Jared Dillinger is hapa, he likes to watch "Lost," and he enjoys surfing.

Sometimes, looks can be deceiving.

"I call him a poser," his teammate Riley Luettgerodt said with a laugh. "He thinks he's Hawaiian, even though he's not. But he doesn't fool us. We know the real J.D."

The real "J.D." has emerged as a secret weapon this season for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team.

Last season, Dillinger was the 14th man on a 14-player roster for the Rainbow Warriors. This season, he is a starting guard who has become one of the team's most reliable defenders and long-range shooters.

The 6-foot-5 senior from Littleton, Colo., will put his skills on display tomorrow when the 'Bows play at Nevada in a nationally televised Western Athletic Conference game. It is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. (Hawai'i time) on ESPN2.

"I don't even know how to explain it," Dillinger said of his one-year turnaround. "It's just grit I guess. A ball, a hoop and some hard work."

As a junior, Dillinger appeared in just six games and played a total of six minutes. There was even talk of taking away his scholarship for his senior season.

"We did sit down and talk about that possibility, and he understood and said he wanted to be a part of this program regardless," Hawai'i head coach Bob Nash said. "It turned out we were able to keep him on scholarship, and he responded by working his butt off in the summer. He came into the season and took the (starting) job. He earned it."

Through 21 games so far this season, Dillinger is averaging 9.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in 29.1 minutes per game. He ranks second on the team with 37 3-pointers, and leads the 'Bows with a .430 percentage from 3-point range.

"He's completely transformed his game," Luettgerodt said. "He was always one of those guys you wanted on your team because he plays so hard and aggressive. But this year, he started knocking down big shots, and that just made him a more complete player."

Dillinger said he thinks about his role last season every time his name is announced for the starting lineups before games this season.

"Last year is what made me strong, mentally," he said. "I know I can't take anything for granted. That's why I try to give everything I have, every minute I'm out there."

Dillinger getting to Hawai'i is a story in itself.

He grew up in Colorado, and was raised from the age of 5 primarily by his father, James. "It was basically just me and him raising each other," James said.

James was a baseball coach, and initially tried to steer Jared toward that sport.

"He was a good centerfielder — a lefty, he could hit a little bit," James said. "But he always liked basketball better. He started to get taller, too, so that helped. We used to play a lot when he was young, but he was beating me by the time he was around 14 or 15."

After high school, Dillinger was accepted into the Air Force Academy. During his freshman season, Air Force won the Mountain West Conference championship, and then lost to North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

He said a photograph of the Pepsi Center in Denver still hangs in his room to remind him of the experience.

"I look at that picture all the time," he said. "It was just a great experience, even though we lost in the first round."

Dillinger was a reserve player during his two seasons at Air Force, and decided to transfer after his sophomore season.

"It was a tough decision," he said. "I just felt like that wasn't the life I wanted. When you're in the Air Force, you serve four more years after you graduate. I knew I wanted to do something else after college, so I looked at other options."

His father said: "As a parent, I wanted him to get that Academy degree. But he wasn't quite happy there, so I supported him when he said he wanted to leave."

Dillinger eventually chose Hawai'i over Dartmouth.

"Opposite ends," he said. "But I met a lot of people from Hawai'i when I was in Colorado, and I always thought about living out here."

Dillinger said his two years in the military taught him "discipline, integrity and character."

Luettgerodt, who is Dillinger's road roommate, can concur.

"The first thing he does when we get to the hotel is take his stuff out and lines it all up nicely," Luettgerodt said. "He even lines up his shoes in a neat row."

Although it took a while for Dillinger to earn his time on the court with the 'Bows, he blended in almost immediately off the court, primarily because of his looks. He is half-Filipino from his mother's side.

He even took a Tagalog language class at UH a year ago, and tries to eat Filipino food when ever he can.

"Pancit, lumpia ... my mom used to make all that stuff," he said. "I just can't speak the language. When I was in that (Tagalog) class, I was calling up my little cousins all the time to help me. They're only like fourth or fifth grade but they got me through the class."

Dillinger is on pace to graduate this summer as a double-major in international business and finance.

He said he would like to give professional basketball a shot — perhaps in the Philippines, where he can claim citizenship through his mother.

"I basically left the Air Force because of basketball, so I want to at least give it a shot," he said. "If not, I wouldn't mind getting into business, a financial analyst or something like that."

Nash seems to think that Dillinger will be successful ... even if it takes some time.

"He's done everything we asked of him, even last year when he was on scout team," Nash said. "It's nice to see hard work pay off like that. There's no mistaking his love for the game, and if he can transfer that to the things he wants to do later in life, I think he'll earn it there, too."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.