Prospect Spotlight: Kawika Akina (2019)
Pleasant Grove will be in the thick of it yet again this upcoming season. While they are one of the favorites to win their region and win the state championship, nothing is a guarantee at this point. However, they have plenty of talent on their roster with one of the best backcourts in the entire state.
One of the key parts to that talented backcourt is Kawika Akina, a 5’10 2019 PG. Akina has a smooth stroke and shoots the basketball with a lot of accuracy. Further, he is a skilled passer who does not try to do more than he shoot. He puts his teammates in good spots and dictates tempo well.
Akina will join a couple of other guards in a skilled backcourt. They will aid Pleasant Grove in making Matt Van Komen as effective as possible. With this being his senior year, Akina also has college on his mind.
Kawika Akina College Interest
Akina does not have any offers at this point. However, he stated that he has offers from, “MIT, NYU, Colorado Mesa, Lewis and Clark, Menlo, Grinnel, Westminster, and a few other small [schools].”
While Akina values basketball, he noted that he is looking for a school that will, “Set me up for a career and the rest of my life.” He mentioned that, at this point, he is planning on majoring in business as well.
Akina played with the Utah Basketball Club, UBC, this past off-season. He played well and continued to show that he is able to manage the tempo of the game while shooting it well from deep. Akina had multiple games where he was near 10 assists. He has a high basketball IQ and an ability to put guys in spots where they can score the basketball.
He will be expected to do that for a Pleasant Grove team that has enough pieces to be one of the top teams in the state as well as win a state championship.
Kawika Akina Projection
Akina is not an NCAA Division-I prospect at this point. However, he can definitely play this game at the next level. He is efficient and effective which gives him high value to schools at the next level. At the NCAA Division-II or NAIA Division-I level, he provides the suitor with the ability to shoot the basketball from deep and make his teammates better.
He will need to continue to bulk up in order to meet the demands of the physical next level. With that said, he showed that he can hold his own and not get bumped off of his spots this past off-season.
Expect a big year for Akina and Pleasant Grove.