More help on defense and consistent rebounding presence is on the way in the opinion of University of Hawaii at Hilo men’s basketball coach GE Coleman.
Among the most undersized teams in the Pacific West Conference last year, thanks to an early departure to professional basketball of a returning center and a series of injuries, Coleman’s off-season efforts have been designed to send a bigger, more athletic team into the 2016-17 season.
Donavan Taylor, a 6-foot-3 wing player from the highly successful Chaffey Community College program in California, recently had his letter of intent to attend UHH approved and is expected to be on hand in August.
“We could have really used someone like him last year,” Coleman said Thursday, “I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do when he comes in here ready to compete.
“This is someone who is, above all else, a perimeter defender and a rebounder who can slash to the hoop,” Coleman said. “Those were maybe our two weakest areas last year, so we should be a different kind of team.”
Taylor, from Compton, Calif., started for the Panthers, a perennial playoff team in Foothills Conference, which considers itself the toughest JC basketball conference in the country. Chaffey (25-7 and 9-1 in conference), reached the California state finals again last year, which it also did in 2014. Chaffey has won the conference championship six times in coach Jeff Klein’s 14 years as coach.
Taylor averaged 9 points and just under 7 rebounds per game for Chaffey in his sophomore season.
“He will help,” Coleman said, “and it’s really good to get a kid out of (Chaffey), because every year, their starters usually all go D1. I don’t know how it will all fit together just yet, we’re still working on some guys, but I know the competition is going to take a big step next year when we practice.”
When he closed out the season, Coleman told all the returning players that “nothing is guaranteed” for next year, including not just a starting position, but even a spot on the roster.
“The competition is going to be up, way up,” the coach said. “These guys are going to have work all summer and get ready for some battles because it will be competition they haven’t been involved in before.”
Coleman still plans to sign three more players, all of them with the kind of height the team lacked a year ago.
His recruiting season opened with the signing of Ryley Callaghan, a 6-foot-1 point guard from South Kitsap High School and Peninsula Community College in Washington state.
The Vulcans were 9-15 last season, 9-11 in the PWC, after starting the season 0-9. The team made a late rush and had a chance to get to the playoffs going into the season’s final game.
