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If you want to pinpoint where last season’s University of Hawaii men’s basketball team got off on the wrong foot, Nov. 5, 2009 and Bill Amis’ right one would be appropriate places to start.
That’s when the UH forward was injured in the first half of an exhibition game against Brigham Young University-Hawaii, in the process adding the phrase "torn plantar fascia" to the Rainbow Warriors’ vocabulary.
And nothing was the same thereafter in an eventual 10-20 season.
Maybe it wasn’t like those ‘Bows were headed for the postseason anyway. But after a few weeks of his absence, it was obvious they were definitely not going anywhere without Amis.
We bring this up because Amis is injured again — same foot, different ailment (stress fracture), more hopeful prognosis — and we wait to see what a projected month-long absence will mean for these ‘Bows with him on the bench.
It is a task that begins with tonight’s game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, the final appearance of a season-opening five-game homestand.
After an impressive 4-0 start to the non-conference season, this is the first bit of bad news to intrude on the ‘Bows’ promising beginning.
To be sure, last year’s edition missed Amis’ scoring and rebounding. After all, he had averaged 10.7 points and 6.5 rebounds a game as a junior and was looked to do big things as a senior before the injury forced him to redshirt.
But what Amis’ absence really took away from the floor was his hustle, toughness and workmanlike influence. There were reasons he had been voted a team captain and those qualities, along with the ability to lead by example, were at the top of the list.
And, heaven knows, last year’s disparate team was lacking in all the above areas — and then some. Maybe they needed Dr. Phil more than Amis. They had neither.
But with Amis on the floor, showing the way, things might have been somewhat different. Or, at least respectable. With him there was a different dynamic at work.
You’d like to think his presence and some timely words might have helped pull UH through some of the close games that, after too many losses, became who-gives-a-rip blowouts.
Which is why it was good to see Amis back this season to lend a veteran hand and hard-working perspective to a new, recast Rainbow Warrior team. As much as his statistics, a team-leading 15.8 points a game scoring average along with 6.8 rebounds, have lifted the ‘Bows, so has his experience, energy and work ethic.
A lot of what Amis puts into the game can be traced to his beginnings. Amis is very much a self-made player, someone who didn’t start on his high school team but relentlessly worked right on through junior college to better himself. And, by association, those around him.
The 30 minutes a game Amis has been averaging this year leaves a considerable puka that will likely take several people to fill. If they can. In many ways he has not only been the Warriors’ best player but, more important, the one they could least afford to lose.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com.
