Tautofi Is Back With Bulldogs

Wednesday - December 16, 2009
By Jack Danilewicz
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The rumor that “Desmond Is Coming” T-shirts were being made on the Kaimuki High campus proved to be false, but head basketball coach Kelly Grant acknowledged that he received the text message he was waiting for late last week when center Desmond Tautofi indicated he was headed back to the island - and back to the Bulldogs.

The standout center spent the first semester at a private school in Nevada for academic reasons but will re-enroll at Kaimuki this week for the coming semester and could be in the lineup this weekend when the team makes its annual short trek over to the Iolani Classic.

“He just sent me a text and said he had completed his finals and it’s now just a matter of getting a flight,” Grant said.“Once he registers, he’s back.”


 

The timing couldn’t be more perfect for Kaimuki, which also will play in tournaments at McKinley and Moanalua by month’s end as it prepares for its OIA Red East opener Jan. 2 against Kaiser.

“We’re kind of struggling right now with Desmond not back yet,” said Grant, whose team dropped its first two preseason games to Roosevelt and Kalani. “When he gets back, we’ll be a regular team again. Right now, everyone else has been playing out of position to make up for his absence. His leadership is greatly missed.”

Not to mention his inside presence. Even so, how well Tautofi’s supporting cast can come around will be key to determining Kaimuki’s fate. Of the 14 players on the roster, 12 “have never played significant (varsity) minutes or played for me at all,“Grant said.

Though youthful, Grant nevertheless likes his team’s prospects.“We have no head cases - kids who think they’re better than everyone else. They all have a good attention span, and they want to learn. It’s a good group of kids.”

Grant also is building around returnees Gabriel Stietzel and Tevin Nishiyama, who are both projected to have big seasons. Stietzel is a three-year starter and was chosen by Grant as the team’s captain.

The Bulldogs face their biggest test of the preseason, and perhaps the biggest of the entire campaign on Thursday, when they meet Neumann-Goretti of Pennsylvania in their Iolani Classic first round game at 6:30 p.m. The Saints are the defending Pennsylvania state champion and are led by 6-foot-6 Daniel Stewart, who already has committed to Division I Rider College.


“We’ll try to do as much damage control as possible (in defending Stewart), but they have several good kids on that team,” he said of Neumann-Goretti. “Right now, we’re just trying to get better every day, and we’ve seen some mass improvement from our first game to our second.”

Taking care of the basketball was an issue in Kaimuki’s opener, Grant acknowledged, as the Bulldogs committed 28 turnovers. They reduced that to 17 against Kalani.

Grant sees the upcoming Moanalua Tournament, taking place between the holidays, as a better measuring stick on team progress.

“Usually by the Moanalua Tournament we start to see (what kind of team Kaimuki will have),” he said.

Their second-round opponent at Iolani will be determined by the results of Thursday’s game. But the Bulldogs know they will meet either Tsinghua (China) or Kingston (North Carolina) on Saturday. Game time will be either 9 a.m. or 3:30 p.m. The Bulldogs also will play a game Monday against an opponent still to be determined.

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