Valley grad Hernandez has dream come true with berth

Victoria Sun

Thursday, March 15, 2001 | 10:32 a.m.

Throughout high school, Alex Hernandez watched the 64-team NCAA Tournament on TV, longing to be part of college basketball's premier event.

Friday at 9:25 a.m., Hernandez will get his wish as 12th-seeded Gonzaga takes on 5th-seeded Virginia in the first round of the tournament.

"It's a dream come true to me," the 6-4 Gonzaga swingman said over the phone. "I've been working hard to get to the stage I'm at."

Hernandez averages 6.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 15 minutes for the 24-6 Zags.

He starred at Valley High School, earning Nevada state player of the year honors and leading the Vikings to the state title in 1998.

Despite his height, Hernandez was primarily a post player at Valley, which might have scared off schools interested in offering him a scholarship.

Coming out of high school, Hernandez said the only two schools that showed any real interest in him were Northern Arizona and Pepperdine. He said UNLV showed only a cursory interest, making a couple of phone calls to his home, but nothing more.

"They weren't really recruiting me out of high school," Hernandez said. "I wanted to get away from home, anyway.

"I don't know what were they thinking. I thought they would recruit me, but they didn't put any effort into it."

Not that Hernandez is bitter.

After all, he is going to the NCAA Tournament, while UNLV wasn't even able to participate in its own conference tournament this year because of NCAA sanctions.

"It's all good," he said.

Instead of going straight to a four-year college out of high school, Hernandez wisely listened to the advice of Valley coach Paul Aznerez, who suggested he go to a junior college so that he could develop his guard and small forward skills.

Hernandez played two years at Casper Community College in Wyoming before transferring to Gonzaga. At the college he averaged 23.4 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.2 steals a game as a sophomore and was named the All-Region IX player of the year. The same year he was a third team All-America selection.

Last year, Hernandez had his No. 35 jersey retired at Valley, joining former Atlanta Braves pitcher Greg Maddux and former UNLV star Freddie Banks.

"The jersey thing was exciting," Hernandez said of his achievement. "So that's up there with getting to play in the NCAA Tournament."

While he spent the last two years at Wyoming Community College learning how to be a more effective swingman instead of an undersized post player, he started thinking about transferring to Gonzaga.

It seemed every time he watched, the Cinderella team slid on its glass slipper, waltzing its way past midnight and past the supposedly bigger and better basketball schools.

After considering Tulsa, Utah and Wyoming, a visit to Gonzaga sealed his fate.

Support for the school's basketball program, whose most notable alumni is the Jazz's John Stockton, has ballooned the past two years.

In 1999, Gonzaga reached the Elite Eight of the NCAAs and the Sweet Sixteen last year. The Zags are making their third straight NCAA appearance, the fourth in school history.