All about the shoes

Harrison Gaines stood out on the court from day one.

While the rest of the team wears Nike Air Huarache Elite II, The freshman point guard has worn a different show almost the entire season so far – his pair of personalized Zoom Kobe II’s

“I asked [coach Glen] Miller before the season, ‘if I bought the shoe and personalized it would I be able to wear it?” Gaines said. “He said ‘fine, as long as it’s the Penn colors.’”

He personalized the pair on NikeId.com, and has worn them since.

But why these shoes when you have a perfectly good pair waiting for you in the locker room?

“People like Jordans because it’s Jordan, I like Kobe’s because it’s Kobe,” the Victorville, Calif., native said. “That’s probably the main reason [I like them] because it’s what Kobe wears.”

With the personalization, NikeID lets you put a nickname on the shoe. Ever since his cousin gave him the nickname “Goo” when he was little, he’s gone by that, and that’s what his Nike’s say.

“He said that I moved the defense like goo,” Gaines said. “It’s real corny, but it stuck.”

As has been the recent tradition, Penn will wear black shoes (which I believe are these, or something similar) during the Ivy League slate, so Gaines will have to retire his shoes until next season.