Learning Opportunities Rare for Okoro
It is the last season for forward Adam Stetson and a lost season for forward Matt Okoro.
The two were unfortunately linked.
Stetson missed 12 games after suffering a collapsed lung on Nov. 25 and spent December at home in Colleyville, Texas. How much better would the Anteaters have been with Stetson, their third-leading scorer last season, healthy? That’s unknown, but he certainly wouldn’t have made things worse.
An easier question is how much better off Okoro would have been. At the time Stetson went down, forward Marek Ondera was suffering back spasms. Anteater Coach Pat Douglass, fearing he might be without both his senior power forwards, decided to use the 17-year-old Okoro instead of continuing to redshirt him.
Okoro was lukewarm to the idea at first, but wanted to help the team.
“Coach said I needed to help with the rebounding,” Okoro said. “He said it would help me get experience for next season.”
But he isn’t gaining that experience.
Douglass wrestled with the question of activating Okoro. Now, after pulling the trigger, he seems reluctant to use him.
“It wasn’t a matter of wins and losses,” Douglass said. “It was not a matter of what we wanted to do. We would have liked to redshirt Matt.
“We wanted to continue to redshirt him, but due to the fact we might lose our two seniors, we needed to have a roster of players to continue playing college basketball. It didn’t make any sense to start playing him in the middle of conference if Adam and Marek went down.”
Of course, at the time, Irvine had three other inside players on the roster, Greg Ethington, J.R. Christ and Mark Gottschalk. Gottschalk has since quit the team.
Okoro played 32 minutes against Humboldt State in his first game, finishing with eight points and seven rebounds. Since then, his playing time has been sporadic.
He played 18 minutes against Cal State Fullerton. Before that, he played five against Boise State and three against Idaho.
Okoro sprained his ankle against Fullerton and missed three games. But he has been fit for the last four games and has played a total of 15 minutes.
Why burn a player’s season so he can clap in uniform on the bench? The Anteaters are not going anywhere. Okoro could have learned a lot.
Okoro is obviously a raw talent. His leaping ability is exceptional, as he demonstrated Saturday against Santa Barbara by reaching high to swat a shot. Of course, Okoro was called for goaltending on the play, showing how far he still needs to go.
In the first half against the Gauchos, he missed two shots, had one turnover and got called for goaltending in a two-minute stretch.
He wasn’t ready and he didn’t get to learn. Now he has one less season.
LAST ROUNDUP
Stetson, meanwhile, is still fighting to get back to his old body-banging self. He had seven points in the first half against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, but was left gasping for air.
“I’m still feeling the chest a little bit,” Stetson said. “I don’t know if there is a little uneasiness in my mind. I felt pretty good out there. I feel my stamina has come back a lot.”
Stetson did have a redshirt year, but chose not to sit out.
“This team is young and it needed senior leadership,” Stetson said. “I wanted to finish it out this season.”
Stetson hopes to be accepted to graduate school at Irvine.
FAST START
The Cal State Fullerton softball team has gotten off to a good start with an 11-1 record under interim Coach Michelle Gromacki. “We’re very pleased,” Gromacki said. “We’ve been substituting a lot, and everyone has been contributing.”
Fullerton had won 10 consecutive games before losing, 8-3, to Arizona State.
Two freshman pitchers, Jodie Cox and Gina Oaks, have already made their marks. Both have 4-0 records. Cox has a 1.11 earned-run average, and Oaks has a 2.33 ERA. The Titans’ top returning pitcher, sophomore Christy Robitaille, is 3-1 with a 1.56 ERA.
The Titans are batting .364 to .224 for their opponents.
Kristy Osborne and Yasmin Mossadeghi have been leading the way on offense. Osborne is batting .531 (17 hits in 32 at-bats) and Mossadeghi is hitting .514 (18 hits in 35 at-bats).
Monica Lucatero, who is batting .364, leads the team in runs batted in with 13. Mossadeghi has 11.
FULLERTON CERTIFIED
The Cal State Fullerton athletic department has received certification from the NCAA after an evaluation by a peer-review team.
Fullerton received the highest rating awarded, according to athletic department spokesman Mel Franks. All NCAA schools must be reviewed once every 10 years under the program that began in 1994.
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Staff writer Lon Eubanks contributed to this story.
