“I’m not going to lie and say I haven’t dreamed about being in crunch time and shooting buzzer -beaters for the win,” Stong said, pausing, smiling. Certainly, he wonders what would happen if, just once, Cronin would look down the bench at him before the final minutes of a rout and give him an earlier chance in a close game. “I’m worried it’s going to get so bad, we’ll be up eight with 2:20 to play and I have to put him in.” “He’s definitely reached cult-hero status,” Cronin said. His current schedule during the most important UCLA basketball season in many years? He’s taking micro-economic theory, statistics for economists, a manufacturing processes lab and a bio mechanical research class.īattling cancer, Dick Vitale is back for UCLA-Gonzaga, and it’s awesome, baby!ĭick Vitale, who was recently diagnosed with cancer, will make his courtside return Tuesday as part of ESPN’s broadcast for the UCLA vs. When the books finally go down, the basketball goes up in late night solo shooting sessions at the Mo Ostin practice court, where he is accompanied only by his smartphone blaring Lil Baby. He once took one midterm test in a Stanford locker room before a walk-through, and another midterm test in the same locker room before a game. He’ll be late for practice because he can’t rearrange his difficult schedule like others and because he refuses to miss class. “But the bottom line is, he really loves doing this. “It must be a hard thing to do, to work all those hours in the classroom, be constantly in the gym, working harder than anyone on the team and never getting any minutes,” said his childhood friend Brendon Harrington.
I’m worried it’s going to get so bad, we’ll be up eight with 2:20 to play and I have to put him in.” “He’s definitely reached cult hero status. He’s been there ever since, even as it has stretched and strained his academic pursuits, even though he received nothing monetary in return, working off his passion, living off the love. “It was the basketball team,” he remembered. But injuries happened and a space opened and on a November day that Stong will never forget, his study session in Powell Library was interrupted with a phone call. It took several months of constant e-mails and texts and visits for Alford’s folks to even recognize him. He initially made a connection with Steve Alford’s staff through then-Crespi coach Russell White, but he couldn’t even wrangle a preferred walk-on spot. “What Russell brings is hope … don’t let anybody say you’re not good enough. “He point-blank looked at me and said, ‘Don’t worry Mom, I will be playing basketball,’’’ said his mother, Candice. He decided to attend UCLA for the academics while crazily dreaming he could just show up and join the basketball team.
While he played for two state championship teams at Crespi, he wasn’t seriously recruited anywhere. Stong initially wasn’t even given 10 minutes. “I’m like, ‘You can stay for 10 years,’” said Cronin. There are several other pairs of UCLA-supplied shoes in the same case, the first shoes he was given, the first shoes that got into a game, a veritable rack of gratitude. He was so excited by his bucket that he immediately inscribed the event on the side of his sneakers and placed them on a makeshift trophy case in his Northridge home. “That play is definitely ingrained in my mind.” “I caught the ball on the left wing, pump-faked the three, drove to my right, the defender reached, I spun back to my left hand and shot a left-handed layup,” he said. The Crespi graduate is loved even though in four years he has taken a total of four shots, with his only basket coming two years ago against San Jose State. “I’ve got great courtside seats,” he said with a smile. The 6-foot-3 guard is loved even though he has played a total of 24 minutes in four years, never more than three minutes in one game. “He’s loved throughout UCLA like no other.” “He’s a hot commodity,” said teammate Jaime Jaquez Jr.