Ganot gets back in a hurry
It was back to business in a hurry for Hawaii coach Eran Ganot.
His trip to Dallas for the NCAA hearing basically cost him Wednesday and Thursday to work with his team. Wednesday the team took the day off, while Ganot’s assistants — Chris Acker, Adam Jacobsen and John Montgomery — ran the show on Thursday.
Ganot arrived back in Honolulu around noon Friday and was full of adrenaline for practice with his team a couple hours later.
“I’m very happy to be back here,” Ganot said with a smile after the practice.
The hearing actually was concluded entirely on Thursday between UH officials and Gib Arnold and Arnold’s attorneys. Ganot was present and wouldn’t comment on the content of the hearing, but word was he was primarily a spectator.
“We’re all looking forward to moving forward,” Ganot said. “I’m very pleased with the way our university has cooperated. The reality is it’s tough for me, any coach, to be away from the team. When I came back we went right into practice. The adrenaline comes back because you’re back with your guys, and your coaches.”
It was possible things could have been extended into Friday, but it was not necessary. Simultaneously Thursday, the UH Board of Regents approved (eight for, six against) a $700,000 settlement for Arnold.
Ganot was asked about the possibility that there might not be an NCAA ruling based on the Dallas hearing until about January.
“Honestly we’re looking forward to moving forward, and getting away from that uncertainty,” he said. “We have no control over it, and that’s a big thing for our team just in general. We control what we can control, keep working, keep getting better. There’s nothing we can do about that.”
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Something the team can control is its free throw prowess — which it worked on extensively at the end of Friday’s practice. For nearly an hour, the Rainbows alternated shooting pressure shots (two per player) from the stripe. If they missed one or both, the whole team ran. But there was also a team goal for all 15 players: to hit somewhere in the neighborhood of 70-75 percent.
The team missed the mark a few times, which meant more running, which meant more free throws on the dimly lit basket in Gym 2. Finally, they succeeded. Some players, like senior guard Quincy Smith, stuck around for extra shots afterward.
“Tired legs, so a lot of our shots were short,” Smith said of the free throw exercise. “But that’s something good for us, we’ll need to make a lot of free throws this year.
“We had a goal, to make 24 out of 30. The first time through we made 22, and second time made 21. So we just kept going ’til we got it.”
Smith has worked on his shooting extensively since last season, when he shot 24 percent on 3s. (As primarily an athletic dribble-drive threat, he only attempted 25 from long range on the season.)
Repetition has apparently paid off for him. He’s releasing the ball higher up and holding the stroke.
“The way the offense is set up, you get shots at certain spots and in our shooting drills, that’s what we work on,” Smith said. “Shooting from within the offense. So if you watch us play, the way it is, it’s drive-and-kicks and guys are knocking down shots that we practice all the time. I’ve seen progress in myself and a lot of other guys on the team.”
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Still no exact date for a Green/White scrimmage, but the team is considering either Oct. 23 or 24. Keep you posted.
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In case you missed it, individual game tickets for the upcoming season are on sale. You can click here for pricing information.
Peeked in the gym tonight before the Wahine volleyball game and the dark dim gym is the first thing I noticed. How can the UH facility manager let that many lights be out? There’s got to be more than money involved. Sheesh just get it done and replace the bulbs! Pathetic management. Who the heck is responsible for this most basic of needs?
money….its not the facility manager that’s responsible but the BOR to ensure that there are monies available for such needs…..if the facility mgr. does not have the money to purchase these lights….are you willing to donate??? don’t go blaming and making generalizations before you know the whole story……..geez!!
Did they not say (administration) that things like this (minor upkeep) like not having soap will be a thing of the past never to happen again. Pathetic.
In defense of the employees who is responsible the bulbs are there however no where to be found is the machine that lifts one to those heights.
However excuses after excuses is the mantra of irresponsibility.
Too much red tape….Did we miss the joke in all this? How long does it take the xxxxx to change a few light bulb?
The NCAA waited this long to meet with the parties, WHY? UH needed to figure out a plan to settle this mess that people no longer with the school were responsible for. Only time the leaders of UH is irresponsible is when they no longer work for the school. Chancellor become a former employee.
Was it stated that UH are dropping any supposedly charges that they had against Arnold dropped in this settlement? However there will be no public apology?
Arnold make a public statement and apologize to your players and coaches for any of your shortcomings and ineptness in this saga due to the mental anguish and experience they had to endure and at the same time ask for forgiveness because you as the head coach was responsible in a way however little. I am sure there are a few that a personal contact needs to be done also, if not already done.
I’m hoping Coach Ganot decides to hold the scrimmage on October 23rd, immediately following the 7:00 p.m. Wahine basketball scrimmage (which perhaps could be moved up to 6:30 p.m.). That would make for a fun evening at the SSC.
Don’t expect to hear anything from Gib other than Mahalo for the money cuz that is what it is all about for Gib. Too bad UH didn’t realize it until too late. Another costly lesson for UH. So has coach Ganot finalized a contract yet? Maybe legislature should ask to see that wrapped up before doling out another 16 million to UH.
Hossana majority of your post are cheap shots at people and I’m supposed to believe that you know for a fact that maybe the most used facility at the UH athletic complex can’t afford light bulbs. You believe what you want and I’ll believe what I want.
Here we go again. UH is broken, people in charge are so concerned about their paychecks than rather doing their jobs properly. How can whoever that is in charge let that many lights go out. I bet in their office not the same number of lights are out?. We can’t get new facilities until we can maintain the ones we have. Even in the arena last year a restroom door we broken for over 3 weeks no ones ever checks?. We need to have people who really care about their jobs to do a good job. I was really amazed when I went OSU and saw how they took pride in their stadium. After 100,000 people were there a few days before. Everything was clean and neat. We can’t even do that right now. Hopefully Matlin read your article and those lights get fixed right away if not then we do have the wrong person there. He needs to change the culture that is there if he doesn’t care who will. We need new people there and it starts from the top. We have 3 now 2 Asst AD’s and nobody walks the facilities?. I know its not their sole responsibility but they can make sure minor things like this get fixed and once they care about it then everyone will do a little more. It takes a lot more money to fix a major item than to keep the minor ones fixed. UH’s problem goes farther than just money.