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Wednesday, December 13, 2000
Future shooting One is the son of the best big man who ever put on the flowered shorts of the University of Hawaii basketball team.
stars pace Iolani
Bobby Nash and Derrick Low
are basketball players to watch
this season in the ILHBy Ed Kalama
Special to the Star-BulletinThe other is a 14-year-old who learned to play the game on the playgrounds and dunked the ball as a 5-foot-9 seventh-grader.
Sophomore Bobby Nash and freshman Derrick Low already are bringing some national attention to the Iolani basketball program.
According to Basketballphenoms.com, an Internet Web site that ranks the top players in the nation, Nash, the son of Fabulous Five star and Rainbow assistant coach Bob Nash, is the 45th best sophomore in the country. Low is rated even higher, judged the 34th finest freshman in the nation.
"They are both phenomenal players," Iolani head coach Mark Mugiishi said.
"I'm not used to coaching players at this age who are going to be Division I college players. They're both going to be very good and are going to make some coach very happy down the road. They're making me happy now."
Iolani is off to a 5-1 start in preseason play, with its only loss coming against Kalaheo in Saturday's final of Radford's Jim Alegre Invitational.
Nash is a 6-foot-7 sophomore who was a first team ILH all-star last season as a freshman. He's got a nice touch around the basket, and is quick enough to press opposing guards.
"For his height, he's very quick and athletic," Mugiishi said of Nash. "He's got a nice mid-range jump shot and if he grows a couple of more inches and plays collegiate ball, with the kind of athleticism, he'll be tough. If he gets stronger, there's no telling how good he'll be."
Low is a smooth 6-foot guard with great court sense and vision. But he still needs the experience of facing intense defensive pressure and his jump shot is a bit inconsistent. But already, his game is at a level that any senior would be proud of.
Mugiishi said he thinks Low's high ranking is deserved.
"I saw him play this summer in a mainland game at a national exposure camp. He made the all-star team and a couple of coaches came specifically to watch him, including Roy Williams of Kansas.
"He's way more mature for the stage of his game than his age should dictate.
"He grew up playing basketball in the parks, so you'd expect that his game would be very undisciplined, but that's not the case.
"He's an excellent ballhandler, he's got good instincts and he's always around the ball. He's got a pretty good jump shot, but it needs a little bit of work -- his mechanics are a bit off right now -- but he's a streaky shooter and when he's on he'll make a lot in a row."
Low arrived on the Iolani campus as a seventh-grader and made an immediate impression.
"He came to our school in seventh grade and started scoring 40 points a game for the intermediate team. It made the varsity coach pay attention," Mugiishi laughed.
Low isn't letting the attention go to his head.
"I feel comfortable out there and I know I can play on the varsity level," he said. "But those rankings don't mean anything. It's just a number. I know these guys are just as good as me and that I've got to keep working and getting better."
Nash, too, knows the value of hard work.
"Derrick is great to play with, he's a nice passer, and he plays team ball," Nash said. "We try to work as hard as we can and incorporate our games into the coach's game plan."
And as the son of a former UH great who went on to play for the Detroit Pistons, Nash knows that fans will always compare him with his father.
"There's always going to be that added pressure," Nash said. "My dad was such a good player for Hawaii, he played in the NBA, and he's just a good all-around person. So those are some huge shoes to fill. I've just got to keep working at my game."
Mugiishi realizes his phenoms aren't ready to step up and challenge the nation's finest ballclubs, but he's confident about the future.
"These two kids aren't physically ready yet," he said. "But when they're older, they'll compete against anybody we want to bring down here."