A Close Look in at Rhode Island's Walk-Ons - The Leviton and Dadika Duo
Outside of the 13 scholarships that the Rhode Island men's basketball team fills, there are open positions for walk-ons. In this article, I explore the stories of the two walk-ons that are currently on Dan Hurley's roster. Overall, the walk-ons, Eric Dadika and Will Leviton, help in practice and with pumping up their teammates during the game.
Eric Dadika is classified as a "preferred" walk-on and in some places, he has been labeled as a two-star recruit. To put that into context, Jarvis Garrett was given a two-star rating when Dan Hurley recruited him. In his final two seasons with the Spotswood Chargers in Spotswood, New Jersey, Dadika averaged 15.5 and 21.8 points per game, respectively. If you pay attention in the pregame lineup line and shootaround, you can see that Dadika is a solid shooter and an adept dunker. it is not out of the question to have Eric Dadika play meaningful minutes in a few games throughout his remaining three seasons. On the bench, the New Jersey native has several celebrations that he partakes in, two of which include a shooting motion after a Rhode Island free throw and a fake use of a defibrillator motion to bring (his fellow walk-on) Will Leviton "back to life" after a huge highlight play.
Will Leviton will likely never see massive amounts of playing time but he earned his spot by first being a team manager. Leviton was discussed in Rhode Island's NCAA tournament press conferences and Dan Hurley told the full story to the media of how he earned his spot as a walk-on. Long story short, the Rhode Island MBB head coach said that the Providence native hatched a plan to work on his game in between breaks of being a team manager to be good enough to earn a place as a walk-on. On top of his tale, Hurley added, "When E.C. Matthews, Hassan Martin, Jared Terrell, [and] Kuran Iverson come over and tell you that they would like him to be a walk-on ... If you're a smart coach, you get him a jersey." Moreover, Hassan Martin called Leviton, "the invisible heart and soul of the team". In addition, Hassan Martin, Jared Terrell, E.C. Matthews, and Kuran Iverson all laughed when his name was first brought up by a female reporter from SB Nation.
There is a notable occurrence that I know that many Rhode Island students do not know about. In the Hall of Fame tournament, Will Leviton stood up during a media timeout in the Cincinnati game at the Mohegan Sun Arena and started raising his arms up and down to hype up the Rhode Island crowd and get them to their feet. When the Rams were struggling, and trying to mount a comeback in the first half, the commotion helped.
The Classical alumnus has captivated the hearts of many Rhode Island basketball fans. As a die-hard college basketball fan, the fact that I smiled at Leviton's antics says something. The only bench celebrations that I have been legitimately impressed by in the past was the dances from the Monmouth walk-ons. Going to Rhode Island's "Celebrate with the Champs" event was an unforgettable experience and one of the best parts was Coach Hurley joking about Leviton's celebrations and having him exhibit 2 of his patented celebrations to the crowd. All I could hear was the deafening tone of the man to the left of me who kept screaming, "Let's go Willy!".
For the non-believers, the duo of Will Leviton and Eric Dadika made it into the 2017 "One Shining Moment" video at the 0:07 mark. An impact in college basketball can be made from anyone on any team.
Next season, I expect that Will Leviton and Eric Dadika will continue to pump up their team and the Rhode Island Ram faithful.
