Webster-Chan transfer is official; more honors for Fotu
The transfer of skilled combo guard Negus Webster-Chan to the Hawai’i basketball team is official. The 6-foot-7 sophomore-to-be signed the necessary paperwork to join the Warriors for the 2013-14 season.
He recently completed his freshman season at Missouri, which was ranked in the Top 25 polls for much of the season and participated in the NCAA Tournament.
Below is the official announcement from the UH Media Relations Department. It also includes the official announcement of the departures of freshmen Manroop Clair and Ozren Pavlovic.
HONOLULU – University of Hawai`i men’s basketball coach Gib Arnold announced the addition of a multi-skilled guard in the late signing period as well as the departure of a pair of Rainbow Warriors. Negus Webster-Chan, a transfer from the University of Missouri has signed with Hawai’i, while freshmen Manroop Clair and Ozren Pavlovic have decided to leave the program.
Webster, a 6-7 guard and native of Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, played his freshman season for a Missouri squad that went 23-11 overall and 11-7 in its first season in the SEC. The Tigers lost to Colorado State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, a game in which Webster-Chan scored four points in 14 minutes of action off the bench.
For the season, he averaged 2.5 points and 2.0 rebounds, while appearing in 32 games with six starts. Webster-Chan recorded 12 points and five rebounds in his first career start versus VCU last November. One day earlier he contributed six points and six rebounds against 2013 national champion Louisville.
“Negus is an extremely skilled and athletic player who can play four positions,” Arnold said. “I’m thrilled to have a top 100-caliber player join our program and we expect great things from him. The future is very bright with Negus coming on board.”
A member of Canada’s U17 and U19 national teams, Webster-Chan was a teammate of fellow Canadian Clair at nationally ranked Huntington Prep in West Virginia where he developed into a highly-rated national recruit. He will sit out the 2013-14 season per NCAA transfer rules and will have three years of eligibility beginning in 2014-15. Webster-Chan joins early signees Stefan Jovanovic and Michael Thomas in this year’s UH recruiting class.
Meanwhile Clair, who completed his freshman season at UH in 2012-13, will transfer to Seattle University. The native of Burnaby, British Columbia played in 26 games in his first season of Division I basketball, while earning six starts at the point. Clair averaged 2.7 ppg and 1.2 apg while playing 11.5 minutes per game. He enjoyed his best game of the season when he posted 15 points and five assists in a win over East Tennessee State in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
“I really appreciate all that UH and the coaching staff has done for me,” Clair said. “I had a great experience here and learned a lot. Coach Gib played a big part in my development, but I just needed to be closer to home and to my family.”
Fellow freshman Pavlovic will also depart UH after one season to pursue a pro career. The native of Zagreb, Croatia played in 22 games as a Rainbow Warrior and averaged 2.7 ppg and 1.4 rpg. Among Pavlovic’s highlights was 13-point, four-assist performance in a crucial conference win over Pacific.
“I really enjoyed my time here in Hawai’i,” Pavlovic said. “After receiving an offer from a pro team, I decided to take advantage of it. Hawai’i will always be a special place to me. I want to thank my coaches, teammates and fans for all the support I was given here.”
2013-14 Recruiting Class
Stefan Jovanovic, 6-10, 235, C, Fr., Belgrade, Serbia., Bishop Montgomery High School
Michael Thomas, 6-6, 200, F, Fr., Woodland Hills, Calif., El Camino Real, High School
Negus Webster-Chan, 6-7, 200, G, So., Scarborough, Ontario, Huntington (West Va.) Prep
— — — — —
FOTU RECEIVES FRESHMAN HONOR
Hawai’i forward Isaac Fotu was one of 21 players named to the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Freshman All-America Team this week.
CLICK HERE TO LINK TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT
Fotu, a 6-foot-8 true freshman from New Zealand, averaged 10.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, and led the Warriors with a .623 field goal percentage.
“It gives me a lot of confidence, awards like this,” he said. “I don’t think I reached my potential at all last season, so this will be a good thing going into next season.”
He was previously named the Big West Conference co-Freshman of the Year. Here is a video interview after he received news of the CollegeInsider.com honor:
nice pick up.
did anyone else do a double take and thought that webster-chan was , ummm. bobby nash?
