep this part of my newsletter at the same status, trying to grow the number of players to over 100. With more and more exposure, these less-coveted prospects will also receive a fair chance to put their name out there.
All previous articles, totalling to close to 100 players, can be found here.
Prospects
1. Jaydon Awe — Northern Oklahoma College–Tonkawa
Power Forward/Center — 6’9” — Freshman — Stevens Point, WI
Link to Bio and Stats — Link to X Profile
Awe is a floor stretching combo forward who’s seeking to expand his volume from three. He’s a energy forward and a vertical lob threat who’s making the most of his movement while showing fluid hips and good movement while putting the ball on the floor to create his angles to score as a face-up option. The 1:12-mark shows an example, whereas he’s patient and actively seeking his angles by leveraging physicality and his toughness.
He’s leaving me in awe of what he can grow into. He’s still scratching the surface of what his physical tools can help him become. The differentiating part is the decent handles for his size, while showing a good jumper that still lacks volume. That’s because he’s seeking to get two feet inside the paint at all times. Awe makes it easy to collect his fair share of steals because he’s bringing the much-needed length with a long wingspan while his big hands help him to impact passing lanes. He’s one of the better defenders among JUCO prospects at close to three stocks per game. He’s a good shot-blocker because of his vertical pop and toughness inside the lane.
He’s improving a program’s defensive rating above everything. On top of that, Awe makes it easy to score inside the paint because of his crisp footwork and vertical pop. At close to eight boards per game he’s actively crashing the offensive glass. What I like is that he’s keeping the ball high upon catches and has a good euro-step to his arsenal that helps him finish in transition where he’s mostly carrying the ball up the floor. His good last step helps him solidify his balance on defense. Overall, offensively there’s still room to grow, but defensively is where he’s adding to winning and it wouldn’t shock me if mid-major programs will show interest as we’re moving toward the end of the season.
Projection for next season: Rotational piece on a MM D1 program
2. Stephen Okoro — Florida Southwestern State College
Center — 6’10” — Sophomore — Imo, Nigeria
Link to Bio and Stats — Link to X Profile
Okoro’s quick hips, good footwork and mobility makes a difference for him at Florida Southwestern. Tremendous value in the frontcourt. He’s big, quick and executes his read consistently in post-entry passes. The rebounding makes a difference, positioning-wise but also in how quick he moves with his body and feet. Okoro’s physical advantage surpasses the strength, as the quickness and smooth feet make it hard for other forwards to contain him.
