Rainbows getting good trade value
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Columnist
Just think of Julian Sensley as "the player-to-be-named-later" for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team.
After Nkeruwem "Tony" Akpan's stunning departure last month to devote himself to football, there was considerable gnashing of the teeth over his exit and the depth of the hole it portended for the Rainbow Warriors.
For not only was Akpan the first man off the bench for the Rainbows last season, at 6 feet, 8 inches, 230 pounds, he had also come to fill a high-need area. A late convert to basketball after growing up a soccer player in his native Nigeria, Akpan was just starting to make a breakthrough when he abruptly decided to chase quarterbacks instead of rebounds.
Where the Rainbows would find a capable replacement in the 11th hour of recruiting suddenly became a concern for a team that was already facing the likely departure of its leading scorer, Carl English, with a year of eligibility remaining.
Until Monday, that was. That's when an athletic department fax machine ground out the answer to the Rainbows' concerns, if not their prayers. That's when formal notification was received from the University of San Francisco releasing Sensley, a former Kalaheo High star and one of this year's most highly touted junior college performers, from an earlier commitment to the Dons.
With yesterday's announcement by Sensley and UH that he expects to enroll at Manoa in the fall, not only do the Rainbows appear to have filled a critical need, they may have succeeded in upgrading the forward position in both the near and long term.
In Sensley, they should be able to slide into the starting lineup at small forward a 6-foot-9, 240 pounder who brings some ready-to-go ability. What's more, if the well-traveled Sensley takes care of business in summer school, he would come to UH with three years of eligibility commencing immediately.
"He's a heckuva 'get' for them, especially at this date," said Mike Mitchell, who runs the Midwest Scouting Service, which follows junior college players nationwide. Mitchell said he ranked Sensley, who averaged 13.4 points and 7.8 rebounds as a freshman for Los Angeles City College, a "Top 5 player" nationally regardless of position.
It will become an even more providential addition should English, who has until June 19 to pull his name out of consideration for the NBA Draft, choose to return.
Although nobody knew it at the time, it was Akpan's departure, which will count against football's 85-man scholarship limit, that has now opened up both a basketball scholarship opportunity and a hopeful new world of possibilities for the Rainbows.
Perhaps not since the mid-1970s when Jimmie Baker, who would go on to be a first-round ABA draft pick, came to UH from Nevada-Las Vegas and Boyd Batts shortly thereafter went from MŒnoa to UNLV, has a roundabout "trade" worked so well for the Rainbows.
And, to think the Rainbows got Sensley as what amounts to be the player-to-be-named-later in this latest deal.
