A First Look at Babatunde Akingbola

Photo credit: GW Athletics

By Cameron Mays (@cameronemays)

As we approach the men’s basketball season once again in Foggy Bottom, the anticipation for a team with 11 new players, most of them unknown in the college basketball world, is the highest in recent memory. With head coach Chris Caputo entering his second season at the helm of the rebuilt Revolutionaries squad, this is a team that sees itself as better than most of the predictions, and is confident that it can shake things up in a messy Atlantic 10. 

Perhaps none of the new players are as important as the 6-foot-10 inch graduate transfer from Nigeria by way of Auburn, Babatunde Akingbola. Akingbola, more commonly known as Stretch, brings a veteran presence with elite defensive capabilities. After losing centers Hunter Dean and Noel Brown to the portal, landing a player like Stretch was crucial for the Revs to have a positive year. To find out more about Stretch and what his role is with the team for this year, I sat down with him and Coach Caputo.

Stretch, who earned the nickname from teammates during his high school days due to his long arms and having a hard name to pronounce, played the last four years for the Tigers. While he was a touted recruit out of his highschool in Georgia, he saw limited action at Auburn due to roster depth and injury, causing him to only play in 50 games over his four years. He is actively trying to receive a medical redshirt for his last year at Auburn, and believes that it will be granted.

Coming into GW, Stretch described his biggest skillset as “aggressiveness on both ends. On defense I like to talk and direct my team. On offense I am an offensive rebounder. I always tell JB [James Bishop IV], my teammates, to shoot the ball. I put that trust in them.” 

This mindset makes Stretch the perfect anchor for a GW defense that ranked 322nd in the country last year. While offense will certainly be taken care of by Bishop, Edwards, and a slew of newcomers, defense needs to be a priority for GW to be competitive. Coach Caputo feels the same.

“He’s a vocal defender. He’s a legit shot blocker. He goes after the ball on the glass,” Caputo said about Stretch’s impact on the court, “I think he can be a really good positional defender and multifaceted pick and roll defender.” 

Shot blocking especially is a skillset that GW has lacked in recent years. While players like Dean, Brown, and Ricky Lindo Jr. could occasionally lockdown another player (think of GG Jackson in the South Carolina game), a consistent paint presence has not been something the Revs have been able to rely on in past seasons.

While Stretch has ample experience on one side of the ball, Caputo and the coaching staff are also trying to unlock Stretch’s offensive capabilities. He said that in his time so far one of his priorities has been to get quicker on offense. Getting better at “quick shots, touch around the rim, finishing, being strong with the ball, and screening angles” have been his main focuses so far. In a conference like the A-10 which does not have many powerful centers year in and year out, Stretch will easily be one of the best centers in the league if he can develop into a plus offensive player. Caputo believes he can make it a reality.

“Offensively he’s just inexperienced in some ways,” Caputo said, “so he’s going to be a roller, a rebounder, a guy who is going to play along the baseline for duck-ins and finishes.”

However, Caputo is hopeful that with time Stretch will be able to improve his touch around the rim, and has already seen progress since he got to campus in August. “In my career, guys have gotten better at finishing if you spend time with them on it. I feel like he’ll have a good offensive year,” Caputo continued.

Besides his immediate on-court impact, Stretch knows that another part of his job is to be a veteran and a mentor for the ten underclassmen on the roster. 

“I am a veteran. I’ve been where they’re at,” Stretch said about his experience, “I’ve been where I wasn’t playing, I’ve been where I was playing. I’ve been where I felt like I was doing too much, I’ve been where I felt like I wasn’t doing enough.” 

It is this mindset combined with his playstyle that makes him such a valuable asset to the team, and one that Caputo hopes will help improve the younger players.

“That’s the thing that really stands out,” Caputo said about Stretch’s impact with the rest of the team, “Stretch is a verbal leader and an adult, which is what our young guys need. They need some older guys around them to be a great influence.” 

Just as much of a coach’s job can be to manage people as it is to manage a game, and to have a player on the court every night who can help with that will be an impact that not many other players can have.

Part of what has helped Stretch become a positive influence for younger players is by living and playing basketball in so many places. The experiences have helped him develop a focused mantra for maintaining outstanding character and athletic performance. “You can’t just talk about it, you have to be about it,” Stretch said about what he has learned over the years, “Whatever you do you have to put your mind and soul into it. If I have to do one thing I have to do that one thing perfectly. And I’m not perfect, but I’m trying.” 

Coming from a school like Auburn which has a major sports culture, to GW where Caputo and other programs are trying to build the culture up, Stretch knows that there is only one way to get people engaged and excited about athletics. “We gotta win, regardless. That’s the main goal, we have to win games for people to come to the games,” he said, “We have to give them shows, people want to come have fun and enjoy themselves. If we start doing that people will come.”

Outside of basketball, Stretch is staying focused on school. After graduating from Auburn with a degree in Business Administration, he is in the GW Sports Management graduate program. While basketball is his number one priority after school, his expertise extends outside of X’s and O’s. “Business for sure, I’m learning it,” Stretch said about what he wants to do after his playing career, “I’m from Nigeria, I’m thinking of doing international business, imports and exports.”

But even when his playing days are over, Stretch wants to stay active in the game through coaching. “I love coaching and seeing people getting better, and I love the process,” he explained, “that right there I will do.” 

For now though, Stretch’s mind is only on November 6th. Besides his first game against Stonehill, there is one opponent he is looking forward to playing.

“They said our rivals are George Mason. I can’t wait to whoop them.”