As a complete experience, a trip to North Texas for Final Four festivities and the 2014 Reese’s Division I College All-Star Game was great for Christian Standhardinger. The all-star game itself? Less so for the Hawaii forward.
Standhardinger’s all-senior-comprised West team was defeated soundly by the East, 87-75, last Friday at massive AT&T Stadium. Standhardinger scored two points on 1-for-10 shooting, but he tied for game-high honors with 11 rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench.
"Well, I always play hard, whether it’s an all-star game or not and I tried to help the team with whatever I can," Standhardinger said Tuesday soon after his return to the islands. "This time unfortunately my shot was not falling that well, so I tried to help the team somewhere else and that was rebounding."
He grabbed seven caroms on the offensive end, a high for the game. The extra chances went for naught, though, as the West shot 31.3 percent from the field, compared to 49.3 percent for the East.
"I don’t know what happened," Standhardinger said. "No one was really getting good shots or shooting a high percentage as a team. It was very unfortunate but, you know, those things happen."
He stayed for Saturday’s two Final Four games, Florida vs. Connecticut and Kentucky vs. Wisconsin. UConn went on to defeat Kentucky in Monday’s national championship, but Standhardinger had departed Arlington by then.
"I met a lot of really cool teammates and then it was quite an experience too to watch the Final Four games," he said. "The atmosphere and everything was just really nice and I’m just grateful I had the opportunity to be part of such a huge event, from a little school like Hawaii."
Standhardinger, of Munich, Germany, said he has not yet selected an agent for his upcoming professional career, but has had several suitors for the job. The transfer from Nebraska was just the fourth UH player to record 1,000 points in a two-year career.
UH recruit Porter still undecided
Davis (Utah) High senior guard Abel Porter told the Star-Advertiser on Tuesday he’s still uncommitted refuting reports that he’d given his word for Hawaii and may remain undecided leading up to and including his two-year LDS mission to Russia beginning this summer.
"A lot of people think I’ve committed there, but I really haven’t," Porter said. "I love being recruited by them though. It was a really good visit (in the fall). I don’t know if I’ll make a decision before I leave (for Russia on July 1)."
Porter said UH was currently his only Division I scholarship offer for the 2016-17 season, but Davis coach Jay Welk said Utah State had shown interest as well. Porter attended UH’s Green & White scrimmage last October.