This week, it will be aloha ball for University of Hawaii basketball juniors Mate Colina and Junior Madut.
Both decided to forgo their senior seasons to pursue pro-sports aspirations. The Rainbow Warriors play host to Cal Poly on Thursday night and Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday in the 2022 home finale. Colina and Madut will join forward Jerome Desrosiers in Saturday’s senior-night festivities.
In September 2020, Colina, a 7-foot center from Melbourne, signed a future contract to play Australian rules football for the Richmond Tigers of the Australian Football League.
Colina said he will begin training for footie after the Rainbow Warriors’ final game. Colina will complete work on his bachelor’s degree in human development in May. After that, he will join Richmond in what will be the AFL’s midseason.
“I’ve given all I could the last 41⁄2 years,” said Colina, who joined the ’Bows in January 2018 and redshirted that semester. “I am going to pursue my footie career next year, and I really want to put all my effort toward that. I’m really happy with what I’ve done here in Hawaii the last 41⁄2 years. I think I represented myself well, the program well. I think I’m leaving on a real positive note. We’re having a good season, apart from the last week or so. I hope we can finish strong.”
Madut a 6-foot-6 guard, said it was a difficult decision to relinquish his senior season. “I think it’s been a long journey for me,” Madut said. “It’s been building to this point. I’m excited to graduate. I think I’m ready for the next step.”
Madut, who will earn a degree in sociology in May, said he will be the first male college graduate in his family. Madut said a degree will be “one of my greatest accomplishments ever. Me being able to graduate, and thinking about the journey that I’ve come to even get to this point, is special for me, special for my family. And it’s something I’ll never forget.”
Madut said he does not know where he will play professional basketball. But a new adventure is part of Madut’s life story. Madut was born in South Sudan, and moved to Australia when he was 5. He attended a prep school in Florida for two years, then played two seasons at Eastern Florida State College. Because of a glitch in the admissions process, Madut had to delay his enrollment at UH until after the 2019 fall semester. He redshirted during the 2020 spring semester.
He received Big West honorable mention after averaging 10.2 points and 4.2 rebounds in 2020-21. This season, he is averaging 10.4 points on 44.2% shooting, including 37.3 on 3s.
“A hundred percent didn’t think it would be this way,” Madut said of his scenic path to Manoa. “Everything’s been happening, and I’ve just been going with the flow. The game of basketball has taken me to good places I never thought I’d be, like places like Hawaii. It’s been a long journey, but it’s been a blessing as well.”
