Hawaii Basketball

Bob Nash has been named the new head coach of the University of Hawaii… now what? Seems like we should all know the guy after 26 years, so why is it so hard to figure out what we’re in for next season?

Well, despite his long tenure at the school, Nash hasn’t had many opportunities to do what he’s wanted to do (whatever that is), so it’d be unfair to assume one way or another that he’ll be just like Riley or completely different. All we can do right now is listen to what he’s saying in the media and hope for the best…

Here’s a few notable quotes from Coach Nash’s appearance on Stephen Tsai’s blog:

Asked about a shift to a high-paced game:

…we hope to bring an exciting brand of fast pace basketball back to the Stan Sheriff but we have to go out and get athletes to do that so we are goint to be out recruiting to find replacements for Lojeski and Gueye.

Response to a question about the returning players and their ability to adjust to a new system:

We have a good nucleus returning and when you look at Bobby Nash, Matt Gibson, those guys have alwasy been on the open floor and could shoot the ball. Those guys like the freedom to do that. Matt Gibson is good in the open floor. But we also have to grab boards and that’s where P.J. Owsley and Stephen Verwers come in.

We will also try to get the ball to them in the block.

Asked about potential additions to the coaching staff:

I’m not going to get into the personnel matters at this time. I think I need to take my time and evaluate where we are and where we want to go, and then we will decide who we go with. Right now I’m concentrating my efforts on getting recruiting done and completing the schedule.

Asked, “What do we, as a program, school, community and state need to do to be national contenders and bring a national championship to the islands?”

Thank you for that question. In John Wooden’s book Be Quick But Don’t Hurry, he talked about being successful, and the No. 1 secret was have better players than your opponent. We have to get to that level before we can consider contending for a national championship. Our goal is to win the WAC on a regular basis and get to the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis. That will hopefully lead to a situation like Gonzaga where you’re competing in the Sweet 16 year in and year out. We have to think about getting to that level first before getting to higher levels after that.

Response to question about the possibility of implementing more zone defenses:

In my defensive package I plan to include a multitude of zones, trapping any type of defnese that disrupts the opponent’s offense, I will use. That includes man to man. We will be fundamentally sound defensively. I think that’s how you win games, especially on the road. Nevada has proved that recently with the way they play good solid defense.

Quote on new “bigs”:

We currently have four guys that are 6-9 or better that we are recruiting.

Asked about Midnight Ohana:

We’ve had a lot of success with Midnight Ohana and the costumes, but I think it might be time to move in another direction. I’d like to get more fan interaction.

Nation-wide, this is something that is no longer practiced and I’d look for other ways to introduce our team to the public.

View the entire “chat” with Coach Bob Nash »
(This is a comment list from Stephen Tsai’s blog, so you’ll need to weed through it to find the Q&A with Coach Nash.)