Style No, Results

Kojo Mensah-Bonsu won’t win any style awards for his jump shot, which is so foreign in appearance that teammate Chris Crosby invented a word to describe it.

“It’s janky, that’s the word,” Crosby insisted, declining to elaborate. “But as long as it goes in, I don’t care.”

Teammate Carlos Daniel was more succinct.

“Gross,” he offered, reveling in the opportunity to roast his roommate. “Man, I don’t know what that is. That’s the jump shot, Congo edition.”

Ghana edition, to be geographically correct. That’s where Mensah-Bonsu’s family hails, although Kojo grew up in London and didn’t even pick up a basketball until his junior year of high school.

Mensah-Bonsu played his senior season at Laurel Baptist Academy near Washington, D.C., where he stayed with relatives. He came to WSU after two seasons at Champlain College in Vermont.

It hasn’t taken long for the 6-foot-5, 218-pound forward to emerge as one of the Cougars’ best defenders. And for all the ribbing he takes about his shooting style, Mensah-Bonsu must be doing something right - he leads the team in field-goal (56.0) and free-throw (73.9) percentages.

Even so, the jump shot remains a work in progress. Bill Cartwright’s might have been prettier.

“When I first started playing, I would always drive and so I never used my medium-range jump shot,” Mensah-Bonsu said. “It was real flat to begin with and it was getting blocked a lot, so I just started trying to release it at a higher point.”

Mensah-Bonsu underwent knee surgery in October and has not fully recovered, but he has still managed to average 8.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. He blocked six shots during WSU’s recent road split in Oregon.

He often presents a dilemma for opponents, especially those who rely on the WSU media guide, which mysteriously lists Mensah-Bonsu at only 6-3-1/4.

“We were playing against Arizona and Michael Dickerson was standing next to me and he kept on looking at me,” Mensah-Bonsu said. “I thought I had something on my face. I was like, ‘What’s the problem?’ He said he thought I was shorter.”

Mensah-Bonsu’s leaping ability makes him seem taller yet. When healthy, his vertical leap is around 40 inches, highest on the team. But anticipation and quickness are also important when it comes to defending in the low post.

“He’s had more stolen post passes than any player that we’ve had since we’ve been here, and he’s the shortest of them all,” WSU coach Kevin Eastman said. “He may play behind somebody and almost invite a pass in there.”

On offense, Mensah-Bonsu posts up away from the basket, where his quickness is more of a factor. Once he gets the ball, he often faces the basket, generally preferring to dribble to his left - unusual for a right-hander.

But Mensah-Bonsu is unusual in many ways, starting with his name, which won’t make any friends at Greenpeace.

Kojo, translated in his mother’s native language of Twi, means Monday, signifying the day he was born. Mensah-Bonsu means whale-killer.

“My great-great grandfather hunted whales,” Mensah-Bonsu explains.

“That’s why you be dating those big girls,” Daniel interjects, howling at the thought. “Let me go tell the fellas!”

Mensah-Bonsu protests, but it’s too late. Being a newcomer has its price. “It comes with the territory,” he says, shaking his head. “But I’m enjoying myself here a lot.”

Arizona gets Harris back

Donnell Harris, who averaged 5.9 points and 5.8 rebounds for Arizona last season, returned this week after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to remove his gallbladder on Dec. 12. He had been suffering from a condition that caused digestion problems, limiting his ability to put on weight and stay in shape.

Before the problem was diagnosed, coach Lute Olson had questioned Harris’ work ethic.

“It’s over now,” Harris said. “I was mad then. But that’s in the past. I’m not going to look back on that again. And I’m not going to have my gallbladder removed again, either.”

Around the conference

California, despite the presence of three players taller than 6-9, has been outrebounded in all five of its Pac-10 games. … Cal’s Geno Carlisle, a transfer from Northwestern, is averaging 27.0 points on 60 percent shooting in three road games. But in five games at the New Arena in Oakland, Cal’s home-away-from-home this season and next, he is scoring at just a 12.8 clip and shooting only 28 percent. … Oregon’s Henry Madden was apparently yelling at a teammate, and not WSU’s Carlos Daniel, when he was assessed a technical foul during Saturday’s victory over the Cougars. “The ref said Henry trash-talked a guy,” coach Ernie Kent said. “My comment to him was these are athletes of the ‘90s, and sometimes athletes of the ‘90s trash-talk each other. Someone over in Iowa watching that game on TV may think, ‘What are those guys doing?’ But these guys are just motivating themselves and getting themselves ready to play.”

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