If He’s a Flake, Kansas Center Is Snowballing

Roy Williams, the Kansas basketball coach, smiles when he speaks of Eric Chenowith.

“A real California flake,” Williams says, and the smile grows bigger and turns to laughter. “Sometimes I think he’d rather be on the beach with his surfboard.” But then Williams turns serious and keeps talking. “Eric has improved a lot since last year. He’s more serious. He’s bigger and stronger. He’s a great kid.”

Chenowith, the 7-footer from Villa Park High, is starting his second season as a Kansas center.

Yes, you might call him a California flake. Yes, Chenowith will always love coming home to grab his board and find the surf and the sun and the fun with his buddies. Yes, he has sideburns a little longer than normal in the Midwest and yes, Chenowith is absolutely eager to come home Saturday to play at the Arrowhead Pond when Kansas meets Pepperdine in the Wooden Classic.

But do not mistake Chenowith’s slouched shoulders or his lazy smile or his loving talk of tanning lotion and running his feet in the sand for a lack of commitment to basketball.

“People might get that wrong about Eric,” Kevin Reynolds, Chenowith’s coach at Villa Park, says. “That he’s the typical laid-back California kid. Yes, he likes the beach and surfing, but he has great desire to be the best. He very much wants to get better. He works harder than anybody I’ve seen. He is determined to become the best player possible. That’s why he is at Kansas.”

There is about Chenowith a seriousness of purpose that isn’t always apparent in phenomenal young athletes who have been coddled and catered to in their sporting lives.

Williams says Chenowith has put on nearly 30 pounds of muscle. This weight was not gained by gorging on burgers and fries. This is weight produced only by two or three hours a day in the weight room.

That is where Chenowith spent most of his summer. First in Lawrence, Kan., and then, in July, at home.

“I hate sending him home,” Williams says, “because I’m afraid he’ll head right to the beach.”

But Williams wouldn’t send his prized center home if he were really afraid. And he need not be afraid because Chenowith has Reynolds. The two talk once a week, and it was Reynolds who joined Chenowith in the weight room at Villa Park for a couple of hours every day, who engaged Chenowith in the footwork drills that the two had perfected when Chenowith was an uncoordinated 6-9 junior who wasn’t always sure how to put one foot in front of the other.

It was Reynolds who made Chenowith guard Villa Park’s 5-10 point guard during practice, driving Chenowith to head-pounding frustration but also instilling in Chenowith a desire and an ability to guard anyone on the court.

While he was watching Kentucky demolish Kansas, 63-48, Tuesday night at the Great Eight Classic here, Reynolds said he was most proud not of Chenowith’s fastbreak dunk or the way Chenowith was fighting for every rebound.

“What I liked the most,” Reynolds said, “was when Eric was out on the floor guarding Tayshaun Prince.” Prince is a smooth-shooting 6-8 forward from Compton’s Dominguez High, and Reynolds was happy to see that Chenowith’s footwork and concentration allowed him to stay in front of the quicker, slicker Prince.

Indeed, Chenowith was the only bright spot for the Jayhawks, who called themselves “embarrassed” after the loss.

Before the game, Williams had said he was going to be very interested in watching his young center against top-notch competition.

“We know Eric does well when he’s playing against some of the lesser teams,” Williams said. “I’m anxious to see how he steps up against a team with the caliber of athletes that Kentucky has.”

Quite well, thank you.

Chenowith finished with 12 points and eight rebounds, both team highs.

He was the only Jayhawk player Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith mentioned by name, first and last, showing that the defending national champion Wildcats were respecting this still-in-his-formative stage sophomore.

“We wanted to make Eric Chenowith work at both ends,” Smith said. Kentucky used three centers--Michael Bradley, the 6-10 starter; Jules Camara, a 6-11 freshman, and Jamaal Magloire, a 6-10 junior--with the goal of tiring Chenowith. “We wanted to keep the pressure on him constantly,” Smith said. “We wanted to limit those easy baskets. Chenowith got one, there, running the floor, but that was about it.”

Yes, Chenowith said, the loss was disappointing. But he raised his head and spoke seriously of his own performance.

“I think I competed well,” Chenowith said. “I knew this was a big test for me and I think I stood up to it.”

When Kansas lost starting center Raef LaFrentz and versatile forward Paul Pierce to the first round of the NBA draft after last season, Chenowith said he understood that it was up to him to become something more than a work in progress.

“Our success is more up to me now,” Chenowith said. “I looked deep inside this summer. I know I need to come up big.”

Pardon the pun, but Chenowith must come up big.

So call him a California flake, Chenowith will not argue. He is proud to be one. But he will also be proud if someone calls him a college All-American or an NBA all-star. For those are his goals. Make no mistake about that.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

WOODEN CLASSIC

TODAY

HIGH SCHOOLS

* 4:30 p.m.: Brea Olinda vs. Chino Ayala (girls)

* 6 p.m.: Rancho Buena Vista (San Diego) vs. Los Alamitos (boys)

* 7:30 p.m.: Dominguez vs. Waltrip (Houston) (boys)

* 9 p.m.: Mater Dei vs. Glendora (boys)

SATURDAY

COLLEGE

* Game 1: Pepperdine (5-1) vs. No. 7 Kansas (4-1), 2:30 p.m.

* Game 2: No. 18 UCLA (3-2) vs. No. 11 Oklahoma State (4-1), 4:30 p.m.

*

Diane Pucin can be reached at diane.pucin@latimes.com