Rainbows give two basketball players their release
| • | Next season's Rainbows |
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Hawai'i men's basketball team officially welcomed one player but waved goodbye to two others yesterday.
Point guards David "Jeep" Hilton and Ricky Terrell requested — and received — releases from the Rainbows yesterday.
"It was their idea; what they wanted to do," Hawai'i coach Riley Wallace said. "They were both good kids. I think they just felt like their (style of) games didn't fit in with what we like to do."
Hilton, a 5-foot-11 freshman from New York, started 18 games in the middle of last season, finishing with averages of 2.3 points and 2.7 assists per game. After spraining an ankle in February, he saw limited action in just one of the Rainbows' final nine games.
Terrell, a 6-3 junior from Los Angeles, started one game last season — on opening night. As the season progressed, his playing time dwindled. He finished with an average of 1.7 points and one assist per game, and did not make the travel roster for the Rainbows' memorable run to the Western Athletic Conference Tournament championship and subsequent appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Their departures came on the day that Hawai'i completed its recruiting season with the signing of 6-8, 220-pound forward Paul Jesinskis out of Skyline College (Calif.).
Although the departures of Hilton and Terrell created two scholarship openings, Wallace said: "We feel like we've filled our needs, so we're not going to be desperate and try to sign somebody else right away."
The Rainbows have already signed four recruits: Jesinskis, 6-9 forward LucArthur Vebobe, 6-8 forward Nkerunem "Tony" Akpan, and 6-4 point guard Mark Campbell. Under NCAA rules, they can sign only one more recruit this season, meaning next season's roster will fall at least one scholarship short of the maximum 13 allowed per team. Counting the four recruits, the Rainbows currently have 11 scholarship players.
"We have one (scholarship) open for this year, and we'll hold it open," Wallace said. "If we can get someone with size or another really good guard, we'll fill it. Having a scholarship open like that is good in case a player wants to transfer in (to Hawai'i)."
Campbell will be the only true point guard on next season's roster. However, Wallace said that does not necessarily mean the starting position is his. At the end of last season, when the Rainbows won seven of nine games, junior Mike McIntyre and freshman Carl English rotated at the position..
"I don't have a problem with that," Wallace said. "They showed that they could do it."
In fact, Wallace said there is no guaranteed starter on the roster, not even first-team All-WAC guard Predrag Savovic.
"He's got his work cut out for him, too," Wallace said. "We have so many interchangeable parts, guys will be competing for every position."
The only position with limited depth will be center. At 6-10, Haim Shimonovich will be the team's only true center and the tallest player on the roster.
"With the game we're playing, I think we have enough size," Wallace said. "We have to improve our (post) defense a little bit with quickness, but offensively, we could create a lot of problems for teams."
Even if the Rainbows enter next season with 11 scholarship players, Wallace is confident that they can maintain the momentum created at the end of last season.
"We were playing eight guys 20 minutes or more at the end of last season," he said. "Looking at (next season), we'll have 11 guys battling for that kind of playing time. It's a good situation to be in."
Rainbow Summer Camp: Applications are being accepted for the 2001 UH Rainbow Men's Basketball Summer Camp.
The camp is open to boys and girls ages 5 through those that are high school seniors. Instruction will be provided by head coach Riley Wallace and his assistants, along with current and former Rainbows.
The first session will be held June 8-10; the second is scheduled for June 11-13. Both sessions will be held from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. each day at the UH athletic complex.
Entry fee is $150 per child per session. For information or applications, call the UH basketball office at 956-6501.
Next season's Rainbows
According to coach Riley Wallace, there are no guaranteed starters for next season's Hawai'i men's basketball team, with at least three players battling at each position. Here are the players he said are being considered (listed in alphabetical order):
Point guard—Mark Campbell, Carl English, Mike McIntyre.
Shooting guard—English, McIntyre, Predrag Savovic.
Small forward—Mindaugas Burneika, English, Paul Jesinskis, McIntyre, Bosko Radovic, Savovic, LucArthur Vebobe.
Power forward—Nkerunem "Tony" Akpan, Burneika, Jesinskis, Phil Martin, Radovic, Vebobe.
Center—Akpan, Burneika, Jesinskis, Martin, Radovic, Haim Shimonovich.
