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The Way I See It
THEY'RE the Rudys of the Hawaii men's basketball team. They don't get scholarships and they don't get press clippings. Walk-on’s job often done
before game startsIf they get to launch a shot in anger, they savor the moment.
Their badges of honor are the bruises they've taken in practice sessions from Predrag Savovic's mad runs to the basket and Marquette Alexander's heavy-duty body banging in the low post.
Gotta love these guys because they've helped make Riley Wallace's team 12-4 this season, and they've done it well out of public view.
Some programs call their walk-ons cannon fodder. But I think anybody willing to go through hellish daily practices, toeing the line for roundball drill sergeants, deserves a better description.
I think Wallace respects them. That's why he and his assistants bark at them just like they were scholarship players.
They have to be able to execute his offenses, and they'd better put up a defensive effort credible enough to make the regulars cuss at them.
Their reward is the chance to wear the green-and-white uniform and sit at the end of the bench on game days, waiting, hoping for a few seconds on the floor in front of the Stan Sheriff Center crowd.
A moment on TV, a digit in the gamebook.
JUST how special these moments are is not lost on the fans.
Lance Takaki leads the walk-ons in playing time. He's averaging 1.3 minutes per game.
But he's the people's choice and we should all get this kind of love.
Listed at 5-foot-4 (and believe me, that's generous), the former Mid-Pacific basketball and baseball standout might as well be Ricky Martin when he takes the floor.
Even before he checks in, he sets the place a-rockin'.
If I were him I'd cut a CD or take out papers for the House of Representatives.
The diminutive No. 10 , basking in the warmth of aloha, also leads the walk-ons in scoring: 0.7 points per game.
Unlike Ole Miss sophomore transfer Ryne Holliday (0.9 minutes per game), sophomore Hilo alumnus Rahula Hall (0.9 minutes per game) and recently eligible sophomore Tre' Stovall (a Shaw University of N.C. transfer), Takaki has actually made a field goal.
That caused a minor earthquake at the Stan Sheriff Center, and I recall it well. Dec. 5, 1999, with 1:08 left in a 72-42 victory over the University of the Pacific, Takaki took a feed on the right side of the lane from 6-9 starter Troy Ostler and sank a 14-foot jump shot.
TAKAKI, who has appeared in seven games, hasn't scored another point. But he still generates electricity when he doffs his warmups.
Then there's redshirting freshman walk-on Oa McGee, kid brother of ex-Rainbow Kalia McGee.
He, in fact, did get a press clipping when he won the slam-dunk contest at Midnight Ohana for soaring to the basket over four Baywatch Hawaii babes.
McGee isn't able to suit up on game days but I've seen him drive the regulars to distraction with his Pit Bull defense in practice.
Like his fellow walk-ons, he's helped make better ball handlers, shooters, and playmakers out of the scholarship guys.
Rudy lives in Manoa.
Pat Bigold has covered sports for daily newspapers
in Hawaii and Massachusetts since 1978.