By Jarra Gojolo— Staff Writer
San Jose State guard Richard Washington receives the dribble handoff at the wing.
He fakes the entry pass to center Harminder Dhaliwal in the high post, and storms into the paint.
Three defenders collapse onto Washington, who makes a jump pass to the freshman underneath the basket for the easy two.
The Spartans’ bench jumps up and goes crazy.
The score? Spartans 75, Red Hawks 49.
Why so much excitement for a garbage-time layup? It’s walk-on Dhaliwal’s first bucket for the Spartans.
“Before I checked in, I was obviously nervous because I’m a freshman,” he said. “And playing at the Division I level has always been a dream of mine … It was just a happy moment for me and my family to get my first collegiate points.”
Dhaliwal and fellow walk-on Trey Smith both scored their first buckets of the season on Nov. 17 against Simpson. Buckets that the entire team was anticipating.
“To see [Dhaliwal] go in and score, everybody was juiced off of that,” guard Zach Chappell said after the game.
“You saw the guys cheering for guys that really bleed gold, blue and white,” head coach Jean Prioleau said. “They bleed it. And they live it and they love it.”
The pair says their relationship with teammates would be no different if they were on scholarship.
“It might say we’re walk-ons but we don’t get treated like that,” Smith said. “ I know when Omari [Moore] scored his first points at Hofstra … I made sure to congratulate him in front of the team because it’s a big moment for everyone. Your first points in Division I basketball is huge.”
Smith, a computer science major, spends most of his non-basketball time studying because of his heavy class load. Dhaliwal, a business management major in his first semester, has less of an academic workload.
Players and coaches alike agree that every player on the squad is considered an equal. But Prioleau says the financial aspect of being a walk-on is overlooked by their teammates.
“What our scholarship guys don’t understand is, those guys are probably going to leave out of school with debt, and they still believe in what we’re trying to do,” Prioleau said. “They still believe in San Jose State, they believe in our coaching staff, they come to work every single day.”
The argument over whether college athletes should get paid or not has been debated ad nauseam in 2019.
The argument that “college athletes don’t need to be paid because they get a free education through scholarships” is arguably the most popular talking point of the anti-pay crowd.
But what about the athletes that don’t get scholarships? The ones who have to pay for their classes in full, and take out loans because the commitment they’ve made to their sport doesn’t allow time for a job?
Smith says the debt can wait.
“I’ll worry about that when I get to it,” Smith said. “I’m just focused on taking it a day at a time. That’s a part of what it is, but at the end of the day I’m focused on winning, being as good as I can be to help the team, that’s what’s important to me right now.”
Before that day comes, Dhaliwal is taking time to smell the roses. The freshman appreciates being in a position that very few people get to be in.
“Not that many people can say they’ve scored a Division I point,” he said. “I think it’s a big thing.”
Follow Jarra on Twitter @JarraGojolo