BearTalk

In our ongoing Q&A series with a Cal player, today we visit with . . .

OMONDI AMOKE
Year: Sophomore
Position: Forward
Height: 6-7
Hometown: Oxnard

Your five-man Dream Team, including yourself in the lineup: I’m going to play myself at the 3. I’ll go with Shaq at center. Tim Duncan at the 4 — he’s a winner. MJ at the 2 and Magic at the point.

Age when you first dunked: I was 13 years old. I used to play on a little club team called All-Star Rebels. We practiced at the Boys and Girls Club. We’d see who could hang on the rim, and one day we were all messing around, trying to dunk and I actually went up and threw one down. I didn’t exactly smash it down. It was a little rim-rattler. But everybody was going crazy.

How tall you really are, if the doctor measured you barefoot: 6-5 1/2

How many pairs of basketball shoes you own: Probably 10

Coolest place you’ve been to play basketball: Probably the trip to New York.  MSG — Madison Square Garden — it’s the mecca of basketball. If you’re playing there, you feel like you’ve got to bring your `A’ game.

Place you’ve never been that you’d love to visit: I want to go to Kenya. My dad’s from there. There’s a lot of culture and tradition. Half my family still lives there.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: I’m not really much of a daredevil. But I went parasailing at Catalina Island, where there’s a boat pulling you and you’re up in the sky. I was scared at first — you’re way up there on this little string. But it was fun.

Besides Cal, the Pac-10 school with the best basketball fans: I hate to say it since we’re playing them Thursday, but I’d have to go with Washington.

If you could be an Olympic athlete, other than basketball, your sport/event: I really admire Michael Phelps and Olympic swimmers. I think that’s real cool how they can glide through that water.

The sport you refuse to watch: Baseball. I can’t watch baseball at all. It’s too slow.

The actor who plays you in the movie version of your life: Will Smith

Actress who plays the lead opposite you: Halle Berry

Best advice you ever got: It was from my dad: Whatever you do, just give it 100 percent and you can’t help but succeed.

Favorite meal your mother cooks: Spaghetti and meatballs — love em.

Secret guilty-pleasure food: Ice cream, but only Haagen-Dazs. Strawberry or cookies and cream.

Food you will not eat: I pretty much eat any kind of food if I’m hungry enough.

Three people in history you’d like to have dinner with: My mom, my dad and my uncle William.

The smartest guy on the Cal team: I’ll go with Max (Zhang). I couldn’t imagine coming here from China and doing what he’s doing. He got a B in a college writing class — one of the hardest classes at Cal. I couldn’t do that in Chinese.

The funniest: A tie between Markhuri (Sanders-Frison) and Jerome (Randle). Two goofballs.

The best athlete: Patrick Christopher.