Bigger is better. ADVERTISING Bigger is better. It’s a pretty simple concept in the game of basketball and it’s one University of Hawaii at Hilo coach GE Coleman has taken to heart in gathering the components for his fourth Vulcans
Bigger is better.
It’s a pretty simple concept in the game of basketball and it’s one University of Hawaii at Hilo coach GE Coleman has taken to heart in gathering the components for his fourth Vulcans team this fall.
His emphasis on improving the length of the squad took another step Monday when Coleman was able to announce the conclusion of necessary paperwork that brings Brian Ishola, a 6-foot-6 junior-to-be from North Dakota State University, a Division I program with a successful recent past.
“Brian is the kind of player we want for our system,” said Coleman in a phone interview from an airport, waiting for a flight to see more players. “They have a lot of talent there and he decided after talking with his coach that it would be best for him to play his final two years somewhere else.
“This is a player from a good high mid-major program who should be able to come in and contribute right away for us,” he said. “He’s a junior, but a young junior, he’s only 19 and I can see him playing multiple positions for us.”
Ishola, son of two Nigerian parents — mom is a pharmacist, dad is an accountant — was born in the United States and is a kinesiology major who visited campus a couple weeks ago before finalizing his decision.
“It’s a relief to have it behind me and to be looking ahead to my new team,” Ishola said Monday from his parents home in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. “I did talk to my coach (David Richman), and it just seemed like my situation might not change much in these last two years so after some discussions with my family, we all made the decision to look around.”
North Dakota State plays a deliberate offense with an emphasis on defense that has been successful in Richman’s first two seasons. A year ago, his first at NDSU, Richman was the most successful first-year head coach in Division I, earning a 23-10 record, regular season and conference championships in the Summit League, and an invitation to the NCAA tournament where the Bison dropped an 86-76 first round game to Gonzaga in Seattle.
Last year, the Bison were 20-13 and 8-8 in conference.
“I’m looking forward to this, definitely,” Ishola said, “I’m more used to playing with my athleticism, pushing the ball up the floor hard on offense, trapping and pressing on defense.”
It remains to be seen how much the Vulcans might press and trap in the approaching season. It was something Coleman avoided last year because of his team’s lack of height. With a bigger team throughout the lineup, some of those defensive tactics may change.
“We were limited in what we could do last year because of our lack of size on the floor,” Coleman said. “Now, I can envision putting a lineup out there that would start at 6-1 with (guard) Ryley Callaghan and then go 6-3, 6-4 and 6-6 at the rest of the spots, depending on who’s on the floor at a given time.
“Brian is the kind of player who fits our system so well because he can guard anyone from 1-to-5 (point guard to center), and he can play offensively all over the floor.
“There will be times when we will be able to be bigger than our opponents, throughout the lineup,” he said, “that will be a nice change.”
Ishola is the fourth recruit Coleman has brought to UH Hilo in the offseason, including Callaghan (6-1,point guard, Peninsula Community College), Eric Wattree (6-3 wing teammate of Callaghan’s at Peninsula), and Donavan Taylor (6-3, guard Chaffey Community College).
Coleman is still looking for more. He was flying to Utah on Monday afternoon to see a high school player he has never seen but may fit in, then he goes to Eugene, Ore., to watch some players in an AAU tournament, and then he’s off to Las Vegas for another tournament July 20-24. He will be back for basketball camps in Hilo fromJuly 26-29.
He would like to get “at least one more,” player for the upcoming season, but the school’s funding issues may limit him to one more, at most.
