UCSB apologizes
UC Santa Barbara wasted little time in exercising damage control for Thursday’s widely replayed and nationally discussed fan incident on the Gauchos’ senior night game against Hawaii.
The Gauchos athletic department issued an all-points apology on the matter on Friday:
“On behalf of the UCSB student-athletes and staff we are disappointed and saddened by the singular act of a student during the first half of last night’s men’s basketball game versus Hawai’i. We have apologized to Hawai’i athletics director Ben Jay and Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell. Head Coach Bob Williams also apologized to Hawai’i head coach Gib Arnold on behalf of the department.
The safety of all student-athletes, coaches and fans is paramount to us and we are reviewing the night and solidifying event protocol in hopes of preventing any one person from repeating this incident.
This one person’s selfish act does not represent the passionate atmosphere our students display. We also note there were no incidents before, during or after the game by the students or anyone else. We have great respect for Hawai’i, its fans and student-athletes. In particular, we appreciate that the UH players and coaching staff handled the situation with class when engaging the student.”
That last part is important to note. Things could have gotten much worse had any UH coaches or players acted beyond a simple push-away of the unruly fan. The ‘Bows should be credited for showing restraint, especially coming off a heated sequence in which Brandon Spearman and Arnold were both assessed technical fouls.
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The game itself was disappointing for UH (19-10, 8-7) when you consider it was their last chance to make some regular-season noise against one of the other upper-tier teams in the conference, against which the ‘Bows are now 1-5.
The second unit of Davis Rozitis, Quincy Smith and Aaron Valdes played well, but it wasn’t enough to undo subpar nights by Isaac Fotu, Garrett Nevels and Spearman — those three starters shot a combined 4-for-23.
UH is locked into the No. 4 seed and will play either Cal State Northridge (7-9) or Cal Poly (6-9) at the No. 5 spot in the Big West first round. Cal State Fullerton (Saturday’s senior night opponent) has a similar record (6-9) but loses out on the tiebreakers even should it beat UH to end the regular season.
Hey Brian, I have asked in the past, but what is Jawato’s role with the team? Do you think he might be transferring out?
As a Preferred Walk-On,
With a Strong Track Record of Being ABLE to Contribute in Prime Time,
i would think he’s earned a fair shot at surgery, rehab and recovery…
IF successfully rehab to good health and physicality
Still Much Work Needed on Defense to earn staying time on the floor…
…Very Interested in Brian’s perspective…
OR Coaches’ Expectations…
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UCSB…
I’m Just Glad it Wasn’t @ Fullerton (and suffering JD…)
K-Bay: I don’t think Jawato is a preferred walkon. I think he is one of the 12 scholarship athletes , including Caleb Dressler for this year along with RS’s Jankovich and Webster-Chan.
Brian, is that correct? Jawato is a scholie athlete. I think it was said that they were going to shutdown Jawato for this year and get to surgery and rehabbing his ankles as soon as possible. He would, if healthy really have helped UH’s 3 point shooting woes. He really seems to love Hawaii.
K-Bay and Brian M. , I am not sure of the status of Dressler and Jankovich for that matter? Is Caleb still on scholarship? And is Jankovich a RS for UH MBB as of this spring semester?
Just want to get it right. You know, we are approaching that time of year again! Who’s on first? Second base!
Just joking, sort of!
Hope the Senior nite goes well fans. Great bunch of seniors in Standhardinger, Rozitis, and Spearman, great young guys!
To address the questions,
It’s been a tough year for Jawato, going from a regular rotation guy (and leading 3-point shooter) to an end-of-the-bench job. He wasn’t totally right physically going into the year with his ankle problems which I think affected his confidence and his shooting. Being that shooting is his greatest asset, that made it difficult to throw him regular minutes.
Jawato is a scholarship guy and his future is up in the air. Keep in mind he burned his redshirt year in his first season at UH so if he decides to seek a situation with more playing time, he’ll have to go the Division II route if he wishes to play right away. It’s either that or get a family exemption closer to home in Orange County.
Or he very well might stick it out. He’s already put in three total seasons here and should have made significant progress toward a degree at this point.
As for Dressler, he is a scholarship guy until he moves on after this season. And both the Missouri transfers have scholarship agreements, yes. It would be tough to get players of that caliber here without it.
Hope some of that helps.
Brian:
Mahalo , and thank you very much! As always, it clears up a lot of things. With NCAA MBB DI, and comings and goings, who is on ,and not on scholie, who is preferred walkons or not, gets confusing. Thank you for clearing the matter.
We hope the best for Jawato. He is a nice young man. That is the thing, basically All of the guys that have come through program, some stayed some moved on, were pretty nice young men. Wish the best for Caleb Dressler and Brandon Jawato , whatever his decision!
And is there Another Preferred walkon, 6’0″ PG/SG that will walkon next year 2014-15? Wow that is a lot of preferred walkons, they must like the opportunity, or have great family support!
Mahalo for the updates Brian!
And you are right, with Jankovich and Negus , legitimate 3 star, and working to improve this off season, on board for next year, WOW, that is real firepower, for Gib’s offense. Also, I think Gib alluded to Isaac Fleming, a combo guard, very athletic, disciplined, has great shooting range too, also can dish the dime!
3 three star BB athletes coming on board in addition to maturing 3 star Mike Thomas, that is great potential for 2014-15!
Let us know, if any bigs are on the horizon!
Mahalo Brian McInnis!
Thanks all! I just want to say it is purely speculation on my part regarding Jawato leaving. That was my thought prior to knowing they have shut him down for the season. It does seem that he loves Hawaii and his teammates. I hope he recovers and helps Hawaii in the future.
BMc – Thanks for Announcing ALL Big-West FIRST-TEAMERs
Senior CHRISTIAN STANDHARDINGER, AND
Sophomore ISAAC FOTU!
Outstanding for Both Players AND The Team
To Be SO Recognized
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NOW Go Blow the Cover Off Of The BWC Tourney
WIN Three, ‘Bows!