Finn earns his wings
Pushups, chinups, obstacle courses, survival courses, 4 a.m. reveille, yes sir, no sir -- they’re all going to be part of Jordan Finn’s vocabulary when he arrives this summer for basic training.
He signed a commitment to play basketball for the Air Force Academy last November.
A 6-foot-4 senior guard at Etiwanda, Finn gave no hint to his coach, Dave Kleckner, that a military career was in his future.
“I would never have guessed it,” Kleckner said.
But Finn visited the campus in Colorado Springs, Colo., sat in on a business class, watched the team practice and needed only a couple of weeks to come to the conclusion that he was prepared to take the plunge.
And what a commitment he’s making, from academics to athletics to eight years of mandatory military service.
“I know it’s going to be tough, but in the long run it’s going to help me out in life,” he said. “It will prepare me for hard decisions I have to make or hard obstacles I come up against.”
What Air Force will be getting is a dependable, well-rounded basketball player who can shoot, dribble and most important, play defense.
There might not be a coach in the Southland who teaches better man-to-man defense than Kleckner. The coach hasn’t allowed his teams to play a single possession of zone defense since he took over the Etiwanda program 13 years ago, and his players understand what that means.
“If you can’t guard the ball, you won’t play,” Finn said. “Either you get yelled at or you’re taken out of the game.”
Added Kleckner: “I let the kids know there’s no exceptions and no excuses for not guarding the ball. I think it keeps the kids accountable.”
Finn has been playing varsity since his freshman season. He arrived the season after Darren Collison (UCLA) and Jeff Pendergraph (Arizona State) completed their careers at Etiwanda. He came because he watched that team play Los Angeles Fairfax in a state Division I playoff game in front of a packed crowd and wanted to experience the same excitement and challenge.
“I started a couple games as a freshman and it got me really prepared,” he said. “I found out what high school ball is like really quick.”
Injuries have kept him from reaching top form the last two seasons, but his shooting skills, toughness and intelligence leave no doubt he’s one of the best players in the Inland Empire.
He’s averaging 10 points for an Etiwanda team that is 16-4 and ranked No. 10 by The Times.
Etiwanda plays No. 3-ranked Woodland Hills Taft (17-2) on Saturday at 8 p.m. at Fairfax as part of the five-game Fairfax State Preview Classic. It will be a rematch of a game the teams played Dec. 30, with Taft winning, 63-61. Both are expected to make the Southern California Division I Regional tournament in March.
As for Finn, Kleckner said, “He’s trying to be a complete player.”
He’ll enroll at the Air Force Academy prep school in the summer, and the major challenge will be making it through four weeks of grueling basic training.
“They told me it’s real difficult, but as long as you have a positive mind-set you should be able to get through it,” Finn said.
His grandfather was a pilot in the Air Force, but Finn is not going to fly. “There’s so many options,” he said.
He’s not worried about the discipline required, for his experiences in basketball have prepared him well.
“I’ve been playing for hard coaches my whole life,” he said.
Asked if he has started answering, “Yes sir, no sir,” Finn replied, “Not yet, but I need to start.”
And what happens if those 4 a.m. wake-up calls and three-mile runs become too tough?
“I’ve never been one to give up,” he said.
Etc.
Andy Brown, a key player on Santa Ana Mater Dei’s 21-0 boys’ basketball team that is ranked No. 1 in the nation, sustained a torn knee ligament Wednesday during a game against Anaheim Servite. The Stanford-bound Brown will undergo surgery and miss the rest of the season, Coach Gary McKnight said.
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Finn video
The Etiwanda guard and his coach talk about his commitment to the Air Force Academy and to playing defense.
