As Siakam moves on, Bamba mentality remains behind

On a sunny afternoon in mid-April while the rest of campus enjoys the beautiful spring day, members of the Vanderbilt men’s basketball team begin to filter into Memorial Gymnasium, ready to put in another day’s worth of work. The season ended only three weeks ago, and yet the work has just begun for a group whose core will mostly return in the fall.

One exception, of course, is James Siakam’s graduation. The senior power forward from Cameroon will take his game, as well as his leadership, overseas next season as he forays into the world of pro ball.

“These guys are working machines, gym rats, whatever you want to call it,” Siakam said as his teammates walk by on their way to the locker room. “They’re working every day and that culture is something we want to preserve.”

Siakam’s leadership has helped sharpen the collective work ethic of this current batch of Commodores. This underscores how much the man affectionately known to Vandy fans and coaches alike by his middle name, Bamba, has meant to a Vanderbilt program on the verge of reestablishing itself on the national scene.

What’s become abundantly clear, however, is that Siakam is different from most other college players. Per Ken Pomeroy, Siakam’s offensive rebounding rate is the highest of any Commodore to play more than 15 percent of available minutes since Pomeroy began tracking such statistics in 2002. In SEC play this year, the undersized forward ranked ninth in the conference in block rate despite routinely facing off against players half a foot taller than him.

If you ask Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings, however, it’s not Siakam’s unique statistical profile that stands out the most compared to other players to have come through the program.

“We’ve had some outstanding human beings during my time at Vanderbilt.” Stallings said. “James has what I would consider to be a very pure heart.”

Such compliments are nothing new for Siakam, who Stallings earlier this season described as “one of the best human beings we’ve ever had in this program.” Teammates’ admiration for Bamba became apparent throughout his five-year career, illustrated by the entire Commodore roster walking with him on senior night this past March against Mississippi State.

It took loads of work to get to this point, however. Prior to bursting onto the scene in 2013, Siakam had played all of 254 minutes in his first two years on West End, not including a redshirt year immediately upon coming out of high school. A long adjustment period hindered the athletic power forward before he emerged as a major contributor during his junior season.

“The speed of the game is something that he had trouble getting used to. It took him a little longer than some guys,” Stallings said. “James has just improved so much in his awareness for the game.”

It was the help and advice of older teammates such as Festus Ezeli and fellow Cameroonian Steve Tchiengang that helped pull Siakam out of a multi-year rut. Immersed in a foreign culture, it helped to have two teammates to connect to during a difficult adjustment to college life.

“Not only did I not have the basketball acumen, but I had to adjust to the fast-paced academic life at Vanderbilt my first year, and I struggled a little bit,” Siakam said. “Festus was, in his words, terrible his first year and that was helpful to me knowing that someone that couldn’t even catch the ball was able to achieve so much. With both Steve and Festus, it was easy to connect off the court with the similar cultural background.”

When characterizing Siakam’s all around game, a mention of his toughness and tenacity is necessary, as well as his penchant for outworking opponents in the paint. Vanderbilt’s own Iron Man, Siakam once subbed back in to a high school game after breaking six bones in his face, with an eye socket hanging loose from its natural position.

“He’s crazy tough,” said Aaron Lee, Siakam’s high school coach at Brehm Prep in Carbondale, Illinois. “Most kids can’t get back in the game with a sprained ankle, and he wanted to play with that facial injury.”

Although Lee didn’t let Siakam stay in the game with such a severe injury, the fact Siakam tried to find his way back in speaks volumes about his personal toughness. As the lone senior playing consistent minutes this season, the Cameroonian sought to show a new crop of freshmen the type of fortitude it would take to find success at the level that the last great group of Commodores found from 2010-’12.

That group of players, including Ezeli, Tchiengang and Jeffery Taylor showed Siakam what major conference college basketball is all about. The soon-to-be Vanderbilt graduate has now passed this knowledge on to the next generation of Commodores.

“I was defending Jeff Taylor for two years every day in practice, and those challenges got me to where I am today. If you don’t guard him with toughness, he’s going to embarrass you, and that just was not going to happen from my perspective,” Siakam said. “On this year’s team, we’re all competitors and that’s what I like about them.”

The value Siakam provided to this season’s Commodore team, therefore, went far beyond his stats and even his supreme hustle. As the only senior receiving consistent playing time, Siakam recognized the need for someone to show younger players how to conduct themselves. James’s leadership, Stallings said, has been every bit as impressive as his play on the court.

“I never really saw James have a bad day,” Stallings said. “That’s why everyone respected him and loved him so much. He led verbally to some degree, but his leadership came in the form of the example he set on a daily basis.”

His head coach’s description fits with what many people think of when the energetic forward comes to mind, but Siakam insists that, behind the scenes, he was far from the saint that he’s often portrayed when it came to mentoring his younger teammates.

“Everyday in the locker room, film, workouts, I’m talking. I’m talking trash, I’m talking crazy; I’m not gonna say I was an angel. I was even saying some stuff I probably shouldn’t have said,” Siakam said. “But it was all for their good, and to build toughness. That’s what I wanted to do and that’s what I wanted this team to be. It served us well, I would say.”

Based on the results toward the end of the season, it appears that Siakam is correct. Following a seven-game losing streak during which the Commodores’ postseason hopes appeared moribund at best, the team finished 10-4 in its last 14 games once Stallings reinserted Siakam into the starting lineup.

Siakam, however, insists that the young players’ persistence represents the determining factor in the team’s turnaround.

“These guys are not quitters,” Siakam said. “They are not used to these losing streaks and they were willing to do whatever it took to get out of it.”

The senior’s suggestion that this group of players has shown more of an edge than the NCAA Tournament teams from 2010-12 speaks to the potential that these freshmen and sophomores have only started to realize.

“We had a lot of leaders back then, but they weren’t necessarily vocal leaders. This year, I feel like we were more vocal in the way we did things,” Siakam said. “There was a lot of talking going on, but it wasn’t counterproductive. It was about getting each other better and instilling competitiveness.”

Next year’s squad undoubtedly carries what some may refer to as a burden of high expectations. A strong recruiting class, the addition of Cornell transfer Nolan Cressler, and the return of seven of the top nine players in minutes played this past season already has driven onlookers across the country to declare the Commodores a likely NCAA Tournament team come next March. Add Siakam to their ranks, as well.

“I don’t have any doubt in my mind that these guys will do whatever is necessary to win games and to have a better year than we had this year,” Siakam said. “I’m leaving knowing that, if anything, these guys are going to mimic what was there (at the end of the year), and that’s all I’m hoping for.”

Bamba’s production may be leaving Nashville, but it’s clear that his spirit will not be departing along with him. Commodores fans may not see James Siakam and his tenacity on the court in 2015-16, but they will certainly recognize the embodiment of it in the rest of the roster. This, in fact, may be the most powerful impact the Cameroonian could possible have on a program hoping to re-emerge from its slumber and stake its claim among the elite of the SEC once more.