MBB 2018-19

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/sawa14/status/1033151848885248000

Small man, big dreams
Single-minded five-foot-nine Winnipegger fully expects to earn a living on NBA hardwood; the lightning-quick 'Winnipeg Jet' survived a bumpy prep school experience in the U.S. and landed a NCAA scholarship
By: Mike Sawatzky
Posted: 08/24/2018 7:00 PM

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/basketball/small-man-big-dreams-491655931.html

[FieldGoodie05]

https://twitter.com/sawa14/status/1033151848885248000

Small man, big dreams
Single-minded five-foot-nine Winnipegger fully expects to earn a living on NBA hardwood; the lightning-quick 'Winnipeg Jet' survived a bumpy prep school experience in the U.S. and landed a NCAA scholarship
By: Mike Sawatzky
Posted: 08/24/2018 7:00 PM

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/basketball/small-man-big-dreams-491655931.html

Any chance you can post the whole story for those not desiring to sign up for 60/day free trial?

[vu72]

Wow!  What a wonderful article!  Can't wait to se him in the brown and gold!

[VU2014]

Small request: If you can access the link please read the article through there website. I don't like copy/pasting articles because I want the website to get credit for their article. Please click on the twitter link first, before reading below. If you are unable to read the article than just read it below, but share the article on your social media.

https://twitter.com/sawa14/status/1033151848885248000




Small man, big dreams
Single-minded five-foot-nine Winnipegger fully expects to earn a living on NBA hardwood; the lightning-quick 'Winnipeg Jet' survived a bumpy prep school experience in the U.S. and landed a NCAA scholarship
By: Mike Sawatzky
Posted: 08/24/2018 7:00 PM


The details of the game have faded from memory over time, but the lesson Mercy Sackey learned more than a decade ago remains as vivid today as the day it happened.



Her oldest son Desmond was 13 and playing in Winnipeg's Rising Star summer basketball league while her youngest child, Daniel, a pint-sized eight-year-old, was riding the bench.

Daniel, looking comical in his oversized jersey and shorts, had been practising with the older boys and the coach decided it was time to put him into a game. The score was close as the clock ticked down in the final minutes.

Mom protested briefly; then she relented.

"They set the play — big brother Des gets the ball to Daniel," she remembers.

"He shoots the three-point(er) and they win the game and my jaw drops. Since then, I say to myself, 'I'll never limit my child.' Because he knows who he is. Since then, he knows and he's fearless."

INTRODUCING TEAM SACKEY

When your little brother tells you he needs to leave home to pursue his dream of playing Division 1 NCAA basketball and the even bigger fantasy of reaching the NBA, it doesn't seem out of the ordinary to Clementina Sackey.

"I'm so close to all my brothers but he means a lot to me," says Daniel's only sister, better known as Tina.



"I want him to succeed in every capacity, so it was hard to see him to go, but at the end of the day, for him to stay here it wouldn't have benefited him. I know he has a ton of potential. I know, one day, he can make it to the NBA if he has his mind straight.

"I was worried and I prayed for him, but at the end of the day, God's got him and he focuses his mind."



All of which goes to say the members of the Sackey family can expect the unwavering support of their siblings and parents.

David, a custodian with the Winnipeg School Division, and Mercy, a vice-principal at Lord Nelson School, came to Canada from their native Ghana in the 1990s and instilled in their children a powerful desire to succeed.

Desmond, 24, is a recent grad of the nutritional science program at the University of Manitoba and a prospective medical school applicant while 21-year-old twins Clement and Tina are finishing up education degrees at the U of M and University of Winnipeg, respectively.

The three oldest siblings also played high school basketball and Clement was also a shot put athlete on the U of M track and field team for a time.

Through the years one of their biggest passions has been their music, which has deep roots in their religious upbringing at the New Annointing Christian Fellowship in Winnipeg's North End.



The basement of the family's Amber Trails home includes a small recording studio.

"We grew up basically in the church," says Tina. "Mom's a pastor, dad's an elder and my brothers played music in the church. My brothers are amazing musicians."



