Warrior Insider

Honolulu is a long way from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but Bernardo da Silva can already sense some similarities between the two. It is one of the reasons why da Silva opted to sign with the University of Hawai’i basketball team last week.

“They both have very nice beaches and of course Hawai’i is a beautiful place all over,” da Silva said. “But also the people. When I met the coaches and listened to everything they had to say about the program and direction they are going and how everybody is close together, I felt really comfortable about Hawai’i.”

Da Silva is a 6-foot-9, 200-pound forward, who is originally from Rio de Janeiro. He spent the 2016-19 school years at Wasatch Academy, a prep school in Mount Pleasant, Utah. He will be a freshman at UH during the 2019-20 season, and will have four seasons of eligibility.

“After talking to the coaches, I feel like I can help Hawai’i,” da Silva said. “They have a lot of team goal that I like and I think I can bring a good work ethic to help the team accomplish their goals.”

Wasatch is one of the top basketball programs in the country, and the Tigers advanced to the quarterfinals of the GEICO National Championship Tournament in New York in April.

Da Silva was one the key frontcourt players in the rotation for Wasatch. He averaged 7.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game in the Tigers’ equal opportunity team approach. Prior to the start of his senior season, da Silva was one of six players from Utah (including three from his Wasatch team) who was on the 2019 McDonald’s All-America Nominee List.

Wasatch is an independent basketball program, and da Silva said he was able to travel around the country over the past three seasons to play against high-level competition. “New York, Boston, Atlanta, California, Florida, Las Vegas, Maryland, Missouri … probably some others I can’t think of right now,“ he said of the places his team traveled to for games.

“I think that will really help me in college,” da Silva said. “I know what it’s like to go on long trips and play a bunch of games in different places. And we were playing against good competition, so that will help me, too.”

Da Silva’s journey to the United States started in 2016, and there are a couple of Hawai’i ties. For one, the current coach at Wasatch Academy is David Evans, a former standout player and assistant coach at Brigham Young-Hawai’i in La’ie.

Also, the person who helped guide da Silva from Rio de Janeiro to Utah in the first place was Walter Roese, a former University of Hawai’i assistant coach.

“I made the decision to come to the United States to play against the best competition,” da Silva said. “My coach in Brazil knew Coach Walter (Roese), and he told us about Wasatch.”

Da Silva added that he also reached out to Roese for advice after Hawai’i recently emerged as a serious option.

Da Silva actually signed a letter of intent in 2018 to play for Brigham Young.  However, then-head coach Dave Rose announced his retirement in March 2019, and da Silva requested a release from his commitment.

“I committed to Coach Dave Rose and his staff and then there was a coaching change,” da Silva said. “It was a hard decision for me to make at the time, but looking back, it was an easy decision because it was best for me to explore new schools.”

Da Silva said he was impressed with the UH campus during his recruiting visit to Honolulu earlier this month.

“The basketball facilities were nice and they said they are working on a new locker room,” he said. “But the whole campus is really pretty.”

Da Silva describes himself as “a stretch 4” but said he is willing to play other positions if that’s what it takes to get playing minutes and help the team win games.

“I play the (power forward) spot, but I feel like I can dribble the ball or grab a rebound and push the ball when I have to,” he said. “I just want to help the team improve every day.”

If his basketball learning curve is the same as his English, the Rainbow Warriors may have a star in the making. Da Silva said he spoke “no English at all” when he first arrived in Utah in 2016. Three years of school courses later, he is fluent in English and his native language of Portuguese.

Da Silva said he will likely arrive in Hawai’i in August.