It all started a little less than a year ago during a recruiting trip to Las Vegas. Watching current starting freshman center Daniel Amigo was priority number one for Denver’s head men’s basketball coach Joe Scott and assistant coach A.J. Kuhle. The 250-pound freshman, just shy of seven feet, was the reason for the trip.
“I’m watching Amigo, he’s definitely what we need,” Scott said reflecting on that fateful day. “He’s got great hands, really good feet for a big guy. He moves well and changes directions well. But it’s not like he’s a 6’10” skinny guy.”
Fellow freshman center Christian Mackey was in the building as well, and the lightly-recruited center out of Kirtland, New Mexico caught Scott’s eye while playing beside Amigo.
“As I was watching Amigo, there was this 6’6”, 270-pound NFL tight end playing on the basketball team,” Scott said. “I’m watching this guy and saying to myself ‘look how he moves his feet, look how he runs the court, look how he goes after the ball. I told him [Kuhle] find out about that kid, because I’ll coach an NFL tight end.”
New Mexico State University offered Mackey a spot on the football team.
“I always tell everybody I like football, but I love basketball,” Mackey said.
Mackey sports a physique that most college football coaches would drool over. Yet, he wasn’t interested in pursuing football. Before DU, Mackey acknowledged he wasn’t getting much interest from other Division I basketball programs.
“There are guys all over the country like that,” said Scott about Mackey. “They’re just under the radar. I like guys like that because a lot of times, they have a chip on their shoulder. A lot of times they’re like ‘yeah I’m under recruited, who cares about that, I’m a player.’ And I hope that’s what we keep seeing from them.”
Amigo’s story was a little different. He came in with more notoriety, a few more accolades and a few more inches to boot. From El Paso, Texas, he was named to the 2014 5A Region 1 First Team and also garnered 5A Region 1 MVP honors.
Prior to his official visit to DU, Amigo had visited Stephen F. Austin State University and the University of Texas at San Antonio
“I was undecided coming in, and if I didn’t like it here I was gonna go visit Fresno State [University] as well, but I really liked it here,” Amigo said. “I just liked the weather and the campus. The coaches really loved me and I felt like they wanted me more than the other coaches.”
The freshman centers came in with the task of replacing one of DU’s most decorated athletes, Chris Udofia. Compared to Amigo and Mackey, Udofia appears gangly, at 6’6,” 200 pounds. It seemed that a change in strategy was in order.
“We recruited for the other leagues we were in and then we changed leagues,” Scott said. “Now we had to recruit for this league [Summit League]. And as that occurred, there was a change, not necessarily in philosophy, but learning how to play our way with that guy [Amigo].”
Scott and his staff’s recruiting work months ago seem to be coming to fruition as of late. Mackey has averaged 5.5 points and three rebounds a game for the past seven contests, and has managed a stellar .656 field goal percentage so far this season.
“Comfortability is a big part of it. Just coming in to play Denver basketball, sticking to our plan, going out and playing hard,” Mackey said.
“When I first started, I was anxious taking shots, but now I feel better [from] mid-range and with hook shots,” Amigo said. “If I have an open shot, I feel like I can make it.”
Amigo scored a career-high 14 points in the loss to South Dakota State University on Jan. 31.
After scoring 26 points in his first three games in college, Amigo sprained his posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) and missed ten consecutive games. In Scott’s opinion, the Pios’ subpar record (10-13) may have something to do with Amigo’s six-week absence.
As a result, Mackey and junior forward Marcus Byrd stepped in to take care of center duties. Byrd’s larger contribution at the center position meant a reversion to past strategy.
“We knew that that’s not the answer,” Scott said. “We can survive, but the positive was that Mackey got to get in more, and he was able to show, ‘I’m gonna come along coach’ and improve and get better.”
With a healthy Amigo, an improved Mackey and the occasional three-point threat of Byrd, the center position looks to be a strength of Denver as they continue to move forward.