Tina is no slouch in that department either, lending her vocals and saxophone to a family band that includes Daniel, a drummer since elementary school, Clement (bass, piano, drums), Desmond (drums, guitar, bass) and sometimes Mercy (vocals) and David (congas) to play at various church events.

"It's great because they play weddings," says Stephen Tackie, David Sackey's cousin. "They're good."

The music?

"We play a lot of genres — a little bit of contemporary, gospel, reggae," she says. "It's primarily a Jamaican church, so tons of reggae and soca."

THE BEAT OF THE GAME

There's a rhythm that connects the game Daniel loves and the music he plays.

You can see the musician at work on the court — changing tempos, improvising, fooling a defence with misdirection to make a no-look pass and generally making his teammates better from his point guard position. When he talks about his music, he might as well be describing his approach to basketball, too.

"To me, we play from our soul," he says. "What we play is all what we're feeling. So, if we go jam out, some days it will be fast, some days it will be slow, but I feel it's all from the soul."

Mercy expects her children, all born in Canada, to be good citizens.

In 2012, the entire family travelled to Ghana on a church mission to distribute food and school supplies to needy folks. A year later, the whole crew trekked to Jamaica on another charitable mission.

"We believe in adaptation," says Mercy. "We also believe in where you are is where you're meant to be and you belong there.

"It's good to have African culture and African values but we are Canadians now, so everything about what we do and how we raised them is part of what being a Canadian citizen looks like and how being African blend together. In the long run, we are Canadian."

SMALL MAN, BIG DREAMS

Daniel attended Kelvin in Grade 10 and played for the Clippers during the 2014-15 season, but he had already decided his future was going to involve becoming a basketball expeditionary.

That meant a foray into the murky, often seamy world of American basketball prep schools, where profit is often the main motive and unscrupulous operators prey on the dreams of aspiring college prospects.



Daniel's experience was truly eye-opening.

He accepted an offer to start his Grade 11 season at St. Louis Christian, a Missouri-based operation.

"Initially, I left Winnipeg so I could get more exposure and more competition," he says. "St. Louis Christian was a good wake-up call, a reality check, honestly, because we weren't living that great but the education was good and the school was very, very small.

"If everything else was good, I would've stayed because basketball-wise it was good. Living conditions, food, facilities, it was not great so I had to leave."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2F6d1-_kf8

In 2016-17, he responded to an offer to attend the 22ft Academy in Anderson, S.C., and would have returned last fall had federal authorities not shut down the program, charging the British founder Mike Rawson and his wife, Brenda, with visa fraud.

"We clicked so well together," says Daniel. "I definitely would've stayed and the plan was to stay, but it got shut down because Mike Rawson, the owner, he was doing illegal stuff.

"It was hard, going different places, meeting new people and getting closer to having to leave. I just wanted to focus on my goal, to make it to the NBA. I have that mindset."



With another season looming, he opted to return to Canada to play for coach Chris Skinner while polishing his game and academics at Thornlea Prep in the north-Toronto suburb of Thornhill.

All the while, he had the support of his family back home.

"Our only fear was, how many times is he going to have to go through these situations?" says Desmond. "It's not easy for a guy to show up at a school, play hard and switch a coach and program. There wasn't a doubt in my mind about what the outcome would be. I was more concerned with how the exposure would be."

At Thornlea, Daniel had a big year, averaging more than 25 points and eight assists a game and was  invited to play in the Bio-Steel All-Canadian prospects game in the spring.

By that time, the Division I scholarship offers from schools such as Evansville, Kent State, Western Kentucky and Valparaiso started to roll in.

Feeling he made a strong connection with associate head coach Luke Gore and with an eye to the program's graduating class, Daniel signed with Valpo, which is situated in the middle of Indiana's hoops heartland.

DESTINATION VALPO

As an incoming freshman, Daniel will be expected to pay his dues at Valparaiso, but he has shown the coaching staff by way of some off-season workouts that he could be a factor in short order.



