Christian Standhardinger has a chance to brand a new final memory as a college basketball player.
The UH forward will participate in Friday’s 2014 Reese’s Division I College All-Star Game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, site of the Final Four. The event is reserved for seniors, with selections made by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
"That’s obviously a great honor and I’m happy because I miss basketball already, and I can play again," Standhardinger said Tuesday.
He is one of 11 players on the West team, coached by Stanford’s Johnny Dawkins. UH’s top scorer (18.1) and rebounder (8.4) in 2013-14 flew to Dallas on Tuesday night.
The two-time All-Big West first-teamer hasn’t totally gotten past UH’s 87-84 overtime defeat to Cal State Northridge in the quarterfinals of the Big West tournament March 13, which ended his career and the Rainbow Warriors’ season at 20-11.
Standhardinger was speechless in that postgame press conference at Anaheim’s Honda Center. He’s since trained in shooting, running and boxing out with former Rainbow Bill Amis, among others, back in Manoa in preparation for a pro career.
This game affords him one final chance to suit up as a student-athlete.
"I can’t wait," Standhardinger said. "It’s obviously great to play another game, and I don’t even want to think about what happened, that tough game we had. But that’s just basketball and that’s what every player has to go through. Mentally, I’m not ready to accept the devastating loss we had there, but I’m working on it and I hope time will eventually heal that wound."
Standhardinger is the only Big West player in the event. The only other participating player UH faced this season is Norfolk State’s Pendarvis Williams, who had 16 points in UH’s 77-66 victory at the Stan Sheriff Center on Dec. 30.
Some pro scouts are expected to be in attendance with the Final Four taking place the next day.
"To be honest with you, I don’t even know what they’ll expect of me there," Standhardinger said. "I just know one thing I’m going to play hard because that’s the only way I can play anyways."
