Offseason training
has ’Bows ready
Midnight Ohana is two weeks away, but the Hawaii basketball players have been working hard weeks before their first official practice on Oct. 15.
UH associate coach Bob Nash and assistant Bob Burke have been overseeing the Rainbow Warriors' preseason conditioning program.
They monitor the players' progress in the weight room and on the track. And, per NCAA regulations, they can work with the players on individual skills, primarily shooting and defense, in groups of four for three days a week.
With the Rainbows replacing four starters this season, the preseason conditioning program ensures the players will be in shape when practice opens this month. It also sets up the practice routine, where head coach Riley Wallace and staff expect to do a lot of teaching.
"We're laying the groundwork," Nash said. "Coach Wallace's strength is being able to get guys together and mesh talent.
"It's going to be a lot of teaching. We do a lot of different things and their heads will be spinning, so we're taking care of a lot of the individual stuff now."
Nash said senior forward Jeff Blackett stayed in Hawaii over the summer and has come back bigger and stronger than last season, as has junior center Milos Zivanovic. Junior forward Julian Sensley and sophomore guard Bobby Nash honed their games in the NCAA Summer League and in camps on the mainland.
The workout sessions were fairly thin early on, with several players out of action for various physical reasons.
Newcomer Chris Groce was cleared to join the workouts this week after the sophomore guard passed a battery of tests for an irregular heartbeat.
Senior swingman Vaidotas Peciukas had surgery to repair a broken bone in his foot suffered during the summer league. He is able to put weight on the foot -- which now has a screw implanted -- and could be ready when Midnight Ohana rolls. Peciukas will be gone this weekend, however, attending a reunion in Alabama with the family he lived with as a high school exchange student.
Sophomore forward Matthew Gipson had arthroscopic surgery to clear out scar tissue in a knee that had been bothering him. The surgery revealed no tears and Gipson has been cleared to begin workouts.
Junior center Chris Botez had bruised ribs last month, but is back in the gym. Sophomore guard Matt Gibson sprained an ankle recently but is expected to be back by next week.
"You want to get all of these things out of the way now," Wallace said.
Change of pace: Hawaii's experience this season will be with the big men. This is Zivanovic's fourth year with the program, the third for Peciukas and the second for Blackett and Sensley.
"The guards have carried us in past years," Wallace said. "Now we've got really good size and the guards are questionable, so maybe the big men have to carry us until we get settled at guard.
"I still look at it as though we have two (starters), because Blackett had a lot of playing time and played really well the second half of the season."
Walking tall: The Rainbows have four invited walk-ons on the roster -- 6-foot-6 junior guard/forward Ryan Schmidt and guards Kenny Kelly (6-foot sophomore), Seth Caine (6-3 junior) and Brandon Matano (5-11 sophomore) -- and had another eight sign up to try out.
"There's a couple of them who have some potential to see minutes," said Nash, who coordinates the walk-on program. "For the most part they'll be scout-team guys until they prove otherwise."
Schmidt was named to the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges Southern Region first team after averaging 21.4 points and 5.6 rebounds last season at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, Ore. Caine averaged 15.9 points and six rebounds for Highline Community College in Seattle as a sophomore.
Kelly led Gogebic (Mich.) C.C. in assists with an average of 4.6 per game last year.
Matano was a cornerback with the Siena College football team in 2003. He originally attended University High for two years and later moved to New Jersey, where be played football and basketball for Paramus Catholic.
The tryouts began last week and will continue this month. With the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team on the road this week, men's basketball workouts have moved from Gym II to the Stan Sheriff Center.
On the trail: Wallace and associate coach Jackson Wheeler were on the road last month visiting with players and their families.
The Rainbows have five scholarships to offer for next season and Wallace said they're hoping to fill at least two of those spots during the early signing period that begins Nov. 10. The late period is set for April 13-May 18.
Wallace returned from his 10-day trip last Thursday and said the Rainbows are focusing on guards and forwards. He said he was in seven places in eight days, with in-home and school visits.
Although he cannot discuss recruits specifically, the coach said Hawaii was "in on some good kids." However, the Rainbows lost out to LSU on Monday when Ben Voogd, a 6-1 point guard from Siuslaw High in Florence, Ore., verbally committed to the Tigers.
UH has three seniors on this year's team -- Blackett, Peciukas and guard Jake Sottos -- and has two scholarships left over from last year.
