GE Coleman isn’t quite sure what his 2016-17 men’s basketball team at the University of Hawaii at Hilo might do this season but he knows it is going to start hitting the floor running.
That comes Friday when the Vulcans open the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic at Brougham Pavilion on the Seattle Pacific University campus, playing the first game against Simon Fraser University.
The Clan is coming off one of its worst seasons, 2-24 a year ago, but is repositioned under first-year head coach Steve Hanson who has clearly decided on an up tempo approach. SFU (2-1), has played three exhibition games and shot 16 3-pointers in its first outing.
“We have to be ready for an up-and-down game,” Coleman said earlier in the week before the team flew to Seattle on Wednesday. “We want to be a team that pushes it, but when you haven’t played anybody you really don’t know what you have.”
Coleman’s restructured roster is led by holdovers Randan Berinobis a 6-foot-3 junior who has become an emotional leader and vital contributor on the boards and on defense, and 6-6 junior Darius Johnson-Wilson who has missed two of the last three years with injuries but is fully healthy and playing as well as he ever has.
“This is as comfortable as I’ve ever been starting a season here with the depth we have,” Coleman said after three seasons at UH-Hilo. “We have some pretty good size throughout, without having that big guy but I feel pretty good about how we should be able to contain penetration and rebound our positions better.
“What killed us last year was that guards and forwards got most of the rebound against us, I think we can get some of those this year and if we can rebound, we can run.
“We’ll find out right away,” he said, “because that will be a key against Simon Fraser.”
Berinobis averaged just 5.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game last year, but it was a season he grew into a full-time role as a starter. The only other starter returning is senior Parker Farris, the 6-4 long-range shooter who averaged 16 points a game and led the Pacific West Conference with 3.23-pointers made per game (77-195). Farris also led the conference in minutes played (36.8).
Uncertain about the availability of 6-6 junior Division I transfer Brian Ishola, who was still under concussion protocol earlier this week, Coleman said he would likely start 6-1 junior transfer (Peninsula Community College) Ryley Callaghan at point guard, Farris and the other guard, Berinobis and senior Ryan Reyes at the wing with Johnson-Wilsons in the middle.
Eric Wattree, a 6-3 freshman win from South Kitsap High School will play a lot, possibly from the first game. He averaged 25 points last year in the very competitive South Puget Sound League and played with Callaghan when Callaghan was a senior.
The intent is to get off to a good start, as it is for every team, but Coleman doesn’t spend time talk about last year’s 0-10 start that began at the same SPU tournament.
“Good or bad, it’s in the past, it isn’t us, it isn’t this team,” Coleman said. “You always think a couple of early wins can get you off to a good start, and, I don’t know, maybe it can, but it seems the thing that happens most is about perceptions.
“It could be good or bad, but based on practice, you get a certain feeling, like I think we can rebound our positions better,” he said. “Once you start playing you might find out you aren’t as good as you thought, or maybe you’re even better than you imagined.
“You have to play, then find out what you need to do to make the season successful.”
After Friday’s noon (HST) game, the Vulcans will play host Seattle Pacific Saturday at 4 p.m., HST.
