If this summer is any indication, Isaac Fleming will be a bigger player for the University of Hawai’i basketball team this season.
Fleming has added more than 15 pounds of muscle to his 6-foot-4 frame over the summer. The sophomore guard now weighs 195 pounds, and said he would like to add a few more before the start of the upcoming 2015-16 season.
“My whole body is changing, and it’s still growing,” he said. “Definitely got stronger … I came in like 179 (pounds) and now I’m 195.”
Fleming was already considered a key returnee after contributing 9.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game as a freshman last season. There are several other contributors returning from last season’s 22-13 team, but the coaching staff is new.
“It’s going to be a lot of the same guys, and honestly, I think we’re going to be the same team but better,” he said. “The vibes are different. Everybody’s getting along … we’re really like a big family now.”
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Fleming has been participating in conditioning drills and individual workouts with the rest of his team since classes started two weeks ago. “It’s good because (the coaches) are big on structure and they’re big on technique, and they don’t let you get away with little things. As soon as you make a mistake, they’re on you to help you. You just have to be coachable and as long as you’re coachable, it’ll all work out for you.”
There was an issue with technical fouls last season, but Fleming said that is now history.
“People see us this year, they’ll know we’re a whole new, different team and they’ll know I’m a whole new, different player,” he said. “People won’t see me get any techs, at all. Just mouth shut, let my game do the talking, kick butt.”