UH loses Amis for month
Tough news for the UH basketball team today, with senior forward Bill Amis set to miss about five weeks with a stress fracture in his right foot, the same foot that caused him to miss all of last season.
Expect the other Rainbows bigs, Vander Joaquim, Douglas Kurtz and Joston Thomas, to see a greater workload while Amis recovers.
Per our Jason Kaneshiro, who was at practice today, Amis will try for a return for the Western Athletic Conference opener on Dec. 29. That means he’ll miss eight games through the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
Tough news; Amis was the team’s leading scorer (15.8), rebounder (6.8) and shot blocker (seven blocks in four games).
COMMENTS
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Should they have played him less and brought him back more slowly ?
Vander and Douglas haven’t shown much of the scoring touch yet. Trevor may have to play more but hasn’t shown too much scoring yet too.
How come Bo cut his hair ? He looks like a different person.
Sorry to hear the news about Amis, praying for a fast recovery, but since it is the same foot, not really expecting him back the rest of the season. On the bright side, it will give others more playing time.
They are going to miss Amis’ shooting because Thomas has shown he is not always going to be able to score inside easily.
Dayum that sucks for Bill, he is such a solid and clutch guy on the court. I think Joston should take over a little more now and carry the scoring load a little. We know Zane, Bo, and Hiram are going to get there’s but Joston is probably the most valuable guy to get buckets from anywhere on the court. I think getting Vander more involved offensively down low will ease the scoring void left by Bill. I also think Jordan Coleman needs more PT, that guy seems like another lock down defender and he’s pretty quick to the basket too. Trevor Wiseman could also get into more of a scorers mentality too. Losing Bill will hurt by I’m sure the others will step up and ball out…
dangit.
he was mr reliable. when we were in a slump and needed a basket, he was there. when we were lost on offense, he had the drive to make a play.
get well bill. we’ll need you! but i have faith in our other bigs to step up and meet the challenge!
Dejavu? Last year when Bill went down, the team fell apart – is it going to happen again?
Believe that foot will never heal completely and it will bother him all season long. Bill is such an important player, with his experience, shooting and tough play. He will be sorely missed. Hopefully, there will be others to pick up the slack.
Gib loses a lot of lineup flexibility with Bill out. Could start Bo and slide Joston to power or start Trevor at power. Problem is neither can play the post like Bill could. Gib would slide Bill to post and sub out whichever big was in. The two Bigs combined were probably averaging only 16-25 mpg.
It’ll be interesting to see how Gib structures his D with an undersized power and two somewhat foul prone posts. What’ll he do if there’s early foul trouble.
My main concern on O is neither Big is decisive with the ball in their hands. Fine if they catch a pass and make a move to the basket or catch and move the ball to the next open man. When they have the ball they must keep the O flowing an not give the D time to reset.
The only big see with issues is Kurtz. To me he’s pretty much project material at best, he’s very slow and has no killer instinct on offense or defense. Vander can ball he’s just young and still learning the game. He has some post moves and a nice baby hook in the paint. He’s foul prone only because he goes hard which he just needs to play smart. I think Vander will be beastin though. Joston can handle the post he’s definitely strong enough and I think now is the time he needs to really start beastin!
That’s hard luck for B’money Amis, his season started out so well for him and the team! I feel bad for him, hope he recovers fully and we get a chance to play for that Championship…. good luck Bill!
and the wild card is dominick brumfield. i liked what little i saw of him the other night.
wiseman carried his hs team and averaged nearly 20 pts per game. he may need to assert himself a lot more.
bill’s injury is not related to last year’s plantar fasciitis problems.
he will be back.
What a loss! Bill Amis and Hiram Thompson are the keys to the success of this year’s team. What a gap to fill. Loss of Amis last season was a disaster for former coach Bob Nash. Let him heal. Hope Amis can recover and come back and contribute to the team for the WAC season. In the meantime, Vander Joaquim, Douglas Kurtz and Josten Thomas have their work cut out. They will have more playing time to develop their skills and contribute to the team.
Coach Gib Arnold has recruited and put together an exciting team. I like his style of basketball, play hard all game and focus on a strong defense using most of the guys, and forever looking for mismatches and advantages. Why do you think Hiram Thompson was sitting on the bench in the Central Arkansas game when he was matched up against a quicker guard who was easily stealing the ball? Also notice, Coach Gib gets very upset when his players make mistakes on defense.
The offense takes care of itself, who doesn’t want to score, especially with a deadly three point shooter like Bo Barnes who can immedeately go on a tear and break up a close scoring game and reliable Hiram Thompson who can drive to the basket and make the goofy alley oop bucket and shoot from far out for the 3 pointer if necessary, and Zane Johnson and Josten Thomas. Most of the players play unselfishly and look for the open man. You can tell a good offense when there is movement on the floor. If the players are just standing around, it spells trouble.
Oh yeh, one more thing: let the guards bring up the ball. Learned that cardinal rule from former UH coach Red Rocha when he was the color commentator for UH basketball games. Forwards are poor ball handlers.
Win or lose, it is going to be an exciting season.
Go Bows, I mean Warriors!
I’m pretty comfortable with Wiseman being able to bring the ball up if need be. He’s basically a point-forward and can handle the rock. Bobby Miles seems to be getting more comfortable with each game but at times he needs to play a little smarter and stop trying to split defenders and get himself in trouble. Salter is one that needs to step it up and stop playing with the ball so much. It’s nice to have a little flair to his ball-handling, but for what if you’re going to turn it over half the time. Salter is quick and can handle the rock but he needs to play more organized and not so much street.
In the flex/slow-motion offense that Coach Nash ran, it was apparent Bill Amis was sorely needed because we didn’t have guys who could shoot the rock from outside. Nor did we have the ball-handlers to take care of the rock and create. The focus was more on getting the ball inside. In Coach Gibs offense everyone is a threat to score. We got guys who can handle the rock in Hiram, Miles, Salter, Wiseman, and even Coleman. We got pure shooters who can consistently drain in the Assassin and Zane, and all around talent who could easily put up 30pts if he wanted to in Joston Thomas, Vander Joaquim is a little inexperienced and raw but has the tools and skills needed to be effective in the paint. The one guy who needs to play big and play like an animal is Douglas Kurtz. He just seems like his head is swimming out on the court. On offense he needs to recognize when he’s one on one and take it to the rim. So many times I’m watching him and screaming for him to do a quick drop step or just bang his way to the paint and slam it home. Defensively he needs to play big too, bang and move his feet quicker. He should be rebounding and swatting balls left and right but he seems to have quicksand in his shoes or something.
Either way I’m sure the boys have enough talent on this team to carry the load with Bill and Hiram nursing injuries.
salter is poised to find his game. once he gets his legs back. once he gets the system down. once he adjusts to the game speed. he will let fly. remember he was out for three weeks.
meanwhile, it has given bobby miles time to develop. i like his composure out there.