"He's taken big strides very quickly," says Crusaders head coach Matt Lottich. "I think for a lot of freshmen coming into college there's a transition period where you're coming from being the best player on your team pretty much your entire life and then having to come to a place where you're now on a team where people have been the best players on their teams their entire lives.

"Learning when to pick your spots and freshmen sometimes have a hard time doing that. Daniel's had some adjustments and he's taken them head on. Some days he was the best player on the floor."

The Crusaders, coming off a underwhelming 15-17 season and a 10th-place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference, will be hoping to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014-15 and Daniel is planning ambitiously to be a big part of the resurgence.

"I think I fit in great," he says. "For me personally, I'm a very fast-paced, strong type of point guard. I've always been a vocal person, so I can fit in.



"In college, if you're not going to play defence you're not going to play. I already know that. I've always taken defence personally."

Lottich and his staff started to actively scout the Winnipegger early in 2017 and admits Daniel's high school tour of North America was a red flag at first.

"It was a concern for us, there's no doubt about it," says Lottich. "But when you talk to him and you hear the circumstances and why it happened, it's something you can understand. For us, we asked the question of why it happened and we were confident the answer was sincere and reasonable and we were comfortable moving forward with it."

Daniel's willingness to expend vast amounts of energy at both ends of the floor makes him a coach's favourite.

"He's very competitive and very athletic and you take that combination and you've got a guy that's willing to guard and has the physical attributes to do it, you're going to be a good defender," says Lottich.

"Daniel is unique in that when he comes into a game or comes into a practice, you will play differently. He will hound the basketball, he will push the ball in transition, he is going to make everyone else faster because he's so fast and so athletic.

"There's a lot of things he does that lots of people can't do. Now we've got to get him to do it within the context of what we're doing but we also don't want to over-coach him to the point where it takes away from what he does best."

RAISING THE BAR

Daniel is just the third Manitoban to earn a scholarship in Division 1 men's basketball since the NCAA reorganized into its current competitive format in 1973.

He was preceded by Fort Richmond's Dan Becker in the early '80s and his old Wolves and under-17 national squad teammate Emmanuel Akot, a Winnipegger who started his college career at Arizona last fall.



Valpo and Arizona play in different conferences and are not scheduled to play each other this season.

"That's my boy," Daniel says of Akot, a six-foot-eight guard/forward for the Wildcats and a potential NBA draft pick in 2019.

"The only way we'll play each other is in the (March Madness) NCAA Tournament. If it comes, I would definitely want to guard him — I don't care."

[valpospartan]

I love the photo of the whole family wearing VU shirts.

[VUGrad1314]

Very excited to see him in action. Seems like a great person and fit for Valpo.

[VULB#62]

Matt and the staff are finding the right guys for our situation. Daniel is driven, but at the same time, he is a spiritual kid with a great personality and a super smile. Then last year I recall some of the stuff about Marcus when he signed and before school started - same all-out commitment to becoming better coupled with the same love of the game. Great bloodlines. Great pick ups 

[valpo64]

It sure appears Daniel is and will be a class act, both on and off the court.  Along with a loving and supportive family and being faith-based, I am sure Mr. S has a great future.   Maybe his family's band could entertain before a game or 2 to help increase attendance.

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/353jerseys4hope/status/1033881166128902146?s=20

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/1034090559571460096

https://twitter.com/mid_madness/status/1034077701483712512

[FieldGoodie05]

https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/1034090559571460096

https://twitter.com/mid_madness/status/1034077701483712512

Good find VU2014.  Nice to see Daniel get such credit and to think of the quality of our (2) true freshmen this year.  Hopefully they can contribute by mid-season and keep the good vibes going.  If he is as athletic and fast as they talk about it's going to be F U N . . .

[justducky]

Good find VU2014.  Nice to see Daniel get such credit and to think of the quality of our (2) true freshmen this year.  Hopefully they can contribute by mid-season and keep the good vibes going.  If he is as athletic and fast as they talk about it's going to be F U N . . .

With all of the buzz surrounding Sackey you would think he was an 8 star recruit and Freeman-Liberty was an obscure walk on.     I wonder how that comparison will play out by mid season?

