Did you hear what Coach Riley Wallace said about recruiting from home (Hawaii)? He said there are good prospects in volleyball, football and baseball but not basketball! They have to go outside of Hawaii to find players. It's a disgrace that our home University doesn't believe it's own state has any talent. Or is it a disgrace, that Honolulu coaches can't produce what recruiters are looking for?
Hawaii High School Basketball Forum
Hawaii Hoops - Forum » High School Boys
Firing of UH BB coach- NO TALENT
(16 posts)-
Posted 2 years ago #
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lets face facts we, hawaii, are for the most part vertically challenged, the level of play is good but not great and our kids are coached to milk the clock and eat time. in hawaii if you are 6'3" you are a big man and the youth coaches only work on your post game. i feel its part things we cant controll and part youth coaches fault the k-towns,southsides,eastsides,etc or only focused on winning and not the development of the players. there have exceptions to the rule few and far in between julian sensley for example but he finished his high school away, derrick low, nani cockett. wallaces statement maybe true.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Alika Smith was a great example of a local boy who was not extremely tall, who was able to compete at a high level in Division 1.
Wonder if Riley remembers him?
Posted 2 years ago # -
Same Riley that didn't recruit Derrick Low!
Posted 2 years ago # -
What's tough is, a lot of student athletes and their families use sports as a vehicle to get an athletic scholarship for college.
Traditionally, the scholarships for kids coming out of Hawaii, are in football, baseball, volleyball, and soccer.
When the serious student athletes get to high school age, they may still play multiple sports, but for the most part, they start to hone their skills and crafts towards one sport. Often times, many of our great athletes, lean towards the sports that give them a better chance to get an athletic scholarship for college.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Both Riley and Bob fell in love with junior college recruits...didn't want to spend the time to establish young players in the program. Funny how Bob's son was one of the few local kids to get recruited...I've seen a lot of players in Hawaii better than Bobby Jr.
Posted 2 years ago # -
UH is losing anyway with the talent they are recruiting(not too good), so why not lose with some of our local talent playing, or maybe they might find out that some of um can actually play. You folks can't tell me that all the players on the team are better than some of our top local talent.
Even the D2 teams in Hawaii do not recruit a lot of our local talent, which is pretty sad. I can see if they are getting really good players from the mainland and abroad, but they are not. Give our local kids a chance. Just my opinion!!!!!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Just a suggestion our community colleges (KCC , HCC ,LCC , HEALD ) need to start their own league to showcase all the local kids that wont make it to HPU ,CHAMINADE , HILO , BYU like a junior college to feed U.H and other D1 schools that are interested in our league...we have enough talented local players that would stay home and showcase their talentmaybe because of poor grades or financial problems their not being look at...this is a gateway...common MAYOR and LT. GOVERNOR make it happen arent you both ex college athletes . help the local kids.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Can you fulfill most of your recruiting needs at UH focusing on local players, of course not. But there are many local boys who could contribute and sometimes do much more than that as the Alika Smiths, Kalia McGees, Jarin Akanas, and Bobby Nashs have shown and it sure as hell would generate a lot more interest amongst the local fan base. If Akana and McGee can start at UH, there must be a place for a Kainoa Chu somewhere on the roster and not as some damn unrecruited walk-on. He's been a flat-out scorer in h.s. but he has the skills and mentality to play point on the next level. No, he'll probably never be a star, but there's a good chance he will be able to contribute. Give some of our local boys a chance! Can u imagine if Derrick Low had stayed home and led UH a couple of rounds deep into the NCAA tourney like he did with WSU? People would have been watching UH b-ball games as if it was the Super Bowl. If nothing else, at least people would stop bringing up the most overhyped, overremembered team of all time -the Fab Five teams of the 70's.
Brew, you're absolutely right about the DII colleges lack of local boys on their rosters. These teams are right here, playing under our noses but they might as well be off in Siberia for how little we hear about them. I follow a lot of basketball but could not name the Chaminade coach or a single Chaminade player unless Pii Minns is still on the roster. I also wouldn't give a rat's ass whether any of these local DII teams won any kind of conference or national championship. How can you care about something that you know nothing about. I know it was about a century ago, but didn't those Chaminade giant killing teams include Mark Rodrigues from St. Louis, Jason Strickland from Kailua(?), and Richard Haenisch of Punahou? Yeah, you had your Tim Dunhams carrying the flag but those three local boys played pivotal roles.
