By Paul Honda
paul@hondareport.com
Thursday, Mar. 8, 2007

So much to do, so little time. There's a ton of stuff I need to get done over these next few days and weeks. That's why it's a nice surprise that the office assigned me to cover some games this week, like the ILH baseball opener between Iolani and Kamehameha.

It took some crosstown maneuvering through traffic, but after I took my nephew home from A-Plus, I made it here (McKinley) relatively unscathed. Dillingham was the money route from Aliamanu this afternoon.

Walking in this gym, McKinley Student Council Gym, it's impossible to ignore the magnitude of what the Tigers boys basketball team did this season. Even Raymond Fujino, who coached Kaimuki to the state championship in 1993, is here. He's been officiating games since leaving his post as an athletic director several years ago.

With a slightly bitter tone, Ray once told me that Kelly Grant, who guided Kaimuki to the state title this year, was supposed to come to Kaimuki. True. Kelly lived across the street from me a couple of blocks away from the campus. Kelly was a good shooter, but Maryknoll got its paws on Kelly and he played for Tony Sellitto instead of coming to Kaimuki.

Raymond never forgot that. He thinks Kaimuki would've been much better had Kelly worn the kelly green and yellow. It's quite ironic that the next Kaimuki state title came with Kelly as coach, not player. It just required a 23-year wait.

The first season of D-II in boys basketball was a resounding success. A lot of schools that had no realistic shot at a state title were suddenly in the mix, showing that they have talent despite tiny enrollments. Still, many people have hopped on the bandwagon and made a lot of noise about the fact that the OIA allows enormously big schools like Farrington to compete at the Division II level. Both daily newspapers ran columns about this, though neither Ferd Lewis nor Kalani Simpson offered any real solutions.

I agree with them, though. There's no argument. A school with nearly 2,800 students shouldn't be hanging out with the smaller schools like Kohala, University or AOP.

McKinley, with an enrollment around 1700, isn't too far above the state enrollment average. On top of that, the Tigers were just 7-5 in OIA play prior to the playoffs. Who knew they'd sweep all four games at the state tourney? I knew they'd compete, but turnovers were a big problem, especially in the OIA title-game loss to Aiea.

They curbed their giveaway problem and did the job.

That's why, seeing Bob Morikuni in his new, added role as McKinley's girls hoops coach, takes me back a bit. His JV coach is Dwight Sato, father of Chelsie, the three-sport standout. Dwight has coached age-group basketball in the neighborhood since the late 1970s, producing talent for both Kaimuki and McKinley.

He's proud of the way McKinley and Kaimuki rolled to the state titles in their respective divisions. The town schools. Dwight should be proud. He put in a lot of time and sweat working with kids, never wavering from his consistent, hard-nosed brand of coaching the game. I should know, since I played for all four of his teams at Boys Club in the 1979-80 season.

In recent years, the one thing McKinley and Kaimuki haven't been known for, not usually, is girls basketball. McKinley had a long run of league titles and state appearances under Jesse Victorino in the '90s. Kaimuki has had up and down seasons under Mona Fa'asoa, but she's working with a limited supply of talent.

Unlike football and boys basketball, which yields a surplus of outstanding players from Palolo and McCully, girls basketball hasn't really taken off in those communities. Why? It always comes back to coaching. If prominent girls basketball players return to the 'hood and start clinics and year-round clubs, kids develop rapidly.

It's true in Honokaa, where Daphne Honma built the girls hoops program. It's true in Kona, where Bobbie Awa has run the Stingrays club for more than a decade. The good news for Kaimuki and McKinley girls basketball is, the boys are showing that state titles are within grasp. It takes a lot of work, dedication and sacrifice.

I'm just glad the word 'impossible' doesn't exist in the gyms of Kaimuki and McKinley.

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