UPDATED: Green signs official letter of intent with Hawai’i
It’s now official, Leland Green has signed his National Letter of Intent to play for the University of Hawai’i basketball team next season.
Green, a 6-foot-3 guard, recently completed a standout senior season at Redondo Union High School in California, and will be a freshman at UH during the 2016-17 season.
Green signed his letter of intent at a ceremony at Redondo Union on April 13, which is the first day of the regular signing period.
In the official announcement from UH, head coach Eran Ganot said: “Leland comes from a winning program, he is a strong physical guard who can play and guard multiple positions. More than basketball he exudes the type of young man we want representing our program and state. He has a tremendous work ethic and comes from a loving family. We feel he will fit in right away at UH.”
Green averaged 14.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game during his recently completed senior season at Redondo Union. He was a first-team All-California Interscholastic Federation selection.
“It wasn’t really a difficult decision,” Green said of choosing to play for the Warriors. “I feel like Hawai’i is a place that will help me on and off the court, with the coaching staff that they have. I know that we’ll be playing a lot of games in California, so my family will be able to watch me play. And just the fact that they have so many great people in Hawai’i, that was a big thing.”
Green committed to play for the Warriors two weeks ago, and made an official visit to Oahu last weekend.
“That was my first time to Hawai’i, and I got to hang out with the team and the coaches and everybody was great,” said Green, who was also considering Southern Utah. “It really got me excited to come back in the summer and get ready as soon as possible.”
Green said the recent news of the early departures of four Hawai’i players, and the possible postseason ban for the 2016-17 season did not affect his decision.
“I wasn’t too worried about that,” he said. “We’ll have a young team and we’ll get a lot of preparation for bigger games in the future. Even if we don’t get to go to the (NCAA) tournament this season coming up, we’ll definitely be preparing a young team to get there the next year.”
Green played club basketball with guard Drew Buggs, who signed with Hawai’i during the early signing period in November. They were in the same backcourt for Earl Watson Elite, which is considered one of the top summer programs on the West Coast.
“Leland is a huge get for Hawai’i,” Earl Watson Elite coach Ryan Silver said. “He’s a high-level athlete who can play on or off the ball. The great thing is, he and Drew are similar in that both can play either position. When we had them on the court together, the positions didn’t really matter because they know how to play the game. With their athleticism and length, they were a terror together in the backcourt.”
Green is the third recruit to join the program for the 2016-17 season. Buggs and Australian point guard Matt Owies signed in November.
Green said he plans to enroll in summer classes at UH in July. One of his senior classmates at Redondo Union is Norene Iosia, who signed to play with the UH women’s volleyball team.
(Photos courtesy Green family)
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Here is the official announcement from www.hawaiiathletics.com …
HONOLULU – University of Hawai’i men’s basketball head coach Eran Ganot announced the signing of Leland Green, a 6-foot-3 guard from Redondo Union High School in California.
Green averaged 14.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.7 steals per game during his recently completed senior season and earned all-CIF Open Division first team honors for the second time. He helped his squad to a 28-7 record; a No. 4 statewide ranking; and a spot in the CIF Division I Southern Regional finals.
Green, a three-time Bay League Most Valuable Player, is listed No. 20 (247Sports) and No. 30 (ESPN) in rankings of the state of California’s top prospects.
“Leland comes from a winning program, he is a strong physical guard who can play and guard multiple positions,” Ganot said. “More than basketball he exudes the type of young man we want representing our program and state. He has a tremendous work ethic and comes from a loving family. We feel he will fit in right away at UH.”
Green, a native of Redondo Beach, Calif., picked UH over Cincinnati, Long Beach State, and Loyola Marymount. The co-MVP of the 2014 Tarkanian Classic was teammates with UH early period signee Drew Buggs for the Earl Watson Elite AAU squad, of which he was a part of since the sixth grade.
Among UH’s other 2016-17 signees is guard Matthew Owies of Melbourne, Australia.
2016-17 Signees
Name, Pos, Ht., Wt., Hometown (High School)
Drew Buggs, G, 6-2, 175, Long Beach, Calif. (Long Beach Poly HS)
Leland Green, G, 6-3, 185, Redondo Beach, Calif. (Redondo Union HS)
Matthew Owies, G, 6-0, 185, Melbourne, Australia (St. Kevin’s College)
Sweet pickup for the bows!
