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Tuesday, February 27, 2001
‘A wing, a prayer and an island’
Islanders’ seniors made a leap of faith when joining program
By Matt Young
Caller-Times

David Pellerin/Caller-Times

Four of the five Islanders’ seniors who will play in their final game for A&M-Corpus Christi today are (from left) Michael Hicks, Arunas Drasutis, Damian Kirkaldy and Pathe Diene. Not pictured is fellow senior Lee Denmon.

Michael Hicks, Damian Kirkaldy, Arunas Drasutis, Pathe Diene and Lee Denmon all walked off the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi practice court Monday like they've done after every basketball practice the last two seasons.
   No big deal. Until they took time to think about it.
   It was the last practice for the Islanders' five seniors, who will play their final game against Texas-Pan American at 7 p.m. today at Memorial Coliseum.
   "I thought about that earlier and it's kind of sad to think this is our last college basketball practice," Kirkaldy said. "We feel like we're a family around here, so to know that we're leaving is sad. I'm going to miss practice. I'm even going to miss all the yelling from the coaches and everything, because you kind of get used to it."
   Kirkaldy might be in the minority when he says he'll miss the yelling.
   "Actually, I'm kind of happy, because this means no more practice. But I'm going to miss my teammates," Diene said. "It is kind of sad that this is one of the last times we'll all be together as a group."
   There are a lot of different reasons why this group of individuals came together as a group.
   When A&M-Corpus Christi coach Ronnie Arrow hit the recruiting trail in 1999, he didn't have much to sell these five seniors.
   "These guys came here on a wing, a prayer and an island," Arrow said. "We didn't have anything here when they decided to come here, so I think we all owe them a lot.
   "The only thing I could tell them was that if they came here, they would be able to say they were part of building a Division I basketball program from scratch, and that would be something to brag about in the future," Arrow said. "My only other selling point was playing time. Since we had no players, I could offer plenty of playing time, and that probably appealed to them also."
   The front-man for this fivesome is obviously Hicks, and Arrow was able to promise him a little more than he could the others.
   "When I talked to Mike, I promised that he could play 36 to 38 minutes a game, and that he would be The Man on our team," Arrow said. "I also told him we'd run a pro-style system where he could show off his skills."
   Arrow delivered on all of those promises, and Hicks paid him back by exceeding all expectations on the court.
   Hicks, who is averaging more than 24 points per game in his Islander career, will likely finish with more than 1,300 points as an Islander.
   That type of productions means this week may not be Hicks' last on a practice court.
   Hicks is expected to be invited to an NBA pre-draft camp where he will perform in front of NBA scouts evaluating talent for the June draft.
   "He's going to take a week to 10 days off, then he's going to go back to work in the gym," Arrow said. "He's going to report to those camps in good shape so he can compete with some of the best players in the country."
   Getting Hicks to commit to the new program was obviously the biggest catch of all, and the Islanders got a little help from Kirkaldy in landing the big one.
   Hicks and Kirkaldy both grew up in Panama and played together at Bacone (Okla.) Junior College, so it didn't hurt that the Islanders had enough room to offer Hicks' friend a scholarship, too. A&M-Corpus Christi also landed Bacone teammate and Hicks' friend Aaron Eneas, who has since left the program.
   "One of the main deals with me coming here was my teammates coming here, too," Hicks said. "It was great that coach gave us all a chance to come here together."
   Make no mistake, Kirkaldy proved to be much more than a throw-in. The 6-foot-9 Kirkaldy is the Islanders' second leading rebounder (behind Hicks) and is averaging 8.6 points per game.
   Love and basketball brought Drasutis to Corpus Christi. Drasutis and his longtime girlfriend Kristina Bulkauskaite were looking for a school where they could both play basketball. Unable to find the right fit, Drasutis and Bulkauskaite did the next best thing - Drasutis signed to play at A&M-Corpus Christi while Bulkauskaite played at Texas A&M-Kingsville. The two were married last summer.
   "Coach was in a situation where he could offer a lot of playing time, so I liked that, and then I got to go to a place where my wife could play nearby, so this was like a perfect fit for me," Drasutis said.
   Diene will go down in history as one of the first Islanders after transferring to A&M-Corpus Christi from Texas-El Paso in 1998, a full season before the Islanders played their first game.
   The 6-10 Diene never made an offensive impact for the Islanders, but was a defensive presence in the middle.
   "I have no regrets about coming here," Diene said. "I don't think I ever played the way I should, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be."
   Denmon will be remembered as the forgotten man during Hicks' reign. Despite being the Islanders' second-leading scorer for two straight years, Denmon was forced to toil in Hicks' shadow.
   "I think I contributed a lot to this team," Denmon said. "My role was to step in and perform wherever I can. I gave a lot of leadership behind the scenes and scoring when we needed it."
   Schools across the country are celebrating senior night in this final week of the regular season, but Arrow says none are more special than A&M-Corpus Christi's tonight.
   "These guys are the first-ever Islander seniors, and we'll always owe them for that," Arrow said. "They'll always be remembered as the ones who started this program."

Staff writer Matt Young can be reached at 886-3702 or by e-mail at youngm@caller.com

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