Welcome NWC and Congratulations to @lfotu42. These two will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
with nevels that makes 13 scholies…we still bringing em in?
Congrats Mr. Fotu on the MidMajor Freshman All-American Team.
Welcome aboard Mr. Webster-Chan, I got ants in my pants wanting to see play for the University of Hawaii but we’ll have to wait a year as it is what it is. Thank you for signing up to be a UH Warrior!
maybe you can enroll in UH Summer School and play in the Manoa Summer League. Think you’d fill up the gym with spectators
Yeah, I’ve mentioned that before he looking like Bobby. btw, Bobby is part Chinese too
Seriously can’t wait to see this kid in action. He will guide UH to championships! Along with the other signee’s this year. The future looks bright!
Still got to see Coach grow as Coach thought. It’s to be seen
Well deserved award for Isaac. Congrats. I’m sure his outstanding performance in the CIT helped his cause. Already looking forward to his growth for next year and beyond. He has a chance to shatter records and garner even more awards.
al:
No, actually 12 scholarships accounted for. Still one more available. That is why PG Quincy Smith is making visit to UH this Fri. April 19 2013. Also, if you check out Gib’s last recruiting video update interview, he mentioned bringing in a few more athletes including targeting Bigs.
So, possiblility, as of now, for another athlete to join team.
gib better make sure he’s the coach come 2014-2015 season
Gib has improved as a coach quite a bit since he took over. Like the freshmen players, Gib was pretty green during his first couple seasons. He’s still got a lot of room to improve on the X’s & O’s, but I think his in-game managing is much better. Time out management has been pretty good.
Substitutions and setting the rotation wasn’t good last year. Part of it was Gib not being decisive, but the bigger reason was that the players were very inconsistent, especially the seniors. Gib was counting on Vander, Hauns, and Tavita to lead the team, but they all were really inconsistent. Freshman are expected to be inconsistent, but the seniors need to be steady and reliable, but weren’t.
I actually liked the way Gib coached in his first year. We grinded out many wins through his defensive schemes, which allowed us to beat better teams. He also did a good job getting his team to bounce back from adversity after a near collapse in the middle of the season following home losses to Idaho and Boise.
Last year was a different story. I think Shaq Stokes leaving hurt the team tremendously. Vander’s and Spearman’s injuries hurt a lot as well. As a result, he had a tough time managing his lineups. But the things that bothered me the most were the double digit blow outs against teams in the Big West we should have been beating (or at least staying competitive with). I guess I was expecting more consistency.
With that said, I’m more upbeat for next year after our recent commits. It looks like we may actually have the personnel to defend and keep up with Big West guards. I’d still like to see a grind it out game with solid man-to-man defense as Gib implemented in his first year (especially on the road).
Gib has landed his 2nd Top 100 recruit in NWC. Although is wasn’t straight out of HS, its a big step forward in the future of the BB program. I believe Joston Thomas was also a top 100 HS player but didn’t have the grades to make a big program. Joston had great talent but was a tweener on size and clearly questionable between the ears.
UH is getting more athletic each year, which is what you need in the Big West. What’s great is that these athletes are tall… Valdes is 6’5″, Thomas is 6’6″, NWC is 6’7″.
At first, Gib’s recruiting focus was getting big men. The Big West’s style of play, to a certain degree, I think has forced Gib to change the type of players he goes after. UH really struggled to cover the three point line vs the smaller quicker lineups. Now UH is getting quicker, but keeping the height.
UH has the kind of roster that could really lock down on defensively vs The Big West in 2014-15.
I biggest thing I want to see UH improve on is turning defense to offense. Because UH wasn’t athletic enough to cover the smaller BW guards, UH didn’t force many turnovers, which subsequently led to few fast break opportunities. Tavita almost always slowed the pace to run offense, but in doing so, it allowed the defense to set up and cram the paint. Also UH’s PGs were terrible at running the break… Poor Spacing, vision, pass accuracy and anticipation led to way too many botched fast break opportunities. Vander had a habit of wanting to dribble the ball up court during most the season (believe me, it drives coaches crazy when bigs try to dribble down the court).
I think with Shamburger being a more well rounded offensive PG, I think we see UH get more easy fast break points next year. You gotta take advantage when the defense isn’t set and try get a few cheap buckets.
