Brereton commits to Warriors
The signing period is underway and the Hawaii basketball team is off to an impressive start.
Hauns Brereton, a 6-foot-7, 210-pound forward with some famous ties to Hawaii, said he will sign a letter of intent to join the Warriors.
Brereton averaged 20.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game as a sophomore this past season at Western Nebraska Community College. He was a first-team all-district player, and a third-team junior college All-America selection.
“It just feels right for me to be in Hawaii,” Brereton said. “I’m excited with the direction the basketball program is going over there, and I’m excited that I’ll be able to play in front of my family.”
Brereton has Samoan ancestry from his mother’s side of the family, and his great-uncle is the well-known actor/entertainer Al Harrington. Brereton was born in California and attended high school in Tennessee. He said he has “a lot” of relatives who reside in Hawaii.
“There were a lot of factors, but one of the main ones was family,” he said.
Brereton made an official visit to Hawaii last month, and said he liked the enthusiasm of the team.
“What I saw was that Hawaii has some of the pieces to go to the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “I really feel like I can be another one of those pieces.”
Western Nebraska head coach Russ Beck noted that Brereton averaged 26.7 points and 7.4 rebounds per game during the final 14 games of the season, when the team made a run to the playoffs.
“He carried us,” Beck said. “As far as a forward who can score inside and out, and also get you rebounds on both ends (of the court), he’s as good as anybody I’ve seen in junior college in the last 10 years.”
Brereton also made official visits to Brigham Young and Tulane, and was also being recruited hard by Santa Clara.
Brereton (pronounced like bray-er-ton) played his freshman season at Northern Colorado, but received limited playing time and transferred to Western Nebraska for his sophomore season. He actually logged nine minutes of playing time on the Stan Sheriff Center court (but did not score) in Northern Colorado’s 81-76 win over Hawaii in 2009.
Brereton is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and he served a two-year mission in Taiwan after high school. He said a trip to China with the Warriors in August will be a nice bonus.
“I get to use some Mandarin Chinese again,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Brereton, who will have two seasons of eligibility at Hawaii, is also a standout student. He earned Big Sky Conference All-Academic honors during his one year at Northern Colorado.
Brereton said he will sign his official letter of intent on Wednesday.
He is the second known player to have made a solid commitment to the Warriors for this current signing period.
Dillon Biggs, a 6-7 forward at Dorsey High in Los Angeles, made his commitment to Hawaii in February. He is also expected to sign with the Warriors this week.
well worth staying up for. thanks dayton.
now if we could just land that point guard, the straw that stirs the drink.
This is fantastic news! Thanks for the scoop, Dayton, and for all the great work you do.
Good get. Needed an experienced forward to “try” replace Amis. Great student and character guy who will fill the role that Gib has for him well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_TvtARI0-4
Yes, I think this is an outstanding get. Hauns looks to be a student-athlete who can get the work done on the court and in the classroom. And hopefully the Hawaii Five-O connection with Uncle Al Harrington can help, too. Wouldn’t it be great to see some of the cast members sitting courtside? Or even better, making donations to the program?
I’m supposed to get an updated video clip from Western Nebraska, but haven’t received it yet. Will try to post if/when I get it.
With Brereton on board in addition to Gib’s other recruits, it’s gonna be good times at the Stanley for the next couple of seasons. Mahalo and welcome Hauns!
Great addition. Talented shotmaker who will fit well in this system and will space the court and open lanes for the slashers that are coming on board.
Hawaiians who watch Brereton’s high-school video posted above will see similarities to watching Micah Christiansen play high school basketball here.
What a huge get for this program.
Looks like another, SAVO.
Let’s hope we can sign a good D-1 point guard.With the players we have coming back and the players coming in a good point guard should make it very interesting next season.
He was a teammate of defensive specialist, Yahosh Bonner at UNC. Bonner (The 2009 Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic MVP and also LDS) completed his eligibility and became an assistant coach at WNCC. Brereton followed and flourished.
I followed his progress from time to time over the past season, and was interested to find out where he’d end up because he had the potential to get back to DI.
BYU offered him a scholarship but it looks like they couldn’t compete with his family ties in Hawaii. I’m sure it also didn’t hurt that three coaches at UH are LDS as well.
I’m glad he’s coming to Hawaii. Seems like a great fit any way you look at it.
LOOKS LIKE GIB DID IT AGAIN.. GREAT JOB GIB. ACCORDING TO REPORTS WE SNAGGED HAUNS FROM BYU.. HAUNS IS ANOTHER GREAT ADDITION TO WHAT LOOKS TO BE ONE OF IF NOT THE BEST RECRUITING IN THE WAC. HAUNS IF YOUR READING THIS, BE READY MY FRIEND. THIS TEAM AND THIS STATE IS COUNTING ON YOU. LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU SLASH DEFENSES AND SCORE AT WILL…
AND ONE MORE THING, I KEEP SEEING COMMENTS ON UH SIGNING A D1 POINT GUARD. DID YOU GUYS FORGET WE SIGNED GERRY BLAKES IN THE FALL PERIOD. A 6’3 PG FROM CALIFORNIA WHO MANY CONSIDER THE BEST POINT GUARD IN THE WEST… IF YOU ASK ME THIS IS THE BEST RECRUITING CLASS TO SIGN AT UH IN THE PAST DECADE.. KEEP IT GOING GIB…