Tuesday, April 14, 1998
Colorado grabs
guard UH wanted
But Rainbow head basketball coach
By Cindy Luis
Riley Wallace is confident
he'll find another
Star-BulletinA recruiting loss is not the same as a recruiting defeat.
The University of Hawaii men's basketball coaching staff lost one player it wanted but head coach Riley Wallace was confident he could find a quality shooting guard to add to this year's quality recruiting class.
"We're still in on several guys we'd like to have in the program," said Wallace, after announcing that highly touted 6-foot-2 guard JaQuay Walls had signed with Colorado yesterday. "I like the recruits we have but I'd like to have one more perimeter player."
The Daily Camera of Boulder, Colo., reported Thursday that Walls, who helped Compton College to the California junior college championship, had signed with the Buffaloes. Walls' teammate, 7-1 center Terry Sellers, earlier had verbally committed to the Rainbows but has yet to send in his letter of intent.
Although Colorado does not have the extra scholarship to sign Walls, it is expected the Buffaloes will cut one returning scholarship player to make room for the all-conference player.
Hawaii is still courting 6-6 swing man Beau Archibald, who played in the 1996 Rainbow Classic as a freshman for Washington State. Archibald, the son of the late longtime BYU assistant Lynn Archibald, is still considering Hawaii and Connecticut and is visiting Virginia this weekend.
Wallace just returned from Phoenix after watching Rainbow guard Anthony Carter perform in the Nike Dessert Classic, the successor of the Aloha Classic all-star game.
The three-day tournament ended Friday with Carter's Midwest team winning the event. Carter was coached by NBA great John Lucas and averaged 9 assists and 8 points a game under limited NBA rules.
"I think AC will go between 15-29 in the draft," Wallace said of Carter's draft-pick chances. "I thought he helped himself (in the draft) this past weekend."
On his way back from Phoenix, Wallace stopped in San Francisco to visit with the family of Marquette Alexander. The 6-9 big man from City College of San Francisco changed his mind late Wednesday and signed with the Rainbows instead of San Francisco.
"What Marquette told me was he decided on Hawaii because it was where he wanted to come," said Wallace.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
