Versatile Agbai shows he's got what it takes
NEW YORK -- His average is 29 minutes a game (OK, 29.03) and he played 28. His average is 11 points a game (OK, 10.7) and he got his 11. He averages 5 rebounds a game (OK, 5.3) and he had his 5.
Statistically speaking, it was a typical Uka Agbai day for the Boston College Eagles.
But the stat sheet, as any good sports fan knows, can be a vicious prevaricator. This young man's value to his team far exceeded those numbers, which makes it a very typical Uka Agbai day for the Boston College Eagles.
"Our team could not have had the success it's had without the intangibles he brings," asserts BC coach Al Skinner, whose team advanced to the Big East quarterfinals yesterday with a grinding 68-57 conquest of Georgetown.
People hear the word "intangibles," and immediately the eyes start to roll. The sports cynic says it's a crock, that it's always been about the numbers and always will be about the numbers. No team ever intangibled its way to the championship of anything.
Yeah, right. OK, fine. Talent does come first. The truth is that no team ever has intangibled its way to the championship of anything, and that includes your New England Patriots. But there are times when the quality of the people involved does make a significant difference, and this reality has been in evidence every day of the 2003-04 BC basketball season. A lot of teams have shooters and rebounders and feeders and defenders, but only one team in America has Uka Agbai.
The background two-minute drill: Uka Agbai is a 6-foot-8-inch, 260-pound fifth-year senior and master's degree candidate from Queens, N.Y. The only reason he is playing for the 2003-04 BC team is that he sustained a neck fracture on Dec. 1, 2002, in a game against Holy Cross. He missed the remainder of the season, and the team fell just shy of an NCAA bid without him. He was legitimately vested for another year of eligibility, and he took it.
He is listed as a center, but his full job description on a team whose eight-man rotation features three freshmen and two sophomores is Center/Big Brother/Player-Coach. Granted, these freshmen might be uncommonly mature, but not even Skinner and his coaching staff know how much of their poise is attributable to the daily tutorial they have gotten from Uka Agbai.
"He's even more of a leader off the court than he is on," says Jared Dudley (12 points, 4 rebounds), one of the freshmen in question. "He has shown us how to be business people when it comes to the game."
No, no, no. He doesn't have the kids on speed dial to some agent. "It's his work ethic," Dudley explains.
He sure led by first-half example yesterday. The first half was pretty much of an eyesore. Georgetown was its usual clunking self -- it's possible it hasn't made back-to-back jumpers since Sleepy Floyd left town -- but BC, with one conspicuous exception, had not really come to play. So the Eagles weren't taking full advantage of the situation. Agbai was providing a disproportionate percentage of BC's energy output, whether fighting for putbacks, nailing a 15-footer, rebounding in traffic, or going on the floor for a loose ball. BC's halftime lead wasn't much (27-22), but it's safe to say there wouldn't have been a lead at all were it not for Agbai.
"This is it for him," says Skinner. "It's his last go-round. He would not allow us to falter without giving the proper effort."
As a sophomore on the 2000-01 team, Agbai was a major part of a special BC group. That was the 27-5 Big East championship squad, a team that featured exemplary togetherness. Now he finds himself the paterfamilias on another likable team. C'mon. Who expected anything out of the Eagles after losing Troy Bell to graduation and Ryan Sidney to an assortment of personal problems?
"There's a huge difference in the teams," Agbai says. "The other team had four seniors and underclassmen who had played. This team has a lot of freshmen and sophomores."
Agbai was a quiet physical presence on the 2000-01 team. Now he is a true man playing with talented, but inexperienced, kids.
"I'd say I'm part player-coach, with a little Big Brother thrown in," Agbai declares.
"He's such a class kid," says associate head coach Bill Coen. "So mature. He always says the right thing in the huddle. He has been a perfect kid to coach. He's got his head screwed on just right."
Agbai brings more than just his head and heart to the table. He can score inside and out, and he is a serious candidate for the Big East All-Ambidexterity Team. Yesterday's game was his 19th double-figure performance of the season. It stands to reason he could have been the difference between the Eagles making, or not making, the NCAA Tournament last year, when BC was a controversial omission.
"I'm enjoying this season a lot," he says. "It's great to know that we'll be in the tournament this year [at 22-8, they certainly will], as opposed to last year, and I like to feel I'm an integral part of that."
He's right about that, of course, and it's not as if his task is complete. "We are still progressing," he says. "We are playing better because of our confidence, which is extremely high at this time. We're not cocky, but we believe we can contend with any team in the nation."
"Next year we might not need him in order to be successful," Skinner explains. "But he is so important to this club. It's not just the numbers. It's the other things he brings, the intangibles."
Sorry if you don't want to hear that. But it happens to be the truth.
Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is ryan@globe.com.
