Guarded Optimism

The guards are back in town. A decidedly different feel — a quicker, more explosive one — permeated the Stan Sheriff Center on the first day of 2013-14 full practices for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors basketball team.

Keith Shamburger and Quincy Smith alternated at the point guard controls, newcomer Garrett Nevels hoisted shots with little hesitation and Brandon Spearman, fully healthy again, wore a smile for much of the three-hour-plus session.

Yup, last year’s dull finish — four straight losses to cap a 17-15 season (10-8 Big West Conference) — was officially just a memory in light of all that was shiny and new.

"Everybody went hard, everybody was ready for the first day," said Spearman, a senior tri-captain who was sidelined late last season with an ankle sprain. "We bring that same intensity every day, I don’t see nothing but