Sanders Missing His Peak

As Tyrese Rice exited Conte Forum on March 7, 2009 for the final time, Rakim Sanders celebrated his game-winning jump shot over Georgia Tech in the final home game of the season. Sanders had prevented a crippling loss that could have put the Eagles squarely on the bubble and looked as if his game was turning the corner.

Sanders came to Boston College with all the promise in the world. After being named Gatorade Player of the Year for Rhode Island, Sanders' presence in Chestnut Hill helped created buzz about Al Skinner's talented 2007 recruiting class. An imposing figure with an NBA-ready body, Sanders immediately found himself in the BC starting lineup. Even his name had a superstar quality to it – Rakim Sanders definitely could have been a character in a Stallone movie.

In his first game ever at BC, Sanders scored 22 points, immediately heightening the expectations of every Eagles basketball fan. There were still holes in his game, though. For instance, he carried a higher 3-point percentage than free-throw percentage throughout most of the season. Sanders drew comparisons to Jared Dudley or the anti-Shamari Spears with his controlled aggression and ability to step outside and hit open shots. Early in the season, as a young Eagles squad took a beating from eventual national champion, Kansas, Sanders pulled off a sensational follow-up dunk that dropped the jaws of basketball fans in a way that only Sanders or Greg Oden could. That play officially removed the ceiling on the Rakim Sanders' experience.

Fast forward to Jan. 13 as the Eagles faced the Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor. No one comes to Duke and escapes with a win without a very special performance, yet the Eagles trailed by only three at the half. BC then proceeded to be shut out for the first five minutes of the second half and was down 15 before it blinked. When the Eagles needed a slashing basket or a momentum changing three, Sanders was nowhere to be found. He scored only three points all night on one-of-eight shooting in 31 minutes of inaction.

When Rice departed from the Heights, the overarching question for the 2009-2010 edition of the Eagles was how it could replace Rice's leadership. It would only be natural for a young team to turn to a player who had started 65 games and had the ability to grab a dollar off the rim and leave four quarters in its place. Yet, Sanders found himself suspended for the first two games of the year for a violation of team rules, which is known as "pulling a Rice" here on campus. In his first game back, he suffered an ankle injury that is most likely the culprit of his struggles this season.

Since returning, Sanders is averaging a paltry 10.9 points per game (the lowest mark of his career), and shooting just 37 percent from the field and 28 percent from 3-point land, and has scored less than eight points more times than he's scored 20. Whether it was due to the injury or the significant time he missed, Sanders has lacked his usual explosiveness and can't seem to find a rhythm on the court. While he was out, Reggie Jackson picked up a lot of the playmaking responsibilities, which may be causing some alpha dog tension for Sanders.

The solution I see to this problem would be to move Sanders to the bench and lessen his minutes until he can find his flow and electricity once again. It's possible that this could cause Sanders to shut it down a bit, but at the moment, he just isn't the same player he used to be and not nearly the player we dreamed of him to be. With Sanders pushed into a lesser role, it would give extended minutes to Jackson and Dallas Elmore, both of whom have elevated their games as this season has progressed.

A move to the bench would hopefully be sufficient motivation for Sanders to focus on his game and get him playing at a consistently high level. It's possible Sanders has just grown complacent and hasn't had any urgency to make a concerted effort toward adding to his game because he's never had to battle for a starting spot. Cutting into Sanders' minutes will reveal the type of competitor is. Will he rise to the occasion and snatch them back like the leader we need him to be, or sulk his way toward a disappointing season?

Maybe he's not the player we desperately wanted him to be. And maybe his athleticism and ability tricked us into unfairly evaluating him. His career has more peaks and valleys than that of Christina Hendricks. Hopefully, Sanders will soon be peaking once again.