Lookin’ good.:)
Cant wait to midnight madness come October , 6 mos. to go!
FOR Our Mathematicians…
COACH GIB: on The Animals Radio Show Right Now
(Thank You Gary for asking directly), says,
“We have TWO Scholarships left to offer…
and we should wrap that up within a week…”
i’m presuming that is Nevels Plus One, likely Quincy…
THAT COUNT Was Clearly WITH DAVIS Returning:
“We fully expect Davis back, he Has Pro Opportunities but in our post-season discussion he clearly wants to have a Great Senior Season and i think he can help us a lot… we expect him back…”
Eagle:
You got it right. Something known for awhile now. Negus Webster-Chan got one scholie. Garrett Nevels will get the second. And maybe Quincy Smith gets the third.
Reason why? Last year , although 13 scholarships are offered per year for MBB NCAA DI, one was withheld. Therefore, the extra scholarship to give, including the two vacated by Ozren and Manroop, who will do just fine in their future endeavors. They are nice guys, and it will benefit themeselves, and their familes will love their being very close to home and heart!
We shall see. Supposedly, a couple of athletes are visiting this weekend starting tomorrow, April 19 2013, . By next week we should know who commits for that last one scholie. I hope Davis comes, back. he is the funny guy, the warmth and heart of the team, keeping coaches and team in a lighthearted mood. Good guy, Davis, mentored by the Amis!!
😀
without Davis, I don’t think there’s someone to carry on Da Beast films. Bill Amis –> Davis Rozitis –>
they need to find someone to carry on the tradition
i believe that mantle is passed to the ʻshy oneʻ, who rather have the camera in his own hands so he can be sure heʻs in back of the camera instead of in front of the lens … Froductions…
Although to Do His Duty, and Help the Team maximize its Wins, he Will Become/BE A Shooting Star (and rebounding, Blocking, Defensive Star as well) and Get Mucho Camera Time…
Interesting and insightful radio interview with Gib on Animals show, as Eagle alluded to. The comings and goings of freshman. It is a long ways from home for some. UH with Gib is going that direction, get the best HS freshman, augmented by JC , and DI transfers. Mentioned , how UH , has benefitted from DI transfers, in Jace, Hauns, Christian, Davis, and Spearman. Jace, Hauns, Christian and Spearman were starters at previous DI schools.
I also Appreciated how Gib gets Hawaii, the culture, the surf, the lifestyle, the people. He moved here when he was 15, of course All State in HS BB at Punahou. And his love affair for Islands and Hawaii, and its people never died. Now , he has Davis, Standhardinger, Spearman, Jawato, Jefferson, Harper, Fotu, who had experience playing together for 1 BWC season. Great advantage, the continuity, even though 2 players went back home.
And Dressler, Enos, Valdes, Shamburger as 1 year RS veterans, returning to help team for next season. That is, if roster holds true, 11 guys who practiced together in UH MBB system returning, I don’t remember that happening in a long, long time at UH. We just remember guys that left. For the possible 11 returnees and RS’s and the possible 5 total transfers and new freshman, hope they all have a great 2013-14 season.
Gib is doing something right. Hope Ben Jay notices that positive. To STILL HAVE THIS MUCH INTEREST IN UH MBB at this time, off season. it says volumes for what coach Arnold had done. Hope, Gib amps up his coaching tactic, which I think he will, and the new guys will have great Chemistry with the returnees, and from Nov 2013 first game, UH can go on a nice winning streak before, going for the NCAA invite by winning the BWC tourney title in 2014 March!!
😀 Gib, can’t wait for summer workouts with new guys and possibly as pocho says seeing the new guys in summer league at Manoa Gym!!
😀
Few Things Enhance a Coachʻs Skill, Intelligence and Game Smarts as much as Improved Talent…
Most agree the Incoming Players and Redshirts bring much upside and potential fot immediate help;
One Other Normally Huge Aspect is RETURNING Talent, Sktll and Experience as ʻplayʻ alluded to;
Returning Talent Improving is often the Biggest Factor in Team Stability and Improved “Chemistry”
GOT TO Get Jamie Smithʻs Contract Moving on Upper Campus — Student/AD/ Fan Tweet Campaign?
Heyy guys is the team that Issac made the all american team rookie team are all the teams from america.