M. Thomas commits to UH
It was a good day for the UH men’s basketball team on Monday with the oral commitment of Michael Thomas to play for the Rainbow Warriors starting in 2013-14. He’s the first pickup of that class for Gib Arnold, and privately the UH coaches are pretty excited about it.
Thomas, of El Camino Real High near Los Angeles, first announced his decision on Twitter at about 10 a.m., then talked about it in a phone interview in the afternoon. It happened just a day removed from him returning from the islands on his official visit.
He said the team chemistry he perceived among his future UH teammates as the biggest reason he pledged with the ‘Bows over N. Arizona and UCSB. He can sign as soon as Nov. 14.
His coach, David Rebibo, said Thomas averaged 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks per game as a junior. Thomas gave his most recent height and weight at 6-6 and 200 pounds even. He’ll be expected to play the 2 through the 4 at El Camino for the upcoming season, after being more of a post player last year.
His versatility on the wing is considered his best attribute, to go with his athleticism.
“If I have a big on me, I’m going to be putting it on the floor or spacing it out and try to go by him and shoot it,” Thomas said. “If I have a smaller person on me, I’ll post him up or take him to the rear block and try to bully them in get a bucket, or create for my teammates off of that.”
There shouldn’t be academic concerns surrounding Thomas akin to some that plagued previous UH signees out of high school in recent seasons. Thomas is taking AP statistics and other honors courses. He posted a 3.8 GPA in his previous semester, Rebibo said.
More on Thomas will appear in Tuesday’s Star-Advertiser.
Great get. He knows he has different games in hand depending on his defender. Can’t wait till Nov. 14th, there’s many things going on this season.
Aloha Mr. Thomas
Welcome Michael, looks like you have your priorities in order, advanced ap classes, i forsee no problem with qualifying score in SAT and Algebra2 requirements, you are soon to be Warrior bound !
That’s good news for the men’s hoops team. Thomas looks like he’ll be a nice addition to the team next year on the wing, plus he’s obviousy a good student, too. Am looking forward to seeing the team in action, it won’t be long now!
Welcome, Michael !
MAYBE You can be our first Cali “Greenshirt”,
attending UH during second semester of your senior year …
Great Restaurant Industry in Hawai’i…
Several of the Best Chefs were also very good Athletes!
Aloha Michael, welcome to UH MBB Gib Arnold era!
Going to be exciting this year and hopefully years to come!!
Nice pick-up Gib! Now if only we could address those retention issues…
Retention Issues:
Perceptions:
ACTIONS I’m aware of:
1) BETTER FIT: Prospects Now (allowed to) work out with the team – should help with determining IF player can actually help the team, fit in, style of bb, team chemistry, personalities; (Credit to NCAA); This is probably a potential Big One; Last Year several highly regarded recruits were Nixed by the Team…
2) MORE COACHABLE: Gib continues to Check and Test for how hard-working a recruit is/ displays/ could be; Do they actually do what they say they will; a Big Factor in Coachability and whether they can improve ‘on a good curve’.
[obviously those that didn’t qualify in the past didn’t get it done; and most of the players “not retained” were not only not improving fast enough, but not highly coachable (pouting, blowing up) or executing as directed/ coached (free throws, defense, rebounding).
SIMILARLY, with more time to evaluate/recruit/ build relationships (than the Lost First Year Recruits):
It looks like coaching staff is also bringing in
3) More/ Better SKILLED Players;
4) Better Personalities;