The sound of basketballs bouncing inside the Harrison Recreation Center before the early morning rush hour is nothing new, especially when Uli Rodriguez has his way.
“I’m in there every day before 8 a.m.,” said Rodriguez, the Harrison High School senior guard. “I’m trying to take 200 shots a day. I just love shooting the ball. I just go and shoot.”
It’s something that has become a ritual for “U-Rod” since he was a little boy.
“I always had a basketball hoop in my backyard,” Rodriguez said. “I would shoot all the time.”
So last year, the junior shot the ball quite well for the Blue Tide, scoring 318 points in 23 games, hitting 37 shots from 3-point range. He earned a reputation as a pure jump shooter.
However, when Jose Camano took over this season as the new head coach of the Blue Tide, the former Observer Male Athlete of the Year (2008-2009) had a message for Rodriguez.
“We relied on him a lot last year,” said Camano, who served as an assistant coach a year ago before being elevated to the top spot this year. “But when my coaching staff and myself got together to talk about this team, we needed to have Uli be more of a leader. He had to let the game come to him and don’t force shots. I told him he couldn’t take crazy shots. We talked about that a lot.”
Camano had another facet of the game that had to become important to Rodriguez.
“We needed him to take the ball to the basket,” Camano said. “I told him, ‘If you have the lane, you drive the lane and you’ll get fouled. Then you shoot free throws.’ Uli is an 85 percent free throw shooter, so it’s like getting extra points without the clock moving. He needed to attack the basket, go strong and get to the line.”
So Camano worked with Rodriguez on going to the basket with authority.
“We stayed after practice and worked on it,” Camano said. “He had to stick with it.”
Camano said that Rodriguez has always had a desire to improve.
“Since freshman year, he told me that he wanted to learn,” Camano said. “He said, ‘I want to get better.’ I told him that even if he messed up, if he was willing to learn and keep an open mind, he would be fine. He’s a very hard working kid and he’s willing to do anything you tell him.”
Rodriguez gives credit to Camano.
“Coach Camano has been encouraging me a lot since my freshman year,” Rodriguez said. “He’s been like a father figure to me and became a big help to me. I can’t thank him enough.”
So Rodriguez had a different attitude and approach to start his senior season.
It was almost like a gift from the basketball gods.
Because Uli Rodriguez has developed into one of the best scoring guards in the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference.
He has already tied his career high twice this season with 27 points against Elmwood Park and Ridgefield. Last week, Rodriguez had 15 points and eight rebounds in a loss to Butler and 19 points and eight rebounds in a win over Bergen Charter.
For the season, Rodriguez is averaging 21 points per game, more than seven points per game more than the 13.8 average he had last year as a junior. All of last season, he made 45 free throws. In six games this season, he’s swished 26.
And for his efforts, Rodriguez has been selected as The Observer Athlete of the Week for the past week.
Rodriguez took his coach’s philosophy to the hilt.
“He told me that he needed me to shoot more free throws,” Rodriguez said. “It slows the game down. It’s a relatively easy shot. There’s no one around you. So it was big for me to get to the line and make free throws. I didn’t get to the line much before, because I was sitting outside, taking my shots. But now, I have to be more aware of what I have to do. Shooting free throws is basically like shooting in my yard.”
Camano likes what Rodriguez is doing off the court as well.
“He’s more of a leader,” Camano said. “His teammates will follow him. He leads by example. He’s always motivating his teammates by putting the ball in the basket. He motivates everyone.”
Camano knows that the bulls’ eye is now on Rodriguez.
“It’s going to be super hard, because every team we play knows who Uli is,” Camano said. “They’re going to try to stop Uli. So his teammates can take a lot of pressure off him and find open shots.”
Rodriguez gives credit to his teammates.
“I love my teammates a lot,” Rodriguez said. “My teammates pick me up if I’m down and encourage me.”
Rodriguez is a good student with a 3.0 grade point average, so colleges can take a look at him.
“He wants to play at the next level,” Camano said. “We’re going to help him reach that goal. I’m not at all surprised at what he’s done. I knew he had it in him. He just needed the right group of guys around him. He’s taken full advantage of being the team’s leader.”
“I would love to play basketball at the next level,” Rodriguez said. “I even told my parents (mom Pamela Rojas and dad Ulises Rodriguez, Sr.) that I want to play in college. They support me so much. Hopefully my skills will take me there.”
Rodriguez would love to study criminal justice in college.
For now, he heads to the Harrison Recreation Center, where Vinnie Doffont, a former three-sport standout at St. Mary’s of Rutherford and placekicker at Montclair State whose profile graced these pages a few times, opens the door for Rodriguez in the morning.
“I just love the game of basketball,” Rodriguez said.
That’s proven by the way he’s played so far this season.
CAPTION
Harrison senior guard Uli Rodriguez. Photo by Jim Hague
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Jim Hague | Observer Sports Writer
Sports Writer Jim Hague was with The Observer for 20+ years — and his name is one of the most recognizable in all of sports journalism. The St. Peter’s Prep and Marquette alum kicked off his journalism career post Marquette at the Daily Record, where he remained until 1985. Following shorts stints at two other newspapers, in September 1986, he joined the now-closed Hudson Dispatch, where he remained until 1991, when its doors were finally shut.
It was during his tenure at The Dispatch that Hague’s name and reputation as one of country’s hardest-working sports reporters grew. He won several New Jersey Press Association and North Jersey Press Club Awards in that timeframe.
In 1991, he became a columnist for The Hudson Reporter chain of newspapers — and he remains with them to this day.
In addition to his work at The Observer and The Hudson Reporter, Hague is also an Associated Press stringer, where he covers Seton Hall University men’s basketball, New York Red Bulls soccer and occasionally, New Jersey Devils hockey.
He’s also doing work at The Morristown Daily Record, the very newspaper where his journalism career began.
During his career, he also worked for Dorf Feature Services, which provided material for the Star-Ledger. While there, he covered the New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets.
Hague is also known for his announcing work — and he’s done PA work for Rutgers Newark and NJIT.
Hague is the author of the book “Braddock: The Rise of the Cinderella Man.”