Wilhite Has Become Center of Attention : Basketball: Lincoln grad wants to be thought of as an all-around player at Cal State Fullerton.

FULLERTON —  Being introduced by the public address announcer, strutting onto the court and slapping high-fives with teammates is an exhilarating experience for most basketball players, one of the perks of being a starter.

But as much as Aaron Wilhite enjoys starting for Cal State Fullerton, he can’t help but cringe sometimes when he is introduced in the Titans’ lineup.

At center, a 6-foot-7 sophomore from San Diego, No. 32, Aaron Wilhite!

It’s not that Wilhite is shy or uncomfortable being the center of attention. He just dislikes being called a center .

“I’ve always had a picture of a center being a 6-10 clumsy guy who only posts up,” said Wilhite, Fullerton’s leading rebounder (8.5 a game) and third-leading scorer (12.8 points) entering Thursday’s game against University of Pacific.

“The stereotype of big men is they don’t get the ball on the fast break and they don’t take outside shots. I’m more of a full-court player.”

Wilhite played all over the court at San Diego’s Lincoln High School, where he averaged 24 points and 12 rebounds as a swingman in 1988-89 and was the San Diego Section 2-A player of the year. Wilhite shot from the outside, filled lanes on the fast break and posted up occasionally in three seasons as a varsity starter.

He was going full speed this season until he bruised a knee joint Jan. 14 against San Jose State. He finished the game, scoring a season-high 27 points. But when he woke up the following morning he could hardly walk. Wilhite has missed the past five games but is expected to return within the next week.

Wilhite has become more of a full-figured player since his days at Lincoln, growing an inch and gaining about 25 pounds. “I grew out,” the 240-pounder says.

And in Titan Coach John Sneed’s run-by-numbers offense (1=point guard, 2=shooting guard, 3=small forward, 4=power forward, 5=center), Wilhite--though he doesn’t fit the mold of a prototype center--fits best in the No. 5 position.

Whether he likes it or not.

“It doesn’t bother me that much because the No. 4 and 5 positions are basically the same,” Wilhite said. “I just don’t like being introduced as a center. I’ve never really played it.”

But if it means helping the team and starting, Wilhite will play it.

Wilhite’s points have not come at the expense of rebounds, but many have come because of rebounds. Of his 127 rebounds this season, 61 have come on the offensive end.

“I was always taught in high school to go harder for offensive rebounds, because those are points,” said Wilhite, who set a San Diego Section record with 39 rebounds in one game. “If you get two a quarter and get two putbacks, that’s four points a quarter. It’s just natural to go harder for offensive rebounds.”

Many of Wilhite’s early season points came on follow shots, but he then began posting up more often, scoring on inside jumpers. He has been one of the Titans’ most accurate shooters, making 66 of 129 field-goal attempts for a .511 percentage.

“His confidence has come from age, maturity and hard work,” Sneed said. “His nickname is A-train, but I call him a plow horse. He’s a tireless worker.”

Wilhite has had to work hard making the adjustment to center, a position he was unaccustomed to playing and surprised to be playing last season.

“When I got to Fullerton, my game changed,” Wilhite said. “They put me on the block and I had to learn how to play low-post. I was more of a perimeter player in high school, but now I’m lucky if I shoot from 10 feet out.”

Wilhite said he didn’t like playing in Sneed’s system last season. Although Wilhite’s media-guide biography credits high school Coach Ron Loneski for “being one of the biggest influences” on his career, Loneski might have been partly responsible for Wilhite’s rocky transition to college.

“What messed me up is he said I was a 6-8 center when I was only a 6-6 forward,” Wilhite said. “A lot of schools recruited me as a center and I think Sneed had this picture in his head of a post-up guy. He put me in that position and we worked from there.”

Wilhite says it would be impossible for him to make the NBA as a center, so playing the position at Fullerton won’t enhance his professional prospects. But Wilhite says he has no intentions of transferring to a school that would allow him to play another position.

The business management major says he likes Fullerton and had a 3.1 grade-point average his freshman year. Besides, he realizes the NBA is a longshot--a lot longer than most of his shots.

“I’m comfortable where I am so I’ll just go with the flow,” Wilhite said. “I don’t even think about the pros. I’m here to get an education and get something started for myself. I just want to succeed in life.”