Court Sense

Eran Ganot couldn’t help himself. The night was going so well at the second annual Hawaii basketball Tip-off fundraiser event. Sold-out tables, a rollicking atmosphere and arena floor full (about 500) of diehard fans eager to donate their hard-earned cash toward the cause. There was even a notable return in the form of former coach Bob Nash. Ganot, speaking on stage, called it the biggest fundraiser in program history, to loud applause. Then he gave the fans an added, unexpected, […]

Whichever side freshman Justin Hemsley is on, whoever his teammates are in today’s Green and White intrasquad scrimmage, count on him to do one thing. Bring the energy. The freshman small forward out of Damien (Calif.) High is still picking up the nuances of Division I basketball, something completely normal a few weeks into full practices. Don’t count on him to light up the scoreboard at 1 p.m. in the Stan Sheriff Center today; instead, look for him to make […]

How does this sound? 7-0, 6-11, 6-11, 6-10, 6-9, 6-7. That’s Hawaii’s projected frontcourt size for the 2018-19 season after Rampart High (Colorado Springs, Colo.) 7-foot, 240-pound center Dawson Carper told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Thursday that he’s committed to the Rainbow Warriors. “Yessir, I’m coming to Hawaii,” Carper said in a phone interview. He took an official visit to UH in early September. The Carper news comes right behind that of 6-11 Australian Owen Hulland, who in turn followed […]

Owen Hulland, a 6-foot-11 power forward at Australia’s Centre of Excellence, is the first player to give a verbal commitment to join Hawaii’s 2018 recruiting class. He informed the Honolulu Star-Advertiser of his decision on Wednesday (Thursday in Australia). The towering Hulland, of Adelaide, is a little bigger than your prototypical “stretch 4,” but possesses the same shooting ability to go with rebounding and shot-blocking prowess. He’s slated to join Jack Purchase and Mate Colina — the latter is his […]

The UH basketball team has settled on a date and time for its now-annual Green and White intrasquad scrimmage. It’s 1 p.m. this Sunday at the Stan Sheriff Center. The kicker: Admission is free. Show up as early as noon (when the gates open) and you can watch UH conduct its regular practice before breaking up into to-be-determined groups for the scrimmage. You can bet, based on Eran Ganot’s previous G&Ws, there will be rotating teams instead of a fixed […]

The Hawaii basketball team called an audible this week and decided to take consecutive days off from practice on Thursday and Friday. It was a calculated move, as several Rainbow Warriors were forced to spectate practice in recent days due to a laundry list of bumps and bruises. At various times over the last week, Gibson Johnson, Jack Purchase, Drew Buggs and Zach Buscher were among the walking wounded. No one player appeared to have a severe injury, but it […]

Trevor LaCount thought his college basketball career was done. Completely over. The SoCal native had wrapped up two years at Ventura (Calif.) College, having averaged a modest 7.5 points and 5.1 rebounds as a sophomore. LaCount was looking ahead to the completion of his undergraduate studies, ideally at a warm place that fit his persona. Surfing, diving, and the like. So he headed out to Hawaii this summer with the goal of obtaining a communications degree. He still had the […]

Through about a week of full Hawaii men’s basketball practices, it’s been impressive to watch some of the team’s former fresh faces take commanding roles during drills. Granted, the ratio of returnees to newcomers — 2 to 1 — is stacked in favor of the letterwinners, in stark contrast to this time last year. There hasn’t been one guy — save perhaps Mike Thomas — who’s been dominant. Instead, a host of guys — Thomas, Leland Green, Gibson Johnson, Jack Purchase, Brocke […]