Wednesday, April 11, 2001

[ BASKETBALL ]

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Hawaii recruiters
try to make up for
time lost dancing

Rainbows' appearance in
The Dance both helped
and hurt

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By Dave Reardon
Star-Bulletin

Today is letter of intent day, and the University of Hawaii intends to sign some men's basketball players.

But not just yet.

The Rainbows are also the only Western Athletic Conference team with no early commitments from last fall. But UH has hit the recruiting trail hard and has four or five scholarships available to augment a strong nucleus of returnees from the team that went 17-14 and to the NCAA Tournament last month.

But making it to the Big Dance put UH behind in hosting potential newcomers.

"It's going to help us in attracting players," assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Jackson Wheeler said. "But it also means we weren't able to have them in for visits yet."

That process begins this weekend, as a "dead period" for recruiting has ended and UH can bring in potential players.

"It looks good," head coach Riley Wallace said. "In the next three or four weeks we'll be bringing them in. If the visits go good, I think we'll get who we want. The most important thing is if the guys we get can blend in with the guys we've already got."

Most of the new players will come from the junior college ranks, as UH coaches feel they are only one or two key players away from being able to successfully defend their WAC championship.

Coaches can't speak specifically about recruits, but sources say -- and the obvious dictates -- that Hawaii is looking for point guards and big men; the Rainbows have a glut of solid players at the wing positions.

Tip-ins:

In addition to approving a proposal regarding exempt tournaments (see page A-1), the NCAA Division I Management Council also approved a proposal that would reduce basketball scholarships from 13 to 12 if a school's graduation rate drops to less than 50 percent. ... UH freshman walk-on guard Kimo Keiter-Charles ended his first season with UH as a redshirt, since he played in no regular season games.

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UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii