On every Hawaii basketball road trip, there is a key ritual.
Soon after arriving at the hotel, each player receives a room key and an assigned roommate.
“You find out when you get to the hotel,” forward Jack Purchase said of the room pairings. “They hit you with a (key) card and a roommate. It’s all fun. You kind of look forward to seeing who you’re going to be with the rest of the week.”
Jesse Nakanishi, the director of basketball operations, crafts a draft of the room assignments. The list is forwarded to associate head coach Adam Jacobsen and then head coach Eran Ganot for final approval.
“Usually, you choose randomly,” Jacobsen said.
Guards Leland Green and Brandon Thomas are the most coveted roommates.
“Leland is very clean,” Purchase said. “Leland is a clean freak. I’ve lived with Leland. He’s always making his bed.”
Point guard Drew Buggs is a favorable host.
“I’ve always got some good snacks,” Buggs said. “I always bring my PlayStation, so everyone in my room gets the PlayStation. I think I’m a pretty fun guy.”
The room assignments are intended to promote unity. “They don’t really let us request,” Buggs said. “They like to mix it up each trip so you hang out with different guys on the team you might not normally hang out with.”
In two years of traveling, Buggs, a sophomore, has never roomed with fellow point guard Brocke Stepteau on road trips. “Probably because we’re both guards, they like to put us with other guys,” Buggs said.
Post player Zigmars Raimo, a junior, said he has no preferences.
“They give you the keys, and they say, ‘You’re living with him,’ and we don’t have any problems with that,” Raimo said. “It’s a big family. I’m excited to hear who’s going to be my roommate and who I’m going to spend the most time with. And we’re not just sitting in the room. We go to different rooms. We hang out together. It makes our team more together and stronger.”
The ’Bows will have ample bonding time for the road games against UC Santa Barbara on Thursday and Cal Poly on Saturday. The bus ride is about three hours from Los Angeles International Airport to Santa Barbara, two hours from Santa Barbara to Cal Poly’s campus in San Luis Obispo, and four hours back to LAX.
“That’s the uniqueness of the Hawaii job,” Ganot said of the long rides. “This one is a little more traveled with the bus rides. It is what it is. That’s how we’re approaching everything. It’s part of the deal. … It’s like an airplane ride but you’ve got a little more mobility at times (on the bus). You definitely have more room. The trips are great. We try to spin it in a positive way.”
Purchase said he downloaded videos into his laptop for the plane and bus rides. “Right now, I’m watching ‘Game of Thrones,’ ” Purchase said. “I’m halfway through season 6. I watched the ‘Battle of the Bastards.’ It was a big episode. I’ve got season 7 coming up that’ll I’ll probably smash out on the road.”
