[ WARRIOR FOOTBALL ]
California QB commits to UH
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Cougars' defensive tackle suffers cut while surfing
WAHINE BASKETBALL
Illness and injury might limit Wahine’s rotation
Hawaii got its first oral commitment of the football recruiting season yesterday, as Miramonte High School (Calif.) quarterback Taylor Humphrey told coach June Jones he will join the Warriors.
Humphrey visited UH on Thursday and Friday.
"Coach (Dan) Morrison (quarterbacks coach) drove me around the school and I felt the school fit me academically and athletically," Humphrey said. "I got a great feeling from the team and Coach Jones. He's been great through the whole process. He's shown the most interest and respect."
Humphrey (6 foot, 205 pounds) was also recruited by Fresno State, Syracuse, Oregon State, Kentucky and Washington.
Humphrey broke the Miramonte school record for passing yardage that was held by former University of Miami and current San Francisco 49ers quarterback Ken Dorsey.
He can make his commitment binding by signing a national letter of intent. The first day to do so is Feb. 4.
Humphrey said the Warriors' propensity for passing was definitely an attraction.
"How many times do they throw the ball, 600 times? Any team can just line up and throw all the time. But the progress they've made, all the accomplishments, prove the coaches are doing something right," Humphrey said. "I'm looking forward to learning from them and (current quarterback) Timmy Chang."
Academic casualties?: Jones said yesterday his team will play Houston in Thursday's Sheraton Hawaii Bowl without "maybe one or two guys" due to academics.
According to a Western Athletic Conference rule, student-athletes must be certified as having passed at least six units in the fall semester in order to play.
Jones said the good news is his team now knows where it stands as far as bowl eligibility, and can prepare accordingly.
"We've sorted out the grade thing, and all those different kinds of things," he said yesterday at the game's first press conference. "It looks like we're going to lose maybe one or two guys. But we've sorted it out and we've got who will be here for practice so we can get ready for the game."
Jones would not comment further on the identity of the player or players affected.
"It's against the rules for me to do that," Jones said. "You guys will sort it out."
Last season Hawaii officials said there was not enough time to comply with the six-unit rule, and the Warriors played in the Hawaii Bowl without first certifying all its players. Chang ended up playing while ineligible, and later sat out this year's season opener against Appalachian State as a penalty. Hawaii was also fined $5,000 by the WAC.
Along for the ride: Jones said that some of the best things about being in a postseason bowl game are the ones that come off the field.
"It allows us the opportunity to become tourists," he said. "The NCAA doesn't allow us as a group, as a team, to ever do these kinds of things. So even though it's a home game for us we really, to be quite honest, are looking forward to doing these things, getting on the buses and doing all the travel that Sheraton and ESPN have set up for us."
Houston coach Art Briles and his team are also enjoying Oahu, but both coaches said focusing on the game could be a problem. "The second we leave practice we're going here, we're going there, going there, then we're going back," Jones said. "So there's nonstop. I won't really see the kids to talk football until 9 o'clock at night."
Briles hopes it's an equalizer.
"They can say it's a home game, but they (UH) checked into the hotel at 11 a.m. yesterday," he said.
Come on out: With Hawaii Bowl ticket sales lagging behind last year's total, Jones made his pitch to undecided fans.
"The ticket sales are disappointing to me, and hopefully they're going to pick up here as we go," he said. "It's not like Hawaii fans not to come support their own. That kind of blows me away, actually. But hopefully there will be a run here, even though it's Christmas Day, even though all those things, Hawaii, to me, has always had a little bit different something about it and they will, I'm sure, in the end show up."
Jones predicted big television numbers for the game. "This bowl game I'm sure is here to stay," he said.
Looks familiar: Houston's turnaround season (the Cougars earned their first bowl bid since 1996) reminds Jones a little of his 1999 team that went 9-4 and beat Oregon State in the Oahu Bowl.
"He's given them a scheme on offense that can beat teams that are better than them," Jones said. "And that's what happened when I came here. The scheme allows you to compete against teams that are better than you. And once you have success, then it even gets better, and that's what's happening with him right now. I can see it on the field. I can see it on the tape. They are a different team because their mind-set is different. They don't feel like losers anymore, they feel like winners."
How eerie is it?
"When I'm looking at the tape, it's (1999 UH defensive coordinator) Greg McMackin's stuff."
Tomey to UTEP?: With news that former Hawaii coach Dick Tomey is one of two finalists (with former Washington State and Alabama coach Mike Price) for the Texas-El Paso job, Jones is happy for his former boss.
"I talked to Dick a couple times this week," Jones said. "Both guys are great coaches, I like both of them. I think Dick would do a great job. Guess what -- he would turn it around down there just like everyplace else he's done it. And I'd be happy for him, and I'm sure he's rooting for that to happen. He's a great coach and he too has influenced me greatly."
BACK TO TOP |
Cougars’ defensive tackle
suffers cut while surfing
Houston defensive tackle Matt Bentley could miss the Hawaii Bowl on Thursday because of a surfing accident yesterday morning.
Bentley required 17 stitches to close a cut on his head suffered in the mishap, Cougars coach Art Briles said.
"I don't know if he'll be able to play," Briles said after yesterday's practice at the University of Hawaii.
Bentley, a sophomore, started Houston's first seven games at left defensive tackle, before missing two with a sprained knee. He returned as a backup for the last three games, and is second among Cougars defensive linemen with 37 tackles.
Last year the 6-foot-3, 265-pound Bentley was an All-Conference USA selection when he was in on 35 tackles.
