Adieu to Antwi
February 29th, 2008, 5:22 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Mark Heller
Antwi Atuahene, among the most worldly, colorful and entertaining players to wear Maroon and Gold this decade.
When Antwi Atuahene arrived at Arizona State, he wore 00. He was on the bottom, out of Rutgers and two years spent at Trinity Community College to improve his academics.
Three years, two coaches, 49 losses, ample playing time, slashed playing time and a chance at the NCAA Tournament later, he’s upgraded to No. 1.
“He’s not followed the yellow brick road to this destination,” coach Herb Sendek said. “He’s taken detours, round-about trips and earned his degree.”
Finally able to make the journey from Toronto, his mother, Agartha, will be in attendance for the first time.
His career at Wells Fargo Arena ends Saturday afternoon, unless ASU hosts National Invitation Tournament games (which is very possible), but there’s still a few more games to go for the team’s motor-mouth story-teller to have fun.
He’s got plenty of tales. Teammates admire his personality, life experience and networking skills.
Perhaps equally important to this team, he’s gone from 26 minutes per game his first two years at ASU, to seven minutes per game this season, as the Sun Devils’ upgraded roster have taken his playing time.
He’s never opened his mouth.
“Some guys, if they’re not on the floor, they add nothing to the team,” he said with a slight accent accent. “I add value in other ways.”
“I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. Still do.”
It also means he has more to prove. He plans to play with the Canadian Olympic team and play in China with the Summer Olympics, followed by a stint or two in Europe.
Again, he feels the need to prove himself, so the 00 might return.
“I got a lot of ball playing to do,” he said.
A few more bits of randomness:
Point guard Derek Glasser continues to battle knee tendinitis. He bumped his left knee Thursday night, but played anyway. Rest (which he won’t get) is the best prescription.
Jeff Pendergraph suffered a cut on his finger and had to change shorts and jerseys because of blood. He’ll be fine.
ASU and Saturday’s opponent, USC, are the only two schools in Division I to play against nine teams currently ranked in the RPI top 25.
James Harden (35.9 minutes per game) and Ty Abbott (34.7) are both on pace to break the school record for minutes played by freshman in Pac-10 play. Byron Scott’s 34.2 minutes aren’t likely to last by the end of next week.