Think this is an excellent recruit !
Go Bows !
Winner winner…. Welcome to da ohana LG!!! Can’t wait to see this new team in action
#GoBows! #ProtectDaHale
Glad to see that Leland signed. I agree that he is a big time pick up for us. Owies, Buggs and Green is a great backcourt group. Now let’s see what big we can pull in. All the signees seem very solid on and off the court.
Nice! excited we got him
Nice article. Hawaii fans should thank maybe some of Zack,Brocke, Sheriff, Jack, Mike and Jakob for hanging out with Leland on his trip. Or maybe some of the others. But those are the only ones remaining on the team for next year.
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Imposters, etc. have a more difficult time to post on this site now, i think.
That’s encouraging news and Leland appears to be a good student-athlete. With the disappointing news that Stef and Niko leaving, I was looking forward to more positive news. I hope we can sign two bigs soon, as we need to complement our existing roster. Most of all, I hope Eran is able to get rid of the “doubters” of the team going forward.
Welcome to paradise Mr. Leland Green.
Hawaii proud of your 3* rating as well!
Loss of guards . Seniors and transfers. Coach Ganot staff good job signing good young guards. Welcome Leland! I think forward and post player next signees. Lot available around world. Look forward. By junior year. Team will be their again NCAA bid or even sooner!
Yep, revisited some of his latest highlights. He has a D1 ready body. Really getting excited about recruiting. Wait wait wait.
We just signed UH’s all time best scorer… just my bold prediction which will come true. Green is mean!
Islandman, you spoke too soon about imposters not loitering this site… “post up” looks like someone we all now… Gosh, what kind of a person would go to all kinds of trouble creating “fake” names just to splatter his random thoughts and post negativity? That kind of person needs counseling.
njacinto… i think an imposter can’t use someone else’s screen name now. As far as using multiple screen names, someone would have to register each time and do something.
Welcome Lee Green!
I think Great that This Backcourt Knows They Grow Together
AND Already Know How to Play Together
Either on The Same Team
OR Leading A National ‘All-Star’ Type Team….
The Partnership could (should) help
Keep them together, too
This Program — As Far from ‘Home’ as could be
Used to Suffer a lot of freshman Homesickness;
Not Returning for Sophomore Year
But Recruiting Cali
They Get 4-5 Trips/Weeks Home in a Season…
‘Bows & Staff
Keep Buildin’
Bring Your Friends
Build New Friendships
IN A Great Place & Program
njacinto, we know that he is a sick man and has a very distinct way of writing run on sentences. No matter how many names he uses it’s very easy to figure out who he is.
Chris Beard was the new coach at UNLV for less than 3 weeks, than became HC at Texas Tech today. He had to pay a $1 million buyout to UNLV. Tubby Smith had left Texas Tech to coach at Memphis on Thursday.
Islandman no offense but what does that have to do with Hawaii basketball??? LOL
We post things having to do with basketball, we played Texas Tech last season and Q’a brother used to play at UNLV.
Also shows that coaches can leave in an instant, including ours, whether football or basketball.
I hope the coaches do not give up on Will Mcdowell-white, it sounds like Indiana and Michigan State are backing off and waiting for better options. Do not let him go to FresNeck state.
Lets stick to Hawaii basketball, everyone knows a bout the beard situation, it’s all over the internet, no need to bring it here as well.
You are not a moderator.
Islandman, did TT pay for any part of the buyout? What is Ganots buyout? Hope he never has to utilize it.
warriorhaw …. yes, this article says TT paid the whole buyout to UNLV. Leaving so fast reminds of football OC Zach Hill leaving UH,but Hill stayed a little longer. Don’t know Ganot’s buyout amount.
http://lasvegassun.com/news/2016/apr/15/chris-beard-departs-unlv-for-texas-tech/
Tired of this back and forth BS. You all should just grow up. Who really cares about other people’s posts and if it isn’t about UH bball and if it has run on sentences. If you don’t like it then start your own site and post to your heart’s content. We’re all supposed to be on the same side. We have undoubtedly seen each other at games and banquets. All this is minor stuff if we all truly support the program like we all claim to.
Regarding Div I talent in Hawaii, how about the women ? Molina sisters, several before,etc. Galdeira was selected in the 2nd round of the WNBA draft yesterday.
Thanks for the article Islandman.