StarBulletin.com

Guard Miles committing to Rainbows


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POSTED: Tuesday, April 27, 2010

The youth recruit movement shows no signs of abating for the Hawaii men's basketball team.

Bobby Miles, a 6-foot-1 senior point guard at Workman High School (Calif.), posted last night on his MySpace page that he is committing to the Rainbow Warriors.

Another player, Big Bend Community College (Wash.) 6-8 freshman swingman Dominick Brumfield, visited UH with Miles over the weekend and “;really enjoyed Hawaii,”; according to his coach, Mark Poth.

If new UH coach Gib Arnold can get both, he'll have seven players with three or more years of eligibility starting in 2010-11 — more than half the team's allotted 13 scholarships.

Miles appears to fit the role of traditional playmaker missing from the group of five newcomers previously signed on for next year. He averaged a near triple-double of about 27 points, 12 rebounds and 9.9 assists as a do-it-all senior for the Lobos in CIF Division IV play.

“;I think it all came together for him to play Division I basketball at a good conference, but the environment all seemed to fit,”; his coach, Martin Flores, said. “;He would always joke, 'Coach, the one place I don't want to go if it all possible is where it's cold and snowy. I don't want any cold weather at all.'

“;I said 'Well, you've gotta stay in the southern part of California, or go to Hawaii.' And we didn't realize how prophetic that turned out to be. He just kind of lives his life and seems to fit the rhythm of the islands. But he's a great young man, very respectful.”;

Miles, who started all four years of high school and earned back-to-back league MVP honors, did not indicate whether he completed his paperwork. Flores said his other primary options were Eastern Washington and Nevada.

“;I know I'm a little biased, but I would really put him up against anyone in terms of his basketball IQ,”; Flores said. “;He has just a really good sense of the game.”;

Meanwhile, Brumfield (who averaged 14.2 ppg and 8.2 rpg at Big Bend) is still weighing his options between UH and San Jose State, Poth said. UH lost a recruiting battle with SJSU for high school point guard Keith Shamburger, but could salvage a split vs. the Spartans with Brumfield, a versatile NWAACC Eastern Region All-Star who shot about 40 percent on 3-pointers.

Poth said his player will decide “;in the very near future.”;

“;He thought (UH) offered a lot of unique things for him as a student-athlete,”; Poth said. “;He really liked Coach Arnold's philosophy of coaching and those kind of things. Really enjoyed the players who were there. Liked the school. And he's indicated to me that the University of Hawaii is definitely high on his list.”;

Poth shares some history with Arnold and UH. Poth coached at UH as a part-time assistant under Arnold's father, Frank Arnold, in the mid 1980s, and earned his master's degree at Hawaii.

“;I told (Dominick) I thought my experience there, I enjoyed it. It's kind of funny because Coach Arnold tracked down Dom before he even knew I was Dom's coach.”;

UH had seven scholarship openings — five derived from departing seniors and two others from forward Ji Xiang (early graduation) and guard Jeremy Lay (transfer) — but could get more if Arnold decides on further roster moves among returning players.

The recruits previously signed on for 2010-11 are Jordan Coleman, Trevor Wiseman, Vander Joaquim, Josten Thomas and Bo Barnes.