CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
The recruitment of Ji Xiang is the first step in coach Bob Nash's plan to expand the pool UH recruits from.
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Rainbows welcome first player from China
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After enjoying success with players from Africa and Europe over the years, the Hawaii basketball program looked to Asia for the final piece of this year's recruiting class.
Ji Xiang, a 6-foot-10 forward from China, arrived in town Tuesday and has been busy getting settled in Hawaii as he heads into his freshman year in Manoa.
"We're going to look everywhere we can to find players that our staff feels like we need to be successful, we don't care where it is," UH head coach Bob Nash said.
After a lengthy process, Ji's paperwork was finally completed last week, clearing the way for him to join the UH program.
Basketball has been increasing in popularity in China in recent years and Ji is looking forward to developing his game at the Division I level in the U.S. Nash said Ji will have to work on his strength and conditioning, and though he adds to the Rainbows' depth in the post, he'll also look to score from the perimeter.
"I like to shoot the ball a little bit from the 3-point and the elbow," said Ji, the first player from China to sign with UH.
Ji is part of an eight-member class of incoming freshmen and sophomores to join seven seniors on the UH roster.
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These days are all about adjustments for Ji Xiang.
Attending classes at the University of Hawaii will test his English vocabulary, and eventually there will be the acclimation to college basketball.
But his biggest challenge at the moment?
"Right now it's the time," Ji said yesterday afternoon, a little more than a day after enduring an 11-hour trek from his home in Zhengzhou, China, to Honolulu.
Ji (whose full name is pronounced Jee Shah, but likes to go by Jay) is the first player from China to sign with the Rainbow Warrior program and the 6-foot-10 freshman is anxious to get started in the classroom and on the court.
Ji attended the U.S. Basketball Academy in Oregon the last two years, and former Rainbow coach Bruce O'Neil, who founded the academy, mentioned Ji to current UH head man Bob Nash.
Nash then saw him in action at the Kingwood Classic in Houston this spring and initiated the often painstaking process of bringing him into the program.
Along with securing passports and visas, there was the process of gaining academic approval from the NCAA Clearinghouse, getting admitted to school and making certain of his amateur status before announcing the signing last week to cap Nash's first recruiting class.
"A lot of people might look at this as being a late pickup, but we've been working for quite some time," said Nash. "We just didn't want to jump the gun until we got all the documentation, because things could have fallen through. We evaluated him, he's gone through the academic process here and got admitted. It's been a lot of work, a lot of e-mailing back and forth trying to get things done."
Nash is aiming to expand the Rainbows' recruiting reach, looking at international players as well as American high school and junior-college athletes.
"Any time we can find a player who fits what we're trying to accomplish, no matter where it is, we'll spend the time to try to get it done," he said. "We're in on some good kids, in Australia, in Canada. We're all over the place."
Though Nash said Ji will have to work on his upper body strength, he was impressed by his shooting touch and basketball aptitude during the Houston event.
"I like our guys to be multi-dimensional. He can play with his back to the basket or he can play facing," Nash said. "He's got a big body for an 18-year-old, he's got good legs and just needs to get stronger. He's a skilled big guy who understands the game."
Ji started playing basketball at 11 and learned about the American style of play while attending tournaments and camps in the U.S.
"I think the American players are more athletic, stronger and quicker than Chinese players and play with more emotion," he said, noting he enjoyed the difference in flair. "Basketball is something you can have fun with."
Though he's fretting the language barrier a bit as he settles in on the Manoa campus, Ji has a solid grasp of English because children in China begin learning the language in primary school.
He said Hawaii's sizable Chinese population factored into his decision to attend UH, which is part of a long-range plan to eventually return to China, where basketball's popularity has rocketed in recent years.
"My goal is to have an education, but I also can play a high level of basketball," said Ji, who is looking into pursuing a career in sports marketing. "This is part of the schedule of my life. First, to finish my education and then to improve my basketball skills and go back to China to see if I can play for the national team and in the Olympics."
Ji is among eight freshmen and sophomores joining seven seniors on the UH roster. The Rainbows will start their conditioning program and individual workouts once all of the players are squared away in school and pass their physicals.
Practice officially starts Oct. 12 and the season opens Nov. 9 against San Diego. Nash said the schedule is close to being completed and will be released once the UH staff receives official confirmation from the final teams.