He Isn’t Flashy, but He’s a Leader

Chris Hernandez was sprawled on the floor of a Staples Center locker room, his legs stretched in seemingly every possible angle by a trainer, when word filtered in that Arizona Coach Lute Olson had paid him a compliment earlier in the day.

Sort of.

Olson said Hernandez should be counted among “the top half-dozen guards in the country,” but added that if you dropped the name “Chris Hernandez” on an East Coast fan, “they’d say he’s a musician.”

Hernandez, between grunts and groans, shrugged. The previous week, a national magazine had come out with its list of the top 10 pro prospect point guards. “I wasn’t on it,” Hernandez said. “I guess I’m just used to it.”

Being overlooked and underappreciated is a fact of life for the heart and soul of the Cardinal. But so is answering critics by doing what he does best -- winning.

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Because he starred at Fresno’s Clovis West High, it’s hard to imagine Hernandez escaping the grasp of then-Fresno State Coach Jerry Tarkanian.

“Tark didn’t want me,” Hernandez said with another matter-of-fact shrug. “One of his assistants, John Welch, used to come by my high school and play with us. But they didn’t want me until I got really good, until my junior year.”

That’s when Clovis West went 39-3 and was ranked as high as third in the state and ninth in the nation.

“They didn’t see my potential early on, not until after I had better options, academically and athletically,” Hernandez said of Tarkanian and his staff. “Also, I wanted to get out of Fresno, leave the nest.”

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Others in the Pacific 10 Conference also passed on Hernandez early on -- he was undersized, not athletic enough, injury-prone. But after being overwhelmed at times as a college freshman, and taking a medical redshirt after twice breaking his left foot as a sophomore, he converted the congregation last season.

All he did was lead the Cardinal to victory in its first 26 games and a Pac-10 regular-season championship and conference tournament title. Bowing out in the second-round of the NCAA tournament was the only real blemish in a season the Cardinal finished 30-2.

Despite the presence of All-American forward Josh Childress a year ago, it was Hernandez who was chosen league most valuable player in a poll of Pac-10 writers. The writers again chose him MVP this season because he carried the Cardinal after leading scorer Dan Grunfeld suffered a season-ending knee injury.

In the seven games after Grunfeld’s right knee buckled, Hernandez averaged 18 points. Stanford won five of those games, avenged a Washington State sweep by beating the Cougars in the Pac-10 tournament and took tourney champ Washington to the buzzer.

The Cardinal (18-12) was rewarded with a No. 8 seeding in the NCAA tournament and will meet Mississippi State at Charlotte, N.C., on Friday.

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Hernandez is not flashy, far from spectacular. But he’s solid -- and well-respected. “It’s tough because he’s so smart,” said Washington’s Nate Robinson, a top guard himself. “It’s like always playing against your big brother, knowing that he knows so much more

Last year, Hernandez said, being left off a national list of top point guards might have bothered him. “This year, I just knew it was going to happen,” he said.

He added: “I guarantee you, [Washington State guard] Thomas Kelati is really good. But he gets no love either. So it’s not just me.”