Arizona Basketball seems to be catching fire as conference play has begun and a large portion of that success can be attributed to redshirt sophomore Henri Veesaar, or ‘King Henri V’ as he’s been anointed by fans on social media. I, along with the majority of this fanbase, had given up on Henri and it turns out we were all very wrong.
The Estonian center came to Tucson with high expectations, some proclaimed him a first round one and done. It was quickly apparent his freshman year that he was not ready for the level of competition he was facing in the United States. He quickly fell out of the rotation; his second year was a redshirt year after a golf cart injury sidelined him.
Arizona fans had a right to be so low on Henri coming into the season, many wished he had transferred out instead of fellow big Dylan Anderson. As a redshirt sophomore, Henri has quickly become one of the most important players for Arizona over the past couple weeks and looks to be a big time player for the program going forward.
Unfortunate Circumstances Led to Henri’s Arrival
His minutes and role increase is a direct result of sophomore Mo Krivas injuring his foot and requiring season ending surgery. ‘Mount Krivas,’ as he was referred to on social media by fans, was expected to be a big time player this year, multiple publications had him as a first round pick before the year began. Multiple injuries hindered that, but as a result Henri Veesaar has gotten his time to shine.
Since Mo’s injury, Krivas has played 21.3 minutes per game (mpg), an increase over the 12.8 mpg he was playing previously. Take the West Virginia matchups for example, in their first matchup he played 3 minutes. Last night, Henri played 26 minutes and looked like Arizona’s second or third most impactful player for much of the night.
The Box Score DOES NOT Tell the Full Story
Stats don’t show Veesaar’s true impact. Since Mo Krivas went down, Henri is averaging 8.6 points per game (ppg) and 6.1 rebounds per game (rpg). 8 and 6 is solid, but not a stat line from a guy that’s being talked about as an essential player to the success of a team. What Henri adds to the game is a sense of flow.
The offense moves better while he’s on the court. He’s a great passer for being 7 feet tall. As a 7 footer, he’s a complete mismatch for opposing defenses. He’s long, can shoot if left open, can handle the ball a little, and is athletic. You can stick him on the perimeter to open the paint up for cutters and drivers. He’s a great roller on the pick and roll. He brings a dimension to this offense that was not present before.
Evan Miya is a fantastic analytics expert and his website evanmiya.com is a great resource for basketball junkies like myself. Henri Veesaar grades out as the third most impactful player on this team on said website. He boasts the highest defensive rating and is vastly their most effective big as Trey Townsend and Tobe Awaka both grade out as their least impactful rotation players. It’s also not surprising that Henri is included in their most effective two, three, four, and five man lineup combinations. Henri is a very impactful player and the team benefits greatly from his impact beyond what the box score displays.
The Wildcats seem to be rounding into form, and redshirt sophomore Henri Veesaar is a big part of that. Veesaar brings a breath of fresh air for the program. For years, fans would be frustrated with bigs refusing to dunk the ball and bigs that clogged the paint. Henri is the opposite of that. He is very aggressive at dunking on defenders and dunks every opportunity he can. He allows for Tommy Lloyd’s system to function at a much higher level because of his ability to play outside and facilitate the offense.
Henri Veesaar is the player Arizona fans have wanted for a while but haven’t had under Tommy Lloyd. Let’s hope ‘King Henri V’ continues to be a high level player for the Cats, if he does it would not surprise me to see his name called on a future NBA draft night.
