Posted on: Sunday, April 18, 2004

UH hopes postman cometh

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Chris Botez is a 7-foot, 230-pound community college center, but for University of Hawai'i basketball fans it might be better to think of him in terms of being one potentially very big exclamation point.

By several accounts, the Rainbow Warriors are poised to have one of their best recruiting years. We're even told that two thirds of the pieces — Matt Gibson, a shooting guard, and Matt Gipson, a forward — are already in place, for the 2004-'05 season, their letters of intent signed, sealed and delivered.

That accounts for some of the cheers emanating from Manoa on Wednesday, the first day that written commitments could be made in the spring.

The third component, the one not named Matt, and the critical one in this equation, is the center. And, that's where Botez, billed as an athletic and able big man, comes in. Or, at least where the Rainbows hope he will.

Botez is scheduled to visit UH this weekend and, according to David Abderhalden, his coach at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Ore., "will probably make a decision by Wednesday" between Hawai'i and Boise State.

Botez has been a two-year starter and all-conference pick in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges, the league produced guards Michael Kuebler and Mark Campbell, mainstays in UH's run of four consecutive post-seasons.

What Botez has done there — and how he has gone about it — suggests why he is the man the Rainbows want to replace the departing Haim Shimonovich, and why they've had their eye on him for a year.

Certainly the picture his coach, Abderhalden, and opponents paint makes it seem that way. "Wiry-strong, athletic, team-oriented... he's 7 feet and runs the floor more like he's 6-foot-4 or 6-5," Abderhalden said.

Cliff Wegner, coach at rival Clackamas said, "He's an excellent passer who sees the floor very well and would fit in great with how they (the Rainbows) work out of the high post."

Botez averaged four blocked shots a game — "and probably forced teams to change 10 times as many (shots)," Abderhalden said. Said Wegner: "He can give UH a (shot-blocking) presence their teams haven't had for a few years."

The loss of five seniors — including a center and two forwards — and the availability of just three scholarships under the NCAA's so-called "5-and-8 rule" has put a premium on who the Rainbows recruit this year and given them little room for error.

Between who they have coming back and who they have just signed on, the Rainbows aren't lacking much to extend their run. But because they are without a center, means they have the biggest piece still to go.

And Botez can be that huge exclamation point.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.