Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
8 — Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Val Nainima brings strong basketball foundation as new assistant coach
Val Nainima is a stickler for
basketball basics. Passing, dribbling,
shooting. As most do, she understands
them to be the foundations of
basketball, and having a solid
foundation is key to being successful
on and off the court. Throughout
Nainima’s entire basketball career,
she’s continued to build on her
foundation in each position.
Nainima hails from Rakiraki, Fiji,
a small island in the South Pacific.
She started playing basketball at age
13 when her mom “wanted her out
of the house”. Her mother’s friend
was hosting a basketball basics clinic.
From then on Nainima was hooked.
During her high school years, she
started building her reputation as a
stellar point guard. She competed
both on the Fiji National Team and
the U-20 team. In both 2005 and
2007, Nainima led her teams to gold
medals in the South Pacific Games.
After her outstanding performance
in high school, Nainima was recruited
to play collegiately in America. She
began her career at LIU Brooklyn
under coach Stephanie Gaitley, now
Fordham’s head coach. During her
freshman season, she became the first
player in the Northeast Conference to
win both rookie of the year and player
of the year in the same season. Her
sophomore season provided similar
success. Nainima became the fastest
player in LIU history to reach 1,000
career points.
“She’s one of the best, if not the best
player, I think I’ve coached,” Gaitley
said. “What I love about Val was
when she stepped across the line, she
was all business, but off the court, she
was as nice as could be and had the
respect of coaches and teammates.
I mean, as a freshman, she was not
only rookie of the year, she was player
of the year. Her humble personality
and her willingness to just care about
others just kind of just set her apart
from a lot of people. So not only was
she an unbelievable player, but she’s
an unbelievable person.”
Gaitley left LIU after Nainima’s
sophomore
season
after
which
Nainima decided to transfer. Her
success at LIU caught the eye of
Dawn Staley, South Carolina’s coach
and the U.S. Olympic coach. After
transferring and sitting out a season
due to NCAA regulations, Nainima
was eager to get back on the court.
The decision to transfer proved
advantageous for Nainima. She
received
All-SEC
Second-Team
Honors and ended her collegiate
career as one of the Gamecocks’ top
3-point shooters and point-guards.
Perhaps more importantly, Nainima
learned
valuable
lessons
from
Staley, furthering her foundational
understanding of the game.
“I’m not gonna lie, as a point guard
she holds us to the highest standard,”
Nainima said. “Everything is your
fault. You’re accountable for every
single thing. Even if you didn’t pass
the turnover, you’d have to think like
three, four levels ahead. And I gained
so much within that amount of time
that I was with her. And a level of
toughness, a standard of eliteness.
Of how to hold yourself at a different
level compared to everybody else on
a daily basis. And it’s stuck with me.”
After college, Nainima decided
to try her hand at professional
basketball.
She
played
overseas
in
Germany
for
New
Basket
Oberhausen. Spending three seasons
with the team, Nainima also coached
a U17 team in the organization during
her time overseas.
Shortly after Nainima’s stint
overseas, Gaitley approached her
about joining Fordham’s coaching
staff. Nainima accepted and began
her seven-year journey with the
Rams, starting first as their video
coordinator and later moving to
assistant coach.
“And so I said, ‘Hey, listen,
why don’t you come in as a video
coordinator? And then we’ll continue
to move you up’,” Gaitley said. “And
that’s what we did. And she just
continued to blossom every year. And
she was a terrific assistant coach with
a great future.”
At Fordham, Nainima was the
guard-specific coach and helped the
team to three NCAA Tournament
appearances.
Under
Gaitley’s
tutelage, she gained an appreciation
for the details.
“She’s
a
defensive-minded
coach,” Nainima said. “Obviously,
I didn’t play a lot of defense, but it
was great to see it from the other
side and the amount of detail that’s
put in the defensive side and being
able to wrap it up with who I was
naturally, as an offensive player, I
learned so much.”
During Nainima’s time away
from Fiji, she continued to compete
for the Fijian National Team. To this
day, Nainima remains an important
member of the team. She’s been
captain for the past 11 years.
“It’s one of the proudest moments
of my life,” Nainima said. “I would
say there’s nothing compared to
wearing your national team jersey
and name on your chest.”
Juggling playing and coaching
can be a challenge. But Nainima has
found a balance, and takes joy and
pride in it. Playing for her national
team is a great pride for Nainima,
alongside coaching young women in
the game she loves. Her continued
experience playing for the team has
helped her not only become a better
athlete — but a better coach.
“Everything
slows
down,”
Nianima said. “The more I coach,
and the more I see things and the
more I learn from other coaches
around me, everything slows down.
And then you can sort of cheat
the system a bit. I know defensive
formations,
I
know
offensive
formations. I know how not to work
hard all the time, but smart.”
