His mother, Saran Gipson, will testify.

"I would drop them off at the Y when it opened in the morning, and then I would stop by twice — once to bring them lunch, and then to bring them dinner. Then I would come back to pick them up late at night when it closed," she said.

"It wasn't like I was a horrible mother leaving them there all day. They wanted to stay there and play basketball all day long. I don't know how they did it. It got to the point where they knew all the workers by name, even the janitors."

Now, Gipson may be the name to remember for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team.

He will make his debut as a Rainbow Warrior tonight during Midnight Ohana at the Stan Sheriff Center. Midnight is the earliest basketball teams can begin practicing for the upcoming season.

"I've never been a part of anything like this, so I'm excited just to see what it's like," Gipson said.

Gipson is a 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward, and the most highly touted player in a UH recruiting class that has been labeled the WAC's best by Street & Smith's magazine.

Yesterday, he was named the WAC Preseason Newcomer of the Year by the conference's media.

"I really don't know what to expect," Gipson said. "All I can do is play hard, help the team any way I can, and hope the rest takes care of itself."

Because of minor knee surgery during the off-season, Gipson is somewhat of a mystery to his teammates. He did not start participating in pick-up games until this week.

"He's only played with us a couple times, but from what I've seen, he's going to be a real good player for us," said Julian Sensley, the only returning starter from last season's 21-12 team. "He's big and he's long, but he's real athletic. He can play down low against the big guys, but he also runs the floor like a small guy."

Gipson said the surgery removed scar tissue from his right knee, and did not involve reconstruction.

"The reason why I did it was so that my knee wouldn't bother me during the season," he said. "The only hard part was sitting out for two months — I think that's the longest I've gone without playing basketball. Now, I'm kind of out of shape."

When in shape, Gipson is supposed to be an all-around talent.

As a senior at Burkburnett High, he averaged 23.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.7 blocked shots per game. He was one of the top prep recruits in the country, and eventually signed with national power Oklahoma.

Gipson redshirted his first season with the Sooners, then played sparingly as a freshman on the 2002-03 team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight.

"The success of the team was great, but I didn't feel like it was a good fit for me there," he said.

His mother added: "Everything was fine at Oklahoma except for the basketball. And basketball is Matt's first love, so if that's not right, then he's not right."

Gipson transferred to North Idaho College and averaged 16.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.6 blocked shots and 1.5 steals per game last season as a sophomore. He was selected to the junior college All-America third team, and Street & Smith's listed him in its top 50 junior college recruits for this season.

"I think going to North Idaho got him motivated again," his mother said. "When he first told us he was going to Idaho, we weren't exactly excited. But as it turns out, that was the best thing he could have done."

Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said Gipson recently got a positive review from Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson.

"Kelvin said Matt could be an All-WAC player for us," Wallace said. "Everybody I talked to says we got a good one. Not only because of his skills, but because he has a good attitude."

Hawai'i associate coach Jackson Wheeler describes Gipson as "a big-time recruit." Wheeler watched Gipson play several games last season while recruiting him out of North Idaho.

"He's a really, really intense player," Wheeler said. "He plays with no fear. When you think about all the teams that were after him out of high school, I feel lucky that we got him."

Gipson is also a versatile player. At North Idaho last season, he played every position except point guard. He said he'd be willing to do the same this season.

"I'll play where ever the coaches want me," he said. "I pitch myself as a glue guy — stick me anywhere."

Gipson is one of five new scholarship recruits on this season's team. The others are 7-foot center Chris Botez, 6-5 shooting guard Matt Gibson, 5-10 point guard Kris Groce and 6-3 point guard Deonte Tatum.

Because of their similar surnames, Gipson and Gibson have been creating confusion since last year, when they were both being recruited.

"I actually heard about him when I was at Oklahoma because that's where he was playing high school ball," Gipson said of Gibson. "It's strange how it worked out, that we both wound up in Hawai'i."

The UH coaches are referring to Gipson as "Big Matt," and Gibson as "Little Matt."

"They can call me what ever they want as long as we win," Gipson said.