Recruiting trip: Houston hopes to take advantage of its time in Hawaii by courting a couple of local prospects. Because it is an open recruiting period, Briles had hoped to have already made contact yesterday.
"Hopefully they'll be at practice a couple times," he said.
Kahuku coach Siuaki Livai said the players the Cougars are interested in are offensive lineman Jeremy Perry and defensive back Afa Garrigan.
He said there's a long line of suitors for both.
"Every school that you can think of. If I start naming them I'll forget one and offend them," Livai said.
Briles said playing in a bowl game in Hawaii helps recruiting back home.
"We go head to head with everybody in Houston," he said. "It's the most heavily recruited city in the nation. We just try to get ours from the ones we can get and wish the others well."
You scratch my back ... : It was an odd sight, as about 50 Houston Cougars -- some obviously starving for a workout -- pumped iron in the Warriors' weight room yesterday and chanted "Beat Hawaii" as they did pushups.
But it wouldn't have been right for UH to deny UH access to its facilities; Houston lets Hawaii use its indoor practice field when the Warriors are in Texas to play Rice or staging to Tulsa or Louisiana Tech.
"I don't know if it's payback, but, you know, we're all in the student-helping business," Briles said. "We want to help student athletes just like (Hawaii coach June Jones) and them do."
Local tie: Houston backup linebacker Ashley Subingsubing spent Friday night in Waimanalo -- with relatives.
"He's got lots of kinfolk here," Briles said.
Subingsubing is of Hawaiian and Filipino ancestry, and his father was born here.
The player was born and raised in Los Angeles and graduated from Carson High School in 2000. Subingsubing went to UNLV for two years, and then to Los Angeles Harbor Junior College before landing with the Cougars.
He was in on eight tackles this season, playing in all 12 games.
"I got to see the family and that was good," Subingsubing said. "I've been here lots of times, so everybody's coming up asking me questions about Hawaii."
BACK TO TOP |
[ WAHINE BASKETBALL ]
Illness and injury might
limit Wahine’s rotation
The four women's basketball teams in the Ala Moana Hotels Paradise Classic want to post more than the two victories each has earned so far this season. They all know the start of their respective conference schedules is just two weeks away.
These are the final two games for the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine (2-5) before they open Western Athletic Conference play with three road games the first week of January.
In an effort to mold and develop a young team, UH coach Vince Goo has given considerable playing time to a number of players. Ten of the 13 roster members have averaged at least 12 minutes a game.
"We usually use eight or nine players in our rotation, but we're at 10 or 11 right now," Goo said.
That number may be down tomorrow as several players are fighting a virus and Pam Tambini missed practice Thursday and Friday due to an injured left foot. Goo said her status is questionable.
The players worked on aspects of their game last week.
"We made a lot of mental mistakes, didn't communicate well and didn't take care of our assignments (against Texas-Arlington)," Goo said. "So, in practice we've tried to make them do a better job of communicating.
"Being finals week, there is some mental fatigue. Normally we don't play during finals week. I'm sure that had an effect, but it's no excuse."
The Wahine also have practiced running their offense against the press, something that proved difficult against a very quick Texas-Arlington team last Tuesday.
"Hopefully Fairfield is not quicker than UTA," Goo said. "Dianne Nolan is an outstanding coach and her Fairfield teams always play well. They play smart basketball and beat us the last time they were here. (Tennessee Tech coach) Bill Worrell's teams play smart basketball like Fairfield."
Hawaii begins the classic against the Fairfield Stags (2-5) of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
The Stags are coming off losses to St. John's (77-76) and Seton Hall (73-57). They have wins over Massachusetts and Manhattan.
Senior guard/forward and co-captain Schrene Isidora tops Fairfield's scoring with 11.9 points per game. Freshman guard/forward Candice Lindsay scores at a 9.7 ppg clip and is the team's top rebounder (6.1 rpg).
The Stags are eighth in the latest NCAA statistics with a 79.4 free-throw percentage (100 for 126).
In the opener, the Northern Iowa Panthers of the Missouri Valley Conference play the Tennessee Tech Golden Eaglettes from the Ohio Valley Conference.
The Panthers (2-4) began the season with four consecutive defeats, including their only two road games. They found the winning touch last week with a 53-46 victory over Wyoming and a 79-52 win over Missouri-Kansas City.
Coach Tony DeCecco counts heavily on four of his starters to provide the majority of the offensive punch. Junior guard Emily Berry (14.8 points per game), junior forward Alex Cook (14.7 ppg), senior guard/forward Amy Swisher (14.0 ppg) and sophomore center Kim Hansen (8.3 ppg) account for 51.8 of the 59.7 points Northern Iowa averages per game.
Cook is the top rebounder with 10.2 per game and Berry has made 14 of 38 3-point attempts.
The Golden Eaglettes (2-4) knocked off host Alabama-Birmingham 63-56 Wednesday behind Arleigh Brackin's season-high 21 points for their second win in the last three outings.
Tennessee Tech averages 65.2 points a game with a balanced attack led by sophomore forward Emily Christian (15.5 ppg) and junior forward Casey Bradford (10.2 ppg), the tallest starters (both 6-foot-1) for coach Bill Worrell.
Three guards, sophomore Jenna Baltimore (8.2 ppg), junior Tynisha Alexander (8.3 ppg) and Brackin (6.8 ppg), round out the starting five.
Note: Freshman walk-on guards Amy Kotani (Moanalua) and Shannon Nishi (Mid-Pacific) have been added to the UH roster and will redshirt this year.