Recruits good sign for UH

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

The early signing period for college basketball is supposed to be a time for blue-chip high school prospects and top junior college players to sign letters of intent with NCAA Division I programs.

By tomorrow, the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team will have received three of its four available letters of intent for the 2003-04 season.

Can it be true?

"It tells you that the program is being recognized now," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "The better players all sign early and we feel like we can be in the mix for some of those players with the way our program is going now."

UH received official letters of intent yesterday from Iolani School senior Bobby Nash and Salt Lake Community College (Utah) sophomore Jeff Blackett.

A third player, point guard Logan Lee from South Plains College (Texas), has committed to Hawai'i and will fax his letter to UH tomorrow.

"These guys can lead to other guys (signing) in the future," Wallace said. "The early signings get on TV and get Internet play, so word of your program gets out."

Nash, a 6-foot-6 wing player, was listed as a top 100 high school prospect by several recruiting publications.

Blackett, a 6-8 forward, is averaging 17 points and 5.6 rebounds for Salt Lake. He scored 31 in a victory last Sunday.

"He got off to a slow start, but he's starting to play like the Jeff we know," Salt Lake head coach Norm Parrish said.

• Standard English: The coaches and media in the Western Athletic Conference agree on something — UH's Carl English is the best player in the conference right now.

English, a 6-5 junior guard, was picked by the media as the Preseason WAC Player of the Year yesterday. He received the same honor from the coaches two weeks ago.

The media and coaches also predicted the same order for the top four teams: Tulsa, Hawai'i, Louisiana Tech and Nevada.

SMU guard Bryan Hopkins was picked as Newcomer of the Year.