Broadus headed to BYU

Three years removed from his glory days as a Mililani High School standout, Rashaun Broadus is eager to finally make the leap to Division I college basketball.

After earning All-State honors with the Trojans in 2002, Broadus honed his game at Western Nebraska Community College and recently committed to join the Brigham Young program next season.

Broadus gave a verbal commitment to the Cougars late last month and plans to submit a national letter of intent when the spring signing period opens on Wednesday.

"It's crazy; I'm real excited," he said. "I've waited three long years for this."

Aside from appearances at the NCAA Summer League, Broadus kept a relatively low profile locally after leading Mililani to a fourth-place finish in the state tournament as a senior. But he's looking to make a name for himself again at BYU.

"Everybody (in Hawaii) must have forgot who I am, thinking I fell off the face of the planet or something," he said.

Broadus, a 6-foot guard, led WNCC with 14.6 points per game this season, helping the Cougars to a 28-5 record. He shot 47 percent from the field and dished out 116 assists.

Western Nebraska topped the national junior college rankings for three weeks this season.

Broadus said he narrowed his choices to BYU, Colorado State and Houston, and made his decision during a recruiting trip to Provo last month.

"The facilities were top-notch, some of the best in the country," he said. "The coaches were all cool."

Broadus played "combo guard" at WNCC, but will have to adjust his game to play point guard at BYU, which went 9-21 overall and 3-11 in the Mountain West Conference.

While in high school, Broadus scored most of his points by using his quickness to get to the basket for layups. He said he worked on his outside shot at WNCC and is ready to test his game at the next level.

"I've grown in all aspects of my game," he said. "My ball-handling got better, my shooting got way better. ... I got a lot smarter on the court. JUCO helped me a lot."

Broadus will have two seasons to play at BYU. He redshirted his second year at WNCC while the program was on probation.

Broadus' brother, William, played at WNCC briefly this season. He sat out the 2003-04 campaign with a broken ankle and was academically ineligible for the second half of this season. Rashaun said William may play at a junior college in Kansas or perhaps join him in Utah in the fall.

By suiting up for BYU, Broadus would become the fourth member of the 2002 Star-Bulletin All-State team to make the roster of an NCAA Division I squad, joining Iolani graduates Derrick Low (Washington State) and Bobby Nash (Hawaii) as current players. Former Kalaheo standout Ikaika Alama-Francis played basketball at UH for one season and is now a member of the Warrior football team.

Scouting report: Broadus had a chance to see incoming UH recruit Matt Lojeski of Eastern Wyoming up close since WNCC and EWC are both members of NJCAA Region IX.

Lojeski was named to the All-Region team after averaging 17.2 points. He shot 50.5 percent from the field, including 36.6 percent from 3-point range.

"He's a nice player; smart, cagey, plays hard," WNCC coach Ron Brillhart said. "I think he'll be a nice addition for Hawaii."

Said Broadus: "He'll fit perfectly in that system."