WAILUKU, Maui >> Nick Rolovich threw short strike after short strike right on target yesterday under the watchful eyes of NFL scouts and Washington Redskins head man and Aina assistant coach Steve Spurrier. UH’s Rolovich practices
Division II notebook
with passing panache
By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comOne bullet bounced off the hands of a receiver, a non-prospect from Japan.
"Too hard," Spurrier said in his twangy hyper drawl. "Too hard, for him."
The implication was clear: That's an incomplete pass here, but it wouldn't be in the NFL. Don't change a thing.
Then, on the last play of the morning, Rolovich answered a question for many of the scouts. Yes, he could throw the longball.
Miami's Daryl Jones got behind the secondary 50 yards downfield, and Rolovich delivered on target.
"Nick's an excellent player," Spurrier said. "He's got a natural throwing motion. He did very well for June Jones and the Warriors. I think he's got a big-time future."
Rolovich was clearly the most accurate of the three Aina quarterbacks yesterday. Major Applewhite of Texas and Dusty Bonner of Valdosta State had their moments, but weren't as consistent.
"I could really tell the difference today," Rolovich said. "I felt comfortable. I felt jittery the first day. I think today was one of the most important practices, so it was good that I did well."
What goes around: Kim Helton and Spurrier played together and were briefly assistant coaches together at Florida, but both were let go when Charley Pell became the Gators' new head coach in 1978. For 15 years, Spurrier kept a newspaper with a headline that read: "Spurrier, Helton fired."
"I always kept that on the wall to remind me you're always only a game or a season away from getting canned," Spurrier said yesterday. "We can all get canned in life."
Recently, Spurrier hired Helton to be his offensive line coach with the Redskins.
"Coach Spurrier always said he wanted to turn that around and coach with my dad again," said Tyson Helton, Kim Helton's son and a Hawaii assistant coach.
Short yardage: Yesterday's practice visitors included UH coach June Jones and assistants Helton and Mike Cavanaugh. UH president Evan Dobelle also stopped by, but said he will miss the game because he will be manning a booth at the Punahou Carnival tomorrow. ... Mosi Tatupu special teams award winner Kahlil Hill of Iowa is the son of former NFL receiver J.D. Hill. Hill won't play tomorrow because of a strained quad muscle. ... Al Fracessa,the national high school coach of the year, from Brother Rice in Rochester, Mich., will be honored tomorrow. ... Hayden Fry received the Grant Teaff lifetime achievement award from the AFCA. ... Center Ben Miller of Air Force will participate in a flag-raising ceremony before the game. The flag was sent from President George Bush's office, along with a letter from the president.
In case you missed it, or perhaps were just confused, that was Hawaii Pacific's Nash Subotic who made seven of his eight baskets against Hawaii-Hilo on Monday night by taking the basketball straight to the hoop. Subotic expands
his game -- inward
By Brandon Lee
blee@starbulletin.comUsually, the HPU senior shooting guard prefers to get his points by raining jumpers on the opposition. But in the win that knocked the Vulcans (15-4 overall, 5-2 Pacific West Conference) out of first place in the conference and pulled the Sea Warriors (13-5, 4-2) a half-game behind them in third, Subotic fired without a conscience from point-blank range.
"He's a scorer," Hilo coach Jeff Law said of Subotic. "If he's hot, he can step way out, 30 feet even. But if that doesn't present itself, he's going to find another way to score."
The only time Subotic didn't score with a layup was his 3-pointer to open scoring for the Sea Warriors in the second half. But he was only 1-for-7 from beyond the arc for the night. Subotic said he made the decision to drive to the basket because the Vulcans were contesting his outside shot but not helping inside when he curled off triple screens set by his big men.
"I think it was dictated by what they were doing," Subotic said. "I was taking what they gave me. ... I know I have to expand my game much more, and I think I've done that the last (few) games. I think I'll have to do that for (Brigham Young-Hawaii), in particular."
HPU visits the Seasiders (12-7, 3-3) tonight at 7:30 at Laie. Meanwhile, Hilo attempts to rebound tonight at first-place Montana State-Billings (16-3, 6-2), which will be trying to extend its school-record 30-game home-court winning streak. Also meeting tonight in a matchup of the PacWest's bottom-feeders, Chaminade (10-8, 3-4) visits Western New Mexico (1-13, 0-8).
"I have tons of respect for BYU," Subotic said. "I think they are one of the best teams in the conference and we'll have to have our 'A' game to beat them."
Now, though, it seems that part of the Sea Warriors' 'A' game includes Subotic having his option 'B' -- a notion the HPU coaching staff does not dismiss.
"We've been trying to tell him to do that, to mix up his offensive game," HPU assistant coach Russell Dung said. "We hope he continues to go to the basket."
HPU shows who's No. 1 in tennis: Best collegiate men's team in the state? Division I Hawaii would be the wrong answer.
The top-ranked team in Division II -- Hawaii Pacific -- seems the much better response at this point, after it completed a two-match season sweep against the Warriors last Friday.
In the fall, the Sea Warriors took down Chaminade (5-0) and Hawaii (3-2) to claim the City Intercollegiate Tournament championship. Though HPU has not played Division II No. 3 Brigham Young-Hawaii nor Hawaii-Hilo yet, the Sea Warriors reaffirmed their superiority over the Warriors with a 5-2 thrashing a week ago. The HPU-Hawaii all-time series is now knotted 5-5.
"I think it just goes to show that if you're near the top or at the top of Division II," HPU coach Henry Somerville said, "you're going to be a tough opponent for most Division I schools. It shows that within college tennis at all levels, the talent pool is real deep."
The Sea Warriors will bring a 2-1 record into their next match, against Chaminade on Tuesday. Their only loss on the season came against Division I No. 9 Southern Methodist.