Once a risk, White now all reward

Billy White is a bonus, a basketball player few college coaches expected to qualify and one that just a handful thought owned the potential to be special. He was an academic risk averaging 12 points as a junior at Green Valley High. No program missed on him.

But one gambled and signed him early.

San Diego State coaches in November 2006 took a chance they knew could end with egg firmly attached to their faces and the Aztecs in need of another player come the spring recruiting season. They held their breath and hoped for the best.

It's a truth those closest to White recall each time he has since shined on the court, each time an image has flashed of him winning Freshman of the Year honors or dominating a top seed such as New Mexico in a Mountain West Conference tournament game or going for 30 points against Gonzaga on national television or demoralizing some poor Texas Christian defender off the dribble in what seems like a 50th straight isolation play.

"From the beginning, (San Diego State) was the most aggressive recruiting him," said Adam Patai, who coached White at Green Valley. "The rumors out there about him not being able to qualify had a lot of teams backing off.

"But he qualified and worked extremely hard to do so. Now look at him. The national exposure. The season they are having. I really hope they make a deep run in March."

Billy White is the understudy on Broadway, the person a director might think important enough to learn a key role but isn't sure how often to place him center stage.

The sixth-ranked Aztecs who play UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center today are led by a potential NBA lottery pick (Kawhi Leonard), a forward pro scouts are intrigued with (Malcolm Thomas), a point guard who turns the ball over as often as San Diego receives snowfall (D.J. Gay) and a veteran coach who, if you close your eyes and listen to him talk, you would swear it was the ghost of Jack Benny (Steve Fisher).

Oh, yeah. There is also White.

He is hardly an afterthought and yet the senior who owns averages of 10.1 points and 3.6 rebounds and a first step ridiculously quick for his 6-foot-8-inch frame isn't the team's primary or secondary option. He is not invisible but also not featured.

Which makes these facts all the more impressive: White before this season ends will become the school's all-time leader in starts and will depart the only player in program history to shoot better than 60 percent for a career. The next closest didn't make 58 percent.

"Billy is a talented scorer," San Diego State assistant head coach Brian Dutcher said. "He is capable of huge games. We look at matchups, and if he is hot, we'll ride him. He has been great for us. Hasn't caused us any issues. He's a good kid."

Billy White is an achiever in the way that when something needs to be done, he obliges. Everyone told him he wouldn't qualify. He did. Coaches begged him to shoot more in high school and he became a star as a senior. Injuries slowed him at San Diego State and he kept coming back from them. His team struggled to put away lowly Texas Christian recently, and he took the game over in the final minutes.

White plays a final regular-season game today in front of family and friends he chose to leave four years ago because those in his immediate circle felt it best that he grow and mature and become a man away from Las Vegas. He never questioned it was the right thing to do.

"It was never personal against the city or UNLV," White said. "No offense to them. Coach (Lon) Kruger is a great coach, and they have a great program. They've always had great teams. I just felt a little more comfortable at San Diego State. They just stayed on top of me (academically). I think that's what made me pick San Diego State in the end. They were the first school that came into my house and said, 'It's not just about basketball.' "

Billy White is happy and has a college degree in sight. He is on a team expected to win the first NCAA Tournament game in school history and one some believe could be alive and defending into the bracket's latter stages.

He proved countless others wrong and never gloated about it. He has become what so many once doubted.

Billy White is special.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can also be heard from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday and Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," FOX Sports Radio 920 AM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.