UH hopes for
some in-house
competition

Riley Wallace looks to his
latest recruiting class to push
the 'Bows' returners in practice

Hawaii basketball coach Riley Wallace hopes the Rainbow Warriors' latest recruiting class will give the team a lift both in the win column and in the practice gym next season.

UH completed its recruiting efforts, having secured commitments from two players during the fall signing period and four more this spring. And the UH coaches hope the additions will not only fill holes on the roster, but push the returnees for playing time.

"We wanted to create some competition and I think we've done that," Wallace said.

The backcourt figures to be especially crowded when practice opens in October as four newcomers are slated to join senior Deonte Tatum and juniors Matt Gibson and Bobby Nash.

Junior college transfers Matt Lojeski and John Wilder and incoming freshmen Hiram Thompson and Dominic Waters figure to add depth and versatility to the guard spots.

Wallace said Lojeski -- like Nash -- could play shooting guard and small forward, while Wilder and Waters will get a look at both of the guard spots.

"(Lojeski's) a real athletic, put-it-on-the-floor, scoring type," Wallace said. "To me, that can help us better in our offense than a guy standing out there shooting jump shots.

"Wilder is a real athlete. ... He's really unselfish and we can try him at both the 1 and 2 positions. He looks for his teammates and he's got a nice stroke on his shot."

Wallace said Thompson and Waters will be given an opportunity to prove themselves as freshmen but won't be pressed into action before they're ready.

"With the high school kids, we don't have to hurry them," Wallace said. "We can see how good they're going to be and bring them along."

All four of UH's returning big men -- forwards Julian Sensley and Matthew Gipson and centers Chris Botez and Milos Zivanovic -- will be seniors next season, which was part of the attraction for forward Stephen Verwers.

As a transfer from Colorado State, Verwers' contributions next season will be limited to practice due to NCAA rules requiring transfers to sit out a year. But UH's last signee of the year doesn't mind waiting his turn to play.

"I wanted to go somewhere I could play some," he said. "I really wasn't getting too much playing time. ... (UH having four seniors) was a big factor for me, because I thought it was a good opportunity to get to play (in 2006-07)."

Ahmet Gueye signed with UH in the fall and gives the Rainbows an athletic forward who will be looked upon to help fill the void left by another Salt Lake Community College product in Jeff Blackett, who completed his eligibility last month.

Although part of the fun of recruiting season is trying to project how the newcomers will fit into the team's system, Wallace said the Rainbows' fortunes will depend more on the offseason efforts of the players already in the program.

"The key to me is still the returnees, how much improvement they're going to show," he said. "It's a lot of ifs, but if they do (improve) then we can be very good."