She’s also applied that mindset
to a different role in the realm
of basketball. She worked for
Basketball
Fiji,
a
grassroots
organization intent on increasing
the presence of basketball in Fiji.
Nainima served as the development
officer
and
high-performance
manager.
She launched the first Hoops
for Health program in Fiji, which
introduces basketball basics to
young kids and highlights the
importance of a healthy lifestyle.
She also set up many tournaments
for high schoolers and young players
in Fiji that weren’t available to her
when she played in high school.
Throughout it all, Nainima has
understood the importance of
grassroots basketball, especially
considering her ties to it. Giving
back to the community that has
shaped her life’s trajectory is a great
source of pride for Nainima. She
hopes to continue to inspire kids
like her from the South Pacific that
basketball is possible for them.
“I love working with young
people, Nainima said. “I love
teaching basics. I mean, if I ever
retired
from
coaching,
that’s
what I’d love to step into — more
grassroots level basketball. It makes
me so happy to give back to other
Fijians as much as I can.”
Now at Michigan, Nainima has
an opportunity to yet again build on
her foundation. Wolverine players
and coaches alike have expressed
their love for her contagious energy,
and her passion for basketball.
“She’s just been phenomenal for
us on her first couple of months
on the job,” Michigan coach Kim
Barnes Arico said. “She’s working
with our point guards and just
doing an outstanding job.”
Basketball has been Nainima’s
entire life. From the start, she
understood
the
special
place
basketball would hold not only in
her career, but in her heart.
“To me, I believe (basketball’s)
a tool that’s used to impact a young
person’s life or someone’s life,”
Nainima said. “I think impacting a
person’s life is huge. And basketball
has been that tool for me. And I’ve
been impacted by other people as well
as, it’s not just not a one-way thing.
And it’s made me a better person.
“It’s made me a better coach, a
better player and I hope to give back
to others the same way that basketball
has for me.”
At this point in her career,
Nainima’s foundation is sturdy. But
if her winding basketball journey
shows anything, the fire to build upon
it remains burning inside her.
ABBIE TELEGOF
Daily Sports Writer
TESS CROWLEY/Daily
This year, the Michigan women’s basketball team’s mantra is all about being “the hardest working team in America.”
‘He doesn’t believe in off days’: DeVante’ Jones’s drive to succeed never ends
There’s 588 names listed in the 247
Sports Composite rankings for top
basketball recruits in 2017.
DeVante’ Jones’s name is nowhere
to be found.
Jones, who hails from New
Orleans, was a steady force in high
school averaging 17 points, five
rebounds, 6.5 assists and three steals
his senior year at St. Augustine. The
college offers, though, didn’t come.
Louisiana is far from a fertile
recruiting ground for basketball.
Among that 2017 recruiting class, just
two players from the state cracked
the top 300 in the rankings and only
seven are listed.
So,
hoping
to
improve
his
recruiting opportunities, he moved
to Massachusetts where he played a
year at Notre Dame Prep. There, his
scoring average jumped to 25 points
per game, but while 588 other players
found offers, Jones was mostly met
with silence.
His recruiting profile was
completely blank. He didn’t have a star
rating. He didn’t have a crystal ball
prediction. There was no information
about official visits or offers.
Now, Jones is coming to Michigan
to take on a critical role with the
team, as the Wolverines are lacking
in guard depth. With the departure
of starting point guard Mike Smith,
it will be on Jones to fill in that gap
offensively, and more importantly,
guard the other team’s best ball
handler — a role that Smith could
rarely occupy. Jones, who boasts a
6-foot-6 wingspan and whose three
steals per game were third best in the
country last year, believes he’s up to
the task.
So five years later, how did Jones —
a self-proclaimed “unathletic player”
— go from a complete unknown
to someone Michigan believes is a
catalyst for a championship season?
It started with a willingness to
outwork everyone in his way.
***
There may not have been much
information on Jones, but the guard
will happily give you the scouting
report himself, and he won’t hide the
flaws:
“Me being a kid (who was) very
overlooked just because I’m 6-foot-
1, not very athletic, that’s why (my
height is) a knock on my game,”
Jones said. “A lot of people feel like
I can’t do a lot of things that other
guys with crazy athleticism, crazy
height can do.”
One person who did feel Jones
could do all those things was Coastal
Carolina coach Cliff Ellis, who had a
front row seat to Jones’s development.
When asked to speak about Jones,
Ellis gushed about his former player.
“He’s a guy that’s going to bring it
every day,” Ellis told The Daily. “He
really doesn’t have a weakness to his
game. There are only three things you
do with a basketball — dribble, pass
and shoot — and he can do all three.
He defends hard; he’s a tough kid; fun
to coach; brings it every day.”
But when pushed to expand on
what makes him so fun to coach, Ellis
doesn’t budge:
“He brings it every day.”