Posted 2 years ago # -
@wildcat: I was blogging to BBallJones yesterday and just for the heck of it I took out my notebook, wrote down the seven main community colleges in our state, made a schedule, and a budget, including air and hotel for road games. (Yes, I'm a dreamer!) I then e-mailed the University of Hawaii at the address on the website and wrote the topic as Sports Programs. It's a longshot as I have NO connections but I think a local community college league would generate more interest now than it did way back in the day. Even if we could only get the Oahu teams to participate, it might be a worthwhile thing. So much talent here. But, you need money. Back in the day the schools picked up the tab for everything except the end of season tournament. For that, everyone had to fund raise on their own.
Posted 2 years ago # -
modman this is a good thing you would also get mainland kids that want to live in hawaii plus still play ball . their would be more coaches. local bball would get better.it would be good.
Posted 2 years ago # -
All true points but here is the kicker:
NFL: Kurt Gouveia, Jesse Sapolu, Russ Frances
MLB: Sid Fernandez, Len Sakata, Shane Victorino
NBA: Red Rocha
As all of you know, these are local boys that are also World Champions.
There are many more examples but it is very obvious that if local kids want live their dreams in the sports world today basketball is not the ticket.
Local kids that show potential in football or baseball are scouted by professional as well as college scouts in Hawai'i because Hawai'i's lineage in these sports is documented.
If a kid plays multiple sports where should he focus?
Our football, baseball and volleyball kids that show potential don't need to travel to the mainland during the off season in order to showcase their skills because the powers that be will come to Hawai'i to find them. I know that many kids go to mainland camps & showcases to improve their position in these spors but if a kid is a "STUD" the scouts will find him.
The ultimate issue for Hawai'i's basketball talent is the lack of high level competition during the off season.
Hawai'i college coaches travel to the mainland to recruit because the talent pool is deeper and more expirienced there but not always better.
The cost of taking a team or sending a kid to the mainland to compete in an AAU event or something similar is prohibitive for most Hawai'i kids.
Local baseball and football talent that plays for a Hawai'i college can make it to the next level (Agbiyani & maybe Wong in a few years are examples).
DLow was and is a great player but I don't see another player from Hawai'i making the same impact on Hawai'i or national hoops in a long time.
Posted 2 years ago # -
leftover, thanks for weighing in, your points are well taken. I don't think anyone who played in the old community college leagues had aspirations of playing ball at a higher level. Most of us tried out for the team just to compete and enjoy the game (and to party!). My first year everybody made the team, only eleven of us (we were stronger my sophomore year, guys got cut). No athletic scholarships were given out, nothing close to that. You truly played for your school, cheered for the womens' team, they cheered at your games. I'd say it was a positive experience for a young person.
Do you think it would be worth it to bring back CC ball as long the students/players have realistic goals? Do you think today's kids could use the CC league to step up to the D2 or D3 level or move on to play Juco ball on the mainland? If it gave kids a chance to keep playing after high school, other than in rec leagues, would that make it worth while in your opinion leftover? I'm eager to read your next reply. Mahalos!
Posted 2 years ago # -
beanboy, what an exciting thought! Mainland kids who just want to go to school, play ball in Hawaii - I never thought of that. And you're right more coaching opportunity too. They could make the season right after March Madness. Can't clash with high school or the PacWest; not enough gyms or refs. Like someone said, I wish Mufi or someone would get behind it. Need money.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Someone tell Mufi Or the LT.Governor...this is not just talk...we really might have something good here. imagine a community college league...it would be filled with high school all stars that want to stay home....and play in front of their family....imagine Chu, Monroe , Akina , all on the same team playing for HCC WAVEs against Buckner , Johnson , Keene ,etc. of the KCC Tornados....just dreaming here....it would sell out Blaisdell.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Wow wildcats! You really are serious. A long time ago each CC's home games were at the district park gyms: Kaneohe dp for Windward, Kawaiahao church gyn for KCC, Pearl City for Leeward, etc. Blaisdell, gee I wonder? That would be something special. I know a guy who used to be the Mayor's driver and personal assistant. I'll ask him.
Posted 2 years ago #
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