I wanted to share a story that some of you might find interesting.
I had the pleasure of watching Peter Jok play in a basketball tournament after his 8th grade year, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was a national level tournament, with some of the top teams in that age group from the entire country.
While I was watching Peter's team plan on one court, during an early game in the tourney, I was also watching Elijah Brown play on another court. Elijah was rumored to be the best player in the tournament...and arguably one of the best in the entire country. He was Mike Brown's son, who was coaching Lebron James in Cleveland. I thought Elijah Brown looked pretty good, but he was nothing compared to 8th grade Peter Jok.
I had watched Peter play in several tournaments, and had also been watching Harrison Barnes play in many of those same tournaments, as they played for the same club out of Iowa. Harrison was at that point a junior or senior, and was making a case for the number one ranking in his class. I think Harrison had possibly just completed the Lebron camp up in Cleveland himself, and had set himself apart from most of the other recruits at that camp. Barnes was being coached by Jake Sullivan, and Mr. Sullivan had done a tremendous job of instilling work ethic and developing skill in Harrison...moreso than you typically were seeing in kids with his size and athleticism.
Anyway, I had watched Harrison play quite a bit as an 8th grader as well, and was surprised folks weren't talking about Peter as a potential #1 prospect, because he was far advanced over Barnes if you were to compare them both at the 8th grade level. Barnes had always played an interior position up until about 7th or 8th grade, and so perimeter skills were proving to be difficult in development. Even today, Harrison is not nearly as fluid on the perimeter as Peter. Peter had started playing on the 3-point line when he was about a 3rd grader. It looked pretty funny at the time, as Peter was much bigger than everyone else on the court at that early age. Peter would cast up 3-balls incessantly as an elementary student. 80% of them would not go in, but the ones that did snapped the net, and one would wonder if he would ever learn to make that shot consistently.
For some reason, maybe the difficulty of being displaced from Africa, or other family stuff, Peter never developed that same work ethic that Mr. Sullivan tried to instill in all of his players. Jok was much more playful, just really enjoyed the game. He loved to pretend to be Kobe on the perimeter, and his coaches were always begging him to spend some time in the lane. I think that is why, combined with the knee problems, Peter flew under the radar for a few years. It looks to m like Fran has finally been able to get that work ethic up to the level necessary to garner success in the B1G...and hopefully follow Harrison into the NBA.
I was wondering the other day whatever happened to Elijah Brown, so I looked him up. I didn't read a ton of stuff, but it looks like he is now playing for the Lobos...interestingly enough for Coach Craig Neal, who has Iowa ties. It looks like Brown took a tour of Butler en route to New Mexico, and that he did some stuff in Vegas that didn't stay there. But I saw an interview with him that suggests maybe Elijah is starting to mature both as a player and as a man, maybe with similar timing as our own Peter Jok.
Oh, and that tournament in Fort Wayne? I watched Peter's team work their way into that national championship game, and they were paired against a team from Florida. The Florida team was far superior athletically to anyone else in the tournament, and no one gave the boys from Iowa a chance. I enjoyed the beginning of that game with interest, as the scoreboard read 19-0 at the end of the 1st quarter. Peter's team waltzed through the final 3 quarters to what I would assume was his first ever national championship. Let's hope that run was a warmup for another 'ship run coming up over the next 8 weeks.
Go Hawks!
I had the pleasure of watching Peter Jok play in a basketball tournament after his 8th grade year, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was a national level tournament, with some of the top teams in that age group from the entire country.
While I was watching Peter's team plan on one court, during an early game in the tourney, I was also watching Elijah Brown play on another court. Elijah was rumored to be the best player in the tournament...and arguably one of the best in the entire country. He was Mike Brown's son, who was coaching Lebron James in Cleveland. I thought Elijah Brown looked pretty good, but he was nothing compared to 8th grade Peter Jok.
I had watched Peter play in several tournaments, and had also been watching Harrison Barnes play in many of those same tournaments, as they played for the same club out of Iowa. Harrison was at that point a junior or senior, and was making a case for the number one ranking in his class. I think Harrison had possibly just completed the Lebron camp up in Cleveland himself, and had set himself apart from most of the other recruits at that camp. Barnes was being coached by Jake Sullivan, and Mr. Sullivan had done a tremendous job of instilling work ethic and developing skill in Harrison...moreso than you typically were seeing in kids with his size and athleticism.
Anyway, I had watched Harrison play quite a bit as an 8th grader as well, and was surprised folks weren't talking about Peter as a potential #1 prospect, because he was far advanced over Barnes if you were to compare them both at the 8th grade level. Barnes had always played an interior position up until about 7th or 8th grade, and so perimeter skills were proving to be difficult in development. Even today, Harrison is not nearly as fluid on the perimeter as Peter. Peter had started playing on the 3-point line when he was about a 3rd grader. It looked pretty funny at the time, as Peter was much bigger than everyone else on the court at that early age. Peter would cast up 3-balls incessantly as an elementary student. 80% of them would not go in, but the ones that did snapped the net, and one would wonder if he would ever learn to make that shot consistently.
For some reason, maybe the difficulty of being displaced from Africa, or other family stuff, Peter never developed that same work ethic that Mr. Sullivan tried to instill in all of his players. Jok was much more playful, just really enjoyed the game. He loved to pretend to be Kobe on the perimeter, and his coaches were always begging him to spend some time in the lane. I think that is why, combined with the knee problems, Peter flew under the radar for a few years. It looks to m like Fran has finally been able to get that work ethic up to the level necessary to garner success in the B1G...and hopefully follow Harrison into the NBA.
I was wondering the other day whatever happened to Elijah Brown, so I looked him up. I didn't read a ton of stuff, but it looks like he is now playing for the Lobos...interestingly enough for Coach Craig Neal, who has Iowa ties. It looks like Brown took a tour of Butler en route to New Mexico, and that he did some stuff in Vegas that didn't stay there. But I saw an interview with him that suggests maybe Elijah is starting to mature both as a player and as a man, maybe with similar timing as our own Peter Jok.
Oh, and that tournament in Fort Wayne? I watched Peter's team work their way into that national championship game, and they were paired against a team from Florida. The Florida team was far superior athletically to anyone else in the tournament, and no one gave the boys from Iowa a chance. I enjoyed the beginning of that game with interest, as the scoreboard read 19-0 at the end of the 1st quarter. Peter's team waltzed through the final 3 quarters to what I would assume was his first ever national championship. Let's hope that run was a warmup for another 'ship run coming up over the next 8 weeks.
Go Hawks!
