Taking stock
As a rule, the college basketball offseason involves player losses/subtractions as much as it does gains/additions.
The first part of that might now be complete.
Two more Hawaii basketball player losses — juniors Larry Lewis Jr. and Darryl Matthews — were reported on Wednesday. That brought the early departure total to four, following freshman Matt Owies and junior Brian Garrett. Two of them, Lewis and Owies, were scholarship players in 2016-17.
That leaves four scholarships for Eran Ganot to award this spring: two back from the NCAA, and two from early player departures. Noah Allen’s spot has already been filled by Kahuku’s Samuta Avea.
That’s a substantial amount bodies to add at this stage, but nothing we haven’t seen before.
Nothing new to report in the commitments department.
However, it sounds like there will be a couple more player visits to Manoa this weekend. I’ll try to have something on that in fairly short order.
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Lewis and Ganot were not available for comment on Wednesday.
It was not surprising Lewis — who was viewed as a likely rotation player upon his arrival — and UH decided to part ways. “Expected” is probably closer to the mark.
He had all the physical attributes of a viable Big West player but he finished the season averaging 1.8 points in 6.5 minutes per game, while shooting 34.4 percent from the field (and 0-for-8 from 3).
It was clear the inclined-to-drive Lewis had some mighty struggles to fit into UH’s nuanced system in the preseason, and things never really got better for him. The bench minutes he got in nonconference play dried up by Big West time.
As a #HawaiiMBB addendum to Lewis, Jr. F Darryl Matthews, who walked on this past season, will head elsewhere to focus on school next year.
— Brian McInnis (@Brian_McInnis) April 13, 2017
Matthews, who walked on out of West Los Angeles College, told the Star-Advertiser he plans to focus on finishing up school next year. Staying in Hawaii was not an option for him, he said, because of the prohibitive cost.
Matthews, a spiritual successor to “Hawaii 5-O” as one of the biggest bench big-play celebrators this season, left this message for UH fans:
“I’d say I enjoyed my experience here in Hawaii. I have no regrets and if I could stay I would. The (people), the support from the coaches and staff, and my teammates, I will miss it like no other. I’m forever indebted this place for it has made me to (be) a better person spiritually, mentally, and as a young man finding my way in the world. I love Hawaii and the people and I will for sure be back. I just hope I left this place touching peoples’ lives in a positive way that they can pass on to others and just be happy in this crazy world we live in.”
I am hopeful that with all of the sanctions behind us, the coaches can now fill these spots with a full complementary of players that suit Coach Ganot’s philosophy and can bring home another BW title.
Here’s to a better next season!!
Daryll Matthews, too.
Damnit.
Coach Ganot looks like a pretty easy guy to play for.
Like Larry Lewis, why doesn’t Matthews just work his tail off and crack the rotation instead of settling for Division II ball.
I thought the program was past this.
I hope both players transfer to Hawaii Pacific.
“…crazy world we live in.”
Daryll Matthews is following the news cycle.
If I moved to Mongolia, I would want live streaming at the Internet cafes when I come down from the mountains.
Couple of nice guards on the radar. JC Jaaron Stallworth and Canadian Jahvon Blair. Georgetown and Georgia Tech looking at Blair also. Looks like bothe are pg
So is there any word on Kendall Smith? If UH could get him, that would be awesome as he is a legitimate scoring threat. I think he would work well in Ganot’s system.
I checked Jahvon Blair’s Twitter page.
He’s re-tweeting a lot of Georgetown posts.
He calls himself “Juggy”.
I kind of worry about players with self-styled nicknames.
I also checked Jaaron Stallworth’s Twitter page.
I get the impression that Hawaii is his only D1 offer.
Chico State and Texas A & M International are also interested in him.
Blair visiting Georgetown this weekend and his retweets are from Georgetown fan wanting him badly (they need a pg). Big program and they obviously could care less about a nickname. Hope he at least gives UH a look. Janks, English, Martin, Webster-Chan show past success for Canadians at Hawaii.
A millennial such as Blair may not fully grasp the significance of a Patrick Ewing, especially somebody outside of the continental United States.
You can tell him that Ewing was a great player, but if he didn’t grow up watching Ewing, it’s all abstract.
When Reggie Theus comes to town, I know I should be in awe of him, but I never really saw him play.
That English-less team won at Utah State(nationally ranked at the time) in the first round of the NIT. A team with English the grad student would have given Coach Wallace back-to-back-to-back NCAA appearances, and who knows where the trajectory of the program would have headed towards.
I blame ESPN magazine for doing a story on him.
Too much fame.
Do you remember Ahmet Gueye?
I think if Gueye was taller, he could have played for a Big East school such as Georgetown.
Anyway, if “Juggy” can play, I hope he chooses Hawaii.
Just rea Brian’s updates on visits this weekend and next week. Wing and a PG from Finland. Both look good. I will just wait to see what happens. This coaching staff seems to be on top of the recruiting. I am amazed at how they find guys. Go Bows!
You can’t blame the walk ons for leaving. They are paying out of state tuition with a small chance of cracking the rotation.
Good luck and best wishes to the 4 players who are not coming back. I’m sure all good guys, too. Totally understandable the high cost for walk-ons to live hear without a scholarship and the lack of playing time. That’s how it goes and it’s a tough situation. With 4 scholarships open, maybe Ganot will consider giving one to Stepteau if they cannot sign a high level recruit. One is reserved for Avea, one should target a PG, a shooter, and hopefully a big man who can especially play defense.
That Stallworth kid looks like a Baller… An athletic Freshman PG that can penetrate and dish as well as score. Yuba JC was ranked #3 in California and beat San Diego CC, the eventual State Champions before he was injured. I found some of his USNavy Prep and senior year film before he went to Yuba. He would be a perfect fit for UH.
app.krossover.com/intelligence/reel/54668
https-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=clYnM3beh4E