Another ex-Missouri visitor
The Hawaii basketball team is looking to add to its stockpile of ex-Missouri players.
Former Tiger forward Stefan Jankovic (not to be confused with current Rainbow Warrior Stefan Jovanovic) is inbound to make an official visit to the Manoa campus. Should he commit, he’ll follow in the footsteps of Negus Webster-Chan, who is redshirting at UH as a Division I transfer from MU. Like Webster-Chan, Jankovic is from Ontario, Canada. Like Jovanovic, Jankovic was born in Serbia.
He has two years of eligibility remaining after a mandatory year of sitting out games.
The 6-11 sophomore Jankovic played less than a minute in UH’s 92-80 loss to Mizzou last month, grabbing a single rebound. He saw action in three games and fell out of the rotation after putting up nine points and five rebounds in the Tigers’ season-opening win over Southeast Louisiana.
For his total freshman season of 2012-13, he averaged 3.0 points and 1.4 rebounds, shooting 36.5 percent from the field, 31.6 percent on 3-pointers and 90 percent on free throws while playing mostly at small forward. He started two games, but was a reserve for most of the season on a talented NCAA Tournament-bound team alongside Webster-Chan.
He was mostly lauded for his shooting ability.
Jankovic said this in a statement when it was announced he’d be transferring on Nov. 22: “I want to thank everyone at Missouri, my teammates, the coaching staff, the administration and the fans. This was a tough decision for me, and Missouri will always hold a special place in my heart, but this was about having the opportunity to find a better fit where I could play a larger role on the court. I am looking forward to my next opportunity and want to wish everyone at Mizzou all the best this year.”
You can bet Webster-Chan will try to sway his former teammate into making the trip out here a lasting one.
I’ll have updates on Jankovic’s status as they become available.
UH (7-2) is coming off a 94-84 win over Chaminade on Kauai and plays Boise State (8-2) to open the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic on Sunday.
Missouri is 10-0 and was ranked No. 23 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25. I voted them 23.
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Tuesday’s UH practice took a brighter turn with the ‘Bows breaking in their new practice jerseys. They’re brightly colored green and white in the fashion of the Boston Celtics, but with the “H” logo emblazoned on the front.
“It’s a definite improvement,” guard Michael Harper said. “We had similar jerseys last year. I think these are better material. Actually, I think these are a lot better. … (The old ones) were a bit thicker, a bit more uncomfortable. I think these fit better as well.
“I think a few people knew they were coming, just whoever went into Coach (Gib Arnold’s) office. But I think we all forgot about it. So it was a nice surprise today.”
“We always get a second set of practice jerseys,” Arnold said. “We call these ones the NBA ones. … So guys like them. Kind of keep them until this time of year, and we bust out the second pair. And you know, they go through them. They wear them out. So you need to do that or you’re going to have strings flying everywhere. They’re a great-looking jersey, I like them.”
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In Rainbow Wahine basketball news, UH returned from its two-game road trip to Oregon State and Pacific. The Wahine (6-4) got a valuable split by winning at Pacific, 81-70, after rallying from an 18-point first-half deficit and another 10-point hole early in the second half.
UH was bolstered Tuesday by junior center Kalei Adolpho’s first practice coming off volleyball season. The 6-2 post player will be an important member of a team in serious need of size. She had some trouble shaking off the rust jumping from one sport to another last year, so it will bear watching how she fares in that aspect this time.
The Wahine resume play on the road on Saturday at coach Laura Beeman‘s former school, USC.
SO Jankovic ‘could be’ eligible as soon ad 11/22 (2014) IF in good academic standing….
Attending U.H. as soon as January, 2014 would allow getting familiar with the System and Teammates…
Jankovic has an outstanding HS career in Canada; Averaged 33pts & 10 rbs as a Freshman.
In the National Prep Showcase, he has a quadruple-double as a sophomore: 18pts, 10 asst,
12 rbs & 10 blks. A hi-score game of 49pts. However at Mizzou, was criticized for weak defense!
Weighting 249 with some maturity, add one year of Gib supervision then, preseason condition/training/BBIQ, plus teammate pressure/influence – High expectations to be expected
from Stefan II as a Rainbow Warrior (perfect match – Welcome to Paradise)!
Hey, Kalei:
Feeled for you about the WVB flustrations.
You are a lucky girl. Have the chance to take-it-out on the WBB foes!
Let the World know how good a leader you are from now…
Brian,
Help please, can seem to figure out the Diamond Head brackets, if you win or lose, when and what time to you play on Monday the 23rd. Does the Rainbows still have the scheduling clause that they play all night games? for attendance purposes??
Gib also has insides on other athletic Gibs that are shot blocking defenders and score around the basket. Should be interesting signing period coming up. Need some immediate help at power forward and center.
Hon2255:
Gib being the recruiter that he and by extension his staff is. They put their heads together, and found out , they were, quite obviously, weak on the perimeter, the guard play. They addressed that. And , what a difference, Shamburger, Nevels, Smith alongside Spearman, and even Enos makes. Now, with the new rules, the need for an athletic or two shot blocker, teeth on the rim(high flyer)who can also rebound run, and get put backs, finish in transition. He knows, and has mentioned on his Call the Coach show, he went to Europe, and I wondered, France? for Bigs? Sure enough, Senegal, former French colony, has a lot of good athletes who immigrated from Senegal, Africa to France. There are other European, countries, that have athletic bigs too. Hon2255, here is the FUN PART of recruiting, see who the offers, and visits will be !…This spring April-May , up till the opening of school Aug 2014, should be exciting, if Gib can get Two Athletic shot blocking bigs, who can develop and play, UH will be solid, for several years to come, along with the perimeter guys they have now.
Rainbow,
The only game time that is subject to change is if UH lands in the seventh-place game on Christmas Day. That game will be an 8:30 a.m. game for all other teams but if the ‘Bows play in that, it becomes an 11 a.m. game and will be shown on ESPNU instead of ESPN3.