Yeo Jun-seok (21-Gonzaga) is poised to play small forward and power forward in his first season of NCAA basketball.
Gonzaga University head basketball coach Mark Pugh (61) told the Spokesman Review, “Junseok Yeo is putting in a tremendous amount of effort. The coaching staff and I have been trying to move him back and forth between the three (small forward) and the four (power forward),” he said, adding that he is still working on tactical adjustments for the forward.
The Spokane Review is a newspaper in Washington state, USA, home to Gonzaga University. Yeo is expected to be utilized as a shooting guard/small forward when the 2023-24 NCAA Division 1 season begins, with Dan DeCauw, 45, projecting him as a “wing resource who will compete for less than 10 minutes in the rotation.”
As a Gonzaga player, Dan DeCauw was a superstar who shined as an NCAA Division 1 All-American and West Coast Conference (WCC) MVP. After finishing his professional career with 300 NBA regular-season games from 2002-2008, he appeared as a college basketball expert on national network CBS and sports channel ESPN.
But coach Mark Pugh said, “He’s big and strong. When he gets to the rim, he’s got some finishing skills (that could work in the top tier of college basketball),” Pugh said, adding that he plans to use Yeo’s barefoot, 203-centimeter height and style of play more closely to the basket than as a long swingman.
At the 2021 FIBA U-19 World Cup, Yeo averaged 25.6 points, 10.6 rebounds, 2.1 steals and a 24.7 Corsi rating while leading South Korea to a 15th-place finish.
He became the first Korean to win two individual titles at the U-19 Basketball World Cup by finishing first in scoring and contributions. She finished in the top five in four categories, including second in rebounds per game and tied for fifth in steals.
Head coach Mark Pugh was also pleased with Yeo’s positive integration into the Gonzaga University basketball program, saying, “Despite the language barrier, Yeo has begun to understand what the coaching staff expects from him on defense and offense.”
Joon-seok Yeo joined Gonzaga after the roster registration period, and as a freshman, he only trained with the basketball team. As a sophomore, he will compete in the 2023-24 NCAA Division 1 season, making his official debut on the American stage.
According to the Spokesman Review, the post announcing Yeo’s recruitment in January 2023 received the most likes in the history of Gonzaga University’s official social media accounts, tied with Chet Holmgren (Oklahoma City Thunder, 21).
Chet Holmgren was the U-19 World Cup MVP and four-time USA High School Player of the Year two years ago. He was a first-round pick (No. 2 overall) in the NBA Draft in 2021-22 after being named to the NCAA Division I WCC’s Top 5-Defensive players. 토토사이트
Gonzaga is a perennial power in the WCC, having won 28 regular-season and 21 playoff titles since 1966. The team is ranked No. 11 in the second edition of the 2023-24 college basketball national rankings, updated by the Associated Press, the nation’s most respected news organization.
The Spokesman Review also noted the positive off-court buzz surrounding the player this season, saying that Gonzaga University “knows that Yeo is a highly popular basketball star in South Korea.”