Hawaii Warrior World

Formerly about Rainbow Warriors basketball, but now covering all University of Hawaii sports.

About the blog host

Brian McInnis has covered sports on Oahu full time since 2007, when he joined the Honolulu Star-Bulletin staff as a general reporter. He was the UH basketball beat writer from the 2008-09 season through 2017-18. Follow him on twitter @Brian_McInnis

Latest news

Haunslaught at Summer League

By Brian McInnis on July 12, 2012

Anyone who remembers this video will recognize the fact that Hauns Brereton ate a proverbial extra scoop of poi for Central Medical Clinic before Thursday night’s College Summer League game against Grantco Pacific. Brereton erupted for 47 points in a comeback 101-97 win, his second 40-point-plus outing in two games since arriving for summer school on July 1. With the UH senior swingman the focal point of the CMC offense, senior point guard and UH teammate Jace Tavita continually looked […]

Standhardinger strikes back

By Brian McInnis on July 10, 2012

Christian Standhardinger and his Flipbooks Hawaii teammates got some sweet payback on Tuesday night in the College Summer League in Manoa. Burned by Julian Sensley’s game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer on Saturday for their first loss, a pissed off Flipbooks team (5-1) came out with a vengeance in the rematch — resulting in an 111-83 torching of Grantco Hawaii (4-1). Standhardinger was the catalyst, hustling for 30 points (don’t tell him it’s just summer league) and requesting the defensive assignment […]

Summer League Saturday recap

By Brian McInnis on July 7, 2012

Hoops fans at the Manoa District Park gym were treated to quite the contest on Saturday night between the league leaders of the 36th College Summer League, unbeatens Flipbooks Hawaii (4-0) and Grantco Pacific (3-0). The infusion of current UH players this week for summer school undoubtedly helped spice things up, but leave it to one of the old guard to have the last word on the matter. UH alum Julian Sensley put the exclamation point on a back-and-forth affair, […]

Updates all around

By Brian McInnis on June 8, 2012

Hey all, hope your springs are sailing smoothly into summers. Been a while since the last entry, so I figure shotgun spread-style updates are in order for UH basketball. Recruiting is obviously first on the docket. Coach Gib Arnold still has a scholarship to assign for 2012-13, and isn’t about to give it away lightly at this point. The primary target of the spring, Aaric Armstead of Bullard High in Fresno, Calif., remains at the top of the list, and […]

Rupp moves on // More on Clair

By Brian McInnis on May 4, 2012

Hawaii director of basketball operations Kerry Rupp is leaving that position to take a full assistant job with Wayne Tinkle’s staff at Montana, he confirmed on Friday. This is unsurprising. Rupp as a DOBO was always a curious arrangement, to say the least. The former four-year LaTech head coach made the best of his reduced role — day-to-day and travel arrangements, primarily — and leaves with well wishes from Gib Arnold and the other UH coaches after a single year here. […]

More on Spearman // Recruiting update

By Brian McInnis on April 24, 2012

One out of four isn’t bad, if it’s the one you had your eye on all along. The UH men’s basketball team secured a commitment from only Indian Hills CC combo guard Brandon Spearman among the four recruits who visited the islands over the weekend. Indications are that two of the others — ex-Texas Tech guard Cameron Forte and Pasadena City College guard Givon Crump — are no longer in UH’s sights. (Crump is believed to be bound for future […]

At least 3 visiting

By Brian McInnis on April 19, 2012

Three known basketball recruits are taking official visits to the University of Hawaii campus this weekend, in what could be a pivotal time in shaping next year’s team. The prospective Rainbow Warriors flying in are ex-Texas Tech small forward Cameron Forte, Pasadena (Calif.) High senior swingman Blake Hamilton, and Indian Hills Community College sophomore guard Brandon Spearman. A fourth player, Bishop Alemany (Calif.) high senior point guard Max Guercy, was originally slated for an official visit this weekend as well […]

Shamburger speaks

By Brian McInnis on April 9, 2012

Former San Jose State point guard Keith Shamburger was looking for a change, that much was clear. Now he explains why. A few days after news broke that he’d be transferring to UH, the one-time UH recruit answered a few questions about his impending move to Manoa. He averaged 13.1 points and 5.2 assists per game in 2011-12. Q: What happened after your sophomore season at SJSU? A: A couple days after the season, I asked for my release. I […]

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