With an ambitious recruiting effort and the return of its leading scorer, the University of Hawaii basketball team is picked to finish third in the 11-team Big West this season, according to polling of the league coaches.
After finishing ninth last season and missing the league’s postseason tournament for the first time in Eran Ganot’s 10 years as head coach, the Rainbow Warriors added eight transfers and a freshman during the offseason. Gytis Nemeiksa, who led the ’Bows in scoring last season, received a waiver for an extra season.
“I think everyone likes to see polls,” associate head coach Brad Davidson said. “It seems you’ve done a good job recruiting, and then you have to put a team together, and get them to jell, and go for the No. 1 spot.”
UC Irvine earned the top position by receiving eight first-place votes and 98 points. UC Santa Barbara is second with three No. 1 votes and 93 points. UH is third with 76 points.
“Nobody knows who anybody has yet, really,” Davidson said. “We look at the transfer portal, and a lot of teams change now in college basketball. I think the preseason rankings are even less predictive than what they’ve been before.”
The ’Bows will get their first test with Saturday’s exhibition against Pomona-Pitzer at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. There is no fee for admission or parking.
“We’re trying to see how far we are down the road with putting everything in,” Davidson said. “We’ve got a lot of new guys. These things are important. These games are important early. The biggest thing you get from this is good film to show the guys. We can improve from there.”
Isaac “Big Fish” Johnson, a 7-foot transfer from Utah State, has shown an outside-scoring touch during fall training. Along with senior Harry Rouhliadeff and Nemeikas, according to Davidson, “we’ll see a lot of (outside) shooting from our bigs this year.”
Tanner Cuff, a 6-7 transfer from Evansville, is a point guard who can post up and shoot from the perimeter. “He’s more of a downhill guy,” Davidson said. “Having the shooting from the bigs, hopefully it will all complement each other. We’re going to use (Cuff’s) skills to the best of his ability.”
Quandre “Dre” Bullock, a 6-6 wing with a 46-inch vertical jump, “is the best athlete we’ve had in my time here,” Davidson, who is entering his fifth season with UH, said of the South Dakota transfer.
“It’ll be fun once he finds out where he fits into the offensive system and how we can use him a little more.”
At the two and three positions, Davidson said, “he can play in a pick-and-roll, he can shoot. Once he gets downhill, if he beats someone off the dribble, the five man better look out as he comes to help because (Bullock) gets on the rim very quickly and really tries to dunk it when he goes downhill.”
Davidson said Bullock’s length and quickness are key as an on-ball defender.
“He can disrupt the offense before it gets started by getting deflections and the way he moves around the floor,” Davidson said.
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