Have Ball, Will Travel - Even From Lithuania
1/20/2007 5:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Bobby Cremins is accustomed to dealing with 18-year-old kids who are used to getting everything they want, when they want it and the way they want it.
It's the nature of the business.
The business being college basketball.
So when the College of Charleston coach invited Tauras Skripkauskas to campus for an official recruiting visit last summer, something unusual happened.
Unlike other recruits who expect the royal treatment everywhere they go, this lanky Lithuanian asked the Cougar basketball coach only one question - if he needed to bring his own pillow and blanket.
"He's a little different because of where he comes from," Cremins said of his 6-foot 5-inch freshman. "But that's good for us. Guys like Taurus bring a different perspective to the team."
And Skripkauskas is not alone. It has become quite the trend for Lithuanians to appear on college basketball rosters all over the Palmetto State. Right here in the Lowcountry, for instance, all three colleges have at least one Lithuanian.
There's Vytautas Valiulis at The Citadel and Giedrius Knysas at Charleston Southern.
And they all come from the same hometown - Vilnius, Lithuania.
Coincidence? Sort of.
"It seems like there's a Lithuanian on every team in South Carolina," Skripkauskas said.
And he's about right.
In addition to the three players in the Charleston area, there's also Evaldas Baniulis at South Carolina and Karolis Petrukonis at Clemson.
"It's kind of unusual for us to be in the same city," Valiulis said. "But I know six or seven players from our hometown who are playing Division I basketball here in the states.
"It's a small country. We all know each other."
Land of opportunity
It comes as no surprise that basketball is the No. 1 sport in Lithuania, and that these young men have used the game to further their education and increase their opportunities in the United States.
Basketball has been popular in Lithuania since before World War II. It flourished throughout Soviet occupation and since the country's independence in 1990.
So there are literally thousands of young Lithuanian men playing the game. The best find their way to America. And they not only have to be good players, but they also have to be able to handle the academic rigors of college.
All three of these players reportedly are excellent students.
Skripkauskas grew up in Vilnius but played high school basketball in Chicago after his parents migrated from Lithuania.
"Money-wise, there is a lot more opportunity in America," Skripkauskas said. "With schools and sports and everything else."
After attending a prep school in Maine, Skripkauskas was ready for a college scholarship and was about to sign with Rutgers when Cremins came on the scene.
"Right before I was getting ready to go to Rutgers, Coach Cremins watched me play. I didn't know Coach Cremins, but my Lithuanian coach told me about him, so many good things, and that he was an unbelievable person and a great coach," Skripkauskas said.
Once he arrived here he was not surprised to find some of his fellow countrymen on opposing teams.
"I know the guy at The Citadel and the guy at Charleston Southern," Skripkauskas said. "I played with them in Lithuania. We all played against each other since we were young."
And they play hard, because they know what this opportunity means to them.
"Inside of me I just want to play," said Skripkauskas, who is averaging just a couple of minutes of playing time per game while adjusting to the pace of U.S. play. "I just give it my all every time I'm on the basketball court and on my school work. I'm trying very hard so that when I get out of college, if something goes wrong with basketball ... I have other things that I will be successful at no matter what."
Skripkauskas acknowledged cultural differences between his old country and his new country.
"The way people act. There is a lot more trash-talking. Everybody talks that way on and off the basketball court. But there's a lot more opportunities just because of the way the government is made. It's supposed to be the same government (democracy), but it's better here."
Low-maintenance guys
Across town, Ed Conroy is in his first year coaching The Citadel Bulldogs and has great admiration for his 6-1 sophomore guard Vytautas Valiulis, who also grew up in Vilnius.
"I can't speak for all the players from Lithuania, but V's work ethic, his competitiveness and what the game means to him is special," Conroy said. "He does a great job for us in the Corps of Cadets and in the classroom, but there's a special feeling down deep about playing the game of basketball and what this opportunity means to him.
"He is as thankful of this opportunity as any player I have ever coached. You can just see that hurt when things don't go well. And when things go well, it's like he won the Super Bowl. He just has a passion for the game that is refreshing."
Conroy said he knows that a lot of Lithuanian players are being recruited to play in the States, and says he thinks he knows the reason.
"When you get them on your team, everybody who has had them has been so appreciative because they are low-maintenance guys who don't need a whole lot, they don't expect much and they come and compete every day."
Conroy said players like Valiulis, who is averaging close to 6 points per game, have such a different outlook and attitude from the American players coaches are used to dealing with.
"When it comes to Christmas break, I have to remind myself sometimes to check on him because he will ask for nothing. The day before he might finally say, 'Where am I supposed to stay?'
"I've been driving home late at night over the break and I've seen him walking alone on campus. I stopped and asked him if he needed a ride and he said, 'No, coach, just walking around thinking about practice tomorrow.' "
Thankful, appreciative
At Charleston Southern, coach Barclay Radebaugh couldn't say enough good things about Giedrius Knysas, a 6-9 sophomore averaging 27 minutes and over 9 points per game.
"Giedrius is a very, very humble young man from a modest upbringing," the Buccaneer coach said. "He is very thankful to get this chance to get a college education. He's very appreciative."
Like most of these young men from Lithuania, Knysas is serious about his game and his studies.
"In the year and a half that we've been together, he has never complained about anything," Radebaugh said. "He works hard and has great tenacity. I think every team should have a young man with that type of character."
Indeed, every American team needs a Lithuanian.
If only to teach Americans a little humility.
by Ken Burger of the Post and Courier
