SPORTS SPOTLIGHT: Koufos is big; his potential is that much bigger
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
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[FONT=Verdana, Times New Roman, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]SPORTS SPOTLIGHT TODD PORTER[/FONT]
CANTON - The kid doesn’t look like a kid. Not at 7-foot-1. Not with just about every college basketball coach in the country salivating to get his services ... in another two years.
But Kosta Koufos is still a kid. It’s evident in his baby face and normal teen-age boy problems. It was evident in the middle of the third quarter Tuesday night at Memorial Civic Center. He’s got an NBA body, but 16-year-old thighs and knees.
Koufos probably felt like he was carrying a sequoia on his back — the tree or the SUV, take your pick. It’s a little much right now to ask him to carry his team, too. At least against McKinley, the best high school team in Ohio, if not the Midwest.
Tuesday night, school was in session. Koufos played basketball and took notes. He went against McKinley senior Raymar Morgan for most of Tuesday’s game, played in front of a nearly sold-out Civic Center.
In the end, GlenOak had a decent plan, but the Bulldogs had the horses. McKinley, led by Morgan and a cast of role players good enough to start on most teams in Ohio, left with a 59-46 win.
“McKinley is what, the No. 13 team in the country?” Koufos said.
Actually, USA Today ranked the Bulldogs 16th.
“They play great together,” Koufos said. “Not everybody is going to have 10, 11 great players together like that. We have great players, too. We’re just not there yet with them.”
Koufos made all six of his first-half shots. He’s 7-foot-1. He can dribble. He can shoot. He can pass.
He wasn’t the best player on the floor. That is why GlenOak’s junior took notes. He watched the way Morgan, a senior going to Michigan State who led the Bulldogs to a state title last year, went about his business.
First class, all the way.
“Raymar is unbelievable,” Koufos said. “It was an honor to guard him. He will make me better.”
The problem was, McKinley had more than Morgan to handle Koufos. The Bulldogs ran Ricky Jackson at him.
Thus, in the third quarter, it looked like he carried a tree on his back coming down the court. Of course, Koufos never left the floor.
Wanna know what that’s like? Strap a 50-pound weight to your neck and run up and down a basketball floor on stilts with barely a rest for two and half hours.
“That’s going to be good for me in the long run,” Koufos said.
By the time Koufos got the ball in his range in the second half, five minutes ran off the third-quarter clock. That’s about the same time fatigue set in.
McKinley’s Dave Hoover is a smart coach; few are better. He knew his team’s 31-26 halftime lead was precarious with Koufos on the floor playing at his tempo.
“He is maybe the best big man I’ve ever seen as a post-up, back-to-the-basket guy,” Hoover said. “He knows where he needs to be to shoot it, and he has such a soft touch.”
The game plan was to score quick in the third quarter and extend the lead.
High school players rarely can play with patience the bigger a lead swells.
About two minutes into the third quarter, McKinley’s lead was 41-28.
Koufos didn’t touch the ball. GlenOak, playing at a fairly methodical pace, picked up the tempo. Often, the Golden Eagles got the ball down the court in front of Koufos.
“We’ve got to do a better job of getting the ball to him,” GlenOak head coach Jack Greynolds Jr. said. “People have to realize, too, Kosta’s still 16. He’s young.
“We executed the game plan well. It’s not like we were playing dogs. We played them as well as anybody and pretty soon we’re going to knock them off.”
It’s going to take more than Koufos to do that, although he did his part Tuesday. Morgan did his.
Rarely does the hype of two great high school basketball players live up to the billing. The crowd got its money’s worth.
Greynolds smiled. He gets to watch Koufos every day.
“He’s going to be an unbelievable ballplayer,” Greynolds said. “People need to come out and see him because he’s going to be spectacular.”
Going to be?
Yes, there is room for improvement. Stark County is lucky enough to be able to watch perhaps the most talented team in McKinley history this year.
Guess what?
Koufos will be at GlenOak for another year. The baby fat will melt away. The rest of his body will catch up.
No wonder Rick Pitino’s coming to town Friday to watch him. He knows a special basketball player when he sees one. And Koufos is still a relative basketball baby.
He carried Sequoias on Tuesday. A year from now, he’ll be as strong — and big — as one. Reach Repository sports writer Todd Porter at (330) 580-8340 or e-mail:
[email protected].
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