Maybe it really is that simple.
Jones is an all-around player,
and despite his shorter stature, his
physicality and ability to disrupt
passing lanes help him thrive among
his taller peers.
At Coastal, he redshirted his
freshman year due to academic issues,
but once he had a chance to play, he
did not waste the opportunity. Jones
went on to be a three-year starter
with the Chanticleers — culminating
in a Sun Belt Player of the Year award
last season.
His commitment to always
putting in the extra work allowed him
to reach new heights.
“The funny thing about DeVante’
is he doesn’t believe in off days,”
former Coastal Carolina assistant
coach Patrice Days said. “There were
times when we had to tell him to get
out of the gym. Whatever you asked
him to do, he’s done it.”
Jones is just wired to go the extra
mile. Other players may be flashier
or possess more raw skills, but when
it comes to effort, those who have
worked with him insist there’s no one
quite like Jones. He lifted weights
to become more of a hard-nosed
defender and constantly worked on his
jump shot to expand his range. It takes
a certain mindset to turn yourself
into a top college basketball player —
especially without the expectations
coming in — but Jones has it.
As he transitions to Michigan,
Jones is still attacking practice with
the same ferocity he had when he
was an under-recruited player out
of high school. Much will be made
about Jones’s fit as a smaller guard
in a bruising Big Ten conference
that features several elite big men.
But size has never prevented Jones
from being whatever type of player
he wants to be.
“I feel like my body size doesn’t
really affect me,” Jones said. “I feel
like I use my body very well. I’ve had
comparisons to Fred Van Fleet, so I
just try to implement his game using
my floater, being crafty. But at the
end of the day, I can’t always get to
the rim or shoot layups so that’s why
I’m working on my three ball. It’s just
understanding the game so a lot of
studying and watching a lot of film.
It’s not really as hard as people think.”
That workhorse mentality is
second nature to Jones, and it comes
through in his words. Adding a
3-point shot. Making time for extra
film sessions. He’ll shrug it off as part
of the job. His teammates, though,
have taken note of his relentless effort.
“His mentality is that no matter
how tall you are, how big, how strong,
how fast, you’re not going to outwork
him,” Coastal Carolina forward Isaac
Hippolyte, who played with Jones
the last three seasons, said. “This
has been his mentality since I’ve met
him and since I became a teammate
with him at Coastal. He’s never going
to take no for an answer. He’s never
going to leave the court without
coming out victorious.”
Every year with the Chanticleers
he was ready to take on whatever
was thrown at him, even as the target
on his back grew. Jones’s stat line
improved each year, going from 13
points, 3.8 assists and 3.6 rebounds as
a sophomore to 17.4 points, 5.7 assists
and 5.8 rebounds as a junior. Last
season, Jones’s scoring average was
again on the uptick at 19.3 but the rest
of his numbers were more perplexing.
Jones’s assists dropped to just
2.7 per game, while his rebounding
skyrocketed to an average of 7.2 —
good enough for eighth-best in the
entire Sun Belt Conference.
Jones assessed the roster and
figured out what he could do to best
help the team. If Coastal needed more
help rebounding, then he was going to
go up and get some damn rebounds.
That was the attitude instilled in him.
“His sophomore year, he was
second in the Sun Belt in assists, so he
already proved that,” Days said. “So,
I told him he had to prove to people
that ‘you were a winner’ so he did
whatever we needed him to do. His
role changed, and he adapted to it.”
At Big Ten Media Day, fifth-
year senior guard Eli Brooks and
sophomore center Hunter Dickinson
both expressed their confidence in
Jones, saying he could win Big Ten
Defensive Player of the Year. After
just a few practices with the team,
Brooks is already seeing the same
traits in Jones that those at Coastal
Carolina witnessed over four years.
“When we play open gym and,
even in practice, he’s everywhere,”
Brooks said. “He brings it every single
day so it’s just something that you can
appreciate.”
The chip on Jones’s shoulder is
more of a chunk at this point.
He has never fit the mold of a top
prospect, but he’s worked tirelessly to
earn his spot in the college basketball
ranks. In 2017, he wasn’t even a blip on
the recruiting radar. In 2021, he was
choosing between Michigan, Texas
and other top schools for the next step
in his collegiate career.
This year, he wants to prove that he
should’ve had the attention of those
programs all along.
No recruiting profile can illustrate
the player Jones turned out to be.
He did it through hard work and
never listening to the scouting report
imparted on him.
“He came in as a three star,” Ellis
said. “He’s leaving as a five star.”
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Michigan grad student guard DeVante’ Jones steps up to take on a critical role with the Wolverines, as the team lacks in guard depth after Mike Smith left big shoes to fill.
JOSHUA TAUBMAN
Daily Sports Writer