Christian Standhardinger will have a full year to get better with the Hawaii basketball team.
He’s already pretty good.
“I think I will work on my ball-handling, on my defense, on my shot, pretty much a lot of things,” he said. “But the most important things to work on for me are defense, and my left hand, and my ball-handling.”
Standhardinger, a 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward, will have to sit out the 2011-12 season due to NCAA transfer rules. He played last season at Nebraska, where he averaged 9.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in just 17 minutes per game as a sophomore.
He will be allowed to practice and workout with the Warriors this season, but cannot play in any games. He will be a junior when the 2012-13 season starts.
Standhardinger was considered one of the top prospects in Germany prior to signing with Nebraska
During Standhardinger’s freshman season at Nebraska, Walter Roese was an assistant coach there. Roese was an associate coach with the Warriors last season, but recently announced his resignation.
Standhardinger said he is still happy with his decision to transfer to Hawaii, even though it was Roese who helped recruit him here.
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“I knew Coach Water was here and so I wanted to come here … but I still think it was the right decision,” Standhardinger said. “I worked already with the other coaches, and it seems like a good group on a good team.”
Standhardinger was born and raised in Germany, and is fluent in both English and German. His mother is originally from the Philippines, so he also understands a little bit of Tagalog.
“There are a lot of Filipino people here, I am happy about that,” he said.