Banks trying to play through pain in toe

Friday, Nov. 15, 2002 | 9:55 a.m.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being unbearable, UNLV senior point guard Marcus Banks revealed after Thursday's practice at the Thomas & Mack Center that the pain in the big toe of his left foot was at a nine.

"Nobody would know it," he said. "I'm always going 100 percent. It hurts, but it's not enough to sit out. I have a big season ahead of me. Most players can't play with pain, but I'm trying to take this team places. I can't do it myself, but I'll fight and scratch ... nobody understands.

"You'd never know the difference."

Banks feels it, though, every time he stops. It has been diagnosed as cessmoiditis, and its source is in the ball of the front of his left foot. That's what causes the excruciating pain in the big toe whenever that part of the foot bends.

He has a custom-made, metal-and-cork orthopedic device, which costs approximately $250 and is designed to eliminate any room for foot slippage inside the shoe. A small foamy ball, between the ball of the foot and the big toe, keeps that digit from bending.

One doctor recommended major surgery, requiring reconstruction of the area in pain and a lengthy rehabilitation regimen.

"That's too much," said Banks, a Las Vegas native who returned home after attending Dixie College. "I don't have time for that." Another suggested periodic shavings of the calcium and other buildups on the ball of his foot.

Banks opted to grin and bear it, with an occasional anti-inflammatory shot. He said he had three such shots during last season. He also said he isn't concerned how the injury, similar to that of former NFLer Deion Sanders, might affect his NBA market value.

"Not at all, because of the simple fact that I'm playing 100 percent," said Banks, who estimated that he owns more than 200 pairs of basketball shoes in his quest for the perfect fit. "I'm still doing my job, on offense and defense. It's nothing that will affect my game. Eventually, I'll cure it. But I won't let anyone by me and I won't get embarrassed."

It wasn't enough to keep him on the East Coast, though, and the Cheyenne High graduate transferred home to be with his two-year-old daughter, Destini.

"When I was in high school, I kind of wanted to leave home," he said. "I feel no regrets. But now, family and friends, everybody who watched me play growing up, can see me play. I feel I made a good move.

"It was nothing about being homesick. I just didn't get to see my kid. I needed to be here for my little girl. That was the main reason. It was a tough decision I had to make."

The 6-foot-2 guard sat out 2001-02, as per NCAA transfer requirements, and he is now part of a sterling backcourt that features Banks, Jermaine Lewis, Ernest Turner and another scrapper or two.

"Competitive, that's one word to describe it," Hunter said. "I think that's what you need to go deep. We should be all right."

He told the players at the banquet to always give their best effort, because the next year, next day and the next moment are not promised to them. Perched high at Thomas & Mack for the practice, Richardson said he liked what he was seeing.

"I talked to him last year, and he said they would surprise some people. Then he won 21 games," Richardson said. "You can't count out the little fella. His teams are always fundamentally sound, they play great defense and they usually handle pressure well."

"He didn't fight it. He understood what it was for," Spoonhour said of sprint time that Edwards usually logs before and after practice. "It's funny. Here we've been wanting a big guy. Now we have one, but we want to make him smaller."

The players weren't rushing their shots, he said, and those shots weren't taken outside the context of the Rebels' scheme, either. Still, Spoonhour said he is hoping the trend does not continue, because UNLV has hit at least one 3-point shot in 507 consecutive games.

The next-longest current NCAA streak is 504 by Vanderbilt.