[FieldGoodie05]

Good find VU2014.  Nice to see Daniel get such credit and to think of the quality of our (2) true freshmen this year.  Hopefully they can contribute by mid-season and keep the good vibes going.  If he is as athletic and fast as they talk about it's going to be F U N . . .

With all of the buzz surrounding Sackey you would think he was an 8 star recruit and Freeman-Liberty was an obscure walk on.     I wonder how that comparison will play out by mid season?

Good question ducky, which true freshmen (Javon Freeman-Liberty or Daniel Sackey) will be a bigger contributor in . . .

1) Year 1
2) Career

My vote
1) Year 1 = Javon Freenan-Liberty because we can play a 3-guard system in where he would get minutes.  Freshmen PG is a very difficult position to fill.
2) Career = Geez, that is really forecasting having not seen either.  But I'll go with Daniel Sackey because PG's can right-the-ship.

[VULB#62]

From the MMM article on David (my emphasis):

Sackey is a 5'9 guard who is originally from Winnipeg, MB but moved to the Toronto area to play for Thornlea Secondary in order to increase his hopes of playing in the NCAA. Winnipeg isn't exactly the kind of place where you'll see Jim Boeheim and John Calipari sitting in the stands at a high school gym, so Sackey enters his freshman year at Valpo a little under the national radar. However, Sackey is one of the fastest human beings you will ever see on a basketball court and is also freakishly athletic. He won the BioSteel All-Canadian slam dunk competition - which is the Canadian version of the McDonald's All-American game - against several big name recruits. Sackey should become an all-conference talent and be a dominant force in the Missouri Valley Conference over the next four years.

Quite the projection.

[VU2014]

Good find VU2014.  Nice to see Daniel get such credit and to think of the quality of our (2) true freshmen this year.  Hopefully they can contribute by mid-season and keep the good vibes going.  If he is as athletic and fast as they talk about it's going to be F U N . . .

With all of the buzz surrounding Sackey you would think he was an 8 star recruit and Freeman-Liberty was an obscure walk on.     I wonder how that comparison will play out by mid season?

Sackey has had a nice pub boost the lat few days with some great articles, but I heard JFL has looked pretty good in open gyms as well. I wonder how the jump shot is coming along though. He could develop a consistent jumper to keep defenders honest it could really open up his game. I want to see how JFL looks against a good zone. He was pretty crafty at finding driving lanes in HS but in college it will be tougher. I don't think we'll need JFL or Sackey to stars to be competitive this season. If they can play strong defense and play within the offense it would go along way.

One guy that not many are talking about this offseason is Bakari. I know he's highly motivated and could be in for a big year. Last season was his first full season of basketball since his JR year of HS.

I thought some of Coach Lottich's comments in the article about Daniel were enlightening.

"He's taken big strides very quickly," says Crusaders head coach Matt Lottich. "I think for a lot of freshmen coming into college there's a transition period where you're coming from being the best player on your team pretty much your entire life and then having to come to a place where you're now on a team where people have been the best players on their teams their entire lives.

"Learning when to pick your spots and freshmen sometimes have a hard time doing that. Daniel's had some adjustments and he's taken them head on. Some days he was the best player on the floor."

Sackey said, "In college, if you're not going to play defence you're not going to play. I already know that. I've always taken defence personally." (It's true. He won't get court time early on if he doesn't play at least solid team defense. Love that he's taking what the coaches preach to heart)
...
Daniel's willingness to expend vast amounts of energy at both ends of the floor makes him a coach's favourite.

"He's very competitive and very athletic and you take that combination and you've got a guy that's willing to guard and has the physical attributes to do it, you're going to be a good defender," says Lottich.

"Daniel is unique in that when he comes into a game or comes into a practice, you will play differently. He will hound the basketball, he will push the ball in transition, he is going to make everyone else faster because he's so fast and so athletic.

"There's a lot of things he does that lots of people can't do. Now we've got to get him to do it within the context of what we're doing but we also don't want to over-coach him to the point where it takes away from what he does best."



I'll be watching to see how Sackey's role evolves his freshman season.

[talksalot]

Year 1 = Javon Freenan-Liberty because

just for reference, I spoke with Javon at the basketball camp a few weeks ago, and he's dropping the "-Liberty" on his uniform, he'll be going by Javon Freeman and that's the way he wants to be introduced.

so... Kareen Abdul-Jabbar will be the only hyphenated name on the historical roster...

[justducky]

With all of the buzz surrounding Sackey you would think he was an 8 star recruit and Freeman-Liberty was an obscure walk on.

Speaking of obscure walk on freshmen, are there any updates, comments or observations concerning Langston Stalling our full ride Lilly Scholar? Will he be good enough to earn some significant minutes? Its hard not to love a walk on even if his basketball talent alone might have provided him with a D-1 scholarship. 

[VU2014]

With all of the buzz surrounding Sackey you would think he was an 8 star recruit and Freeman-Liberty was an obscure walk on.

Speaking of obscure walk on freshmen, are there any updates, comments or observations concerning Langston Stalling our full ride Lilly Scholar? Will he be good enough to earn some significant minutes? Its hard not to love a walk on even if his basketball talent alone might have provided him with a D-1 scholarship. 

I haven't heard anything but I think we may have some opportunities to see him play at home if the starters can take of business (as they should) against opponents on home OOC schedule: Concordia, PNW, SIUE, UCR, UIndy.

[VU2014]

Did Valpo Athletics just hire a Director of Digital Media? I love the move if we did. It appears he held a similar position at the University of Minnesota Duluth. I wonder if Coach Bowen recommended him for the job.

https://twitter.com/ssalceda25

Steve Salceda is his name and here is his YouTube Channel to check out some of his past work. I'm a fan of his music choices for his videos.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyBBfrXosWPI86nq3WJGi1w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOlnospIm9Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r1YpGUl4wo

[Brandon]

Did Valpo Athletics just hire a Director of Digital Media? I love the move if we did. It appears he held a similar position at the University of Minnesota Duluth. I wonder if Coach Bowen recommended him for the job. https://twitter.com/ssalceda25 Steve Salceda is his name and here is his YouTube Channel to check out some of his past work. I'm a fan of his music choices for his videos. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyBBfrXosWPI86nq3WJGi1w

Yes, we did recently add Steve to our marketing/communications for athletics team. He's been a great addition to our group. The video content you've seen over the last few weeks on our social media platforms - promo videos, season hype videos for men's and women's soccer, etc. - has been his work.

[VULB#62]

Good to see your post Brandon. Best wishes for some great coverage of Valpo sports in 18-19.

[bbtds]

Valpo and Arizona play in different conferences and are not scheduled to play each other this season.

"That's my boy," Daniel says of Akot, a six-foot-eight guard/forward for the Wildcats and a potential NBA draft pick in 2019.

"The only way we'll play each other is in the (March Madness) NCAA Tournament. If it comes, I would definitely want to guard him — I don't care."

Seems like a unique opportunity to get Arizona on our non-conf schedule again. Maybe Sean Miller can be contacted.

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/CollegeHoopNews/status/1036309098000736256

[VU2014]

The NWI Times has a new reporter who will be reporting on Valpo Athletics if you want to give him a follow. Maybe he'll be USH's new co-host? Ironically he was covering Bryce Drew's Vandy teams as a student journalist.

https://twitter.com/rwweinstein/status/1036758843731193860

[FieldGoodie05]

The NWI Times has a new reporter who will be reporting on Valpo Athletics if you want to give him a follow. Maybe he'll be USH's new co-host? Ironically he was covering Bryce Drew's Vandy teams as a student journalist.

https://twitter.com/rwweinstein/status/1036758843731193860

I thought Paul Oren was the "Sports reporter covering college basketball, @valpoathletics, @ValleyHoops and @NWIPreps"?  So where does this guy come into play?

I don't live in the area any longer so it's possible I am missing something here.  Having multiple people cover @valpoathletics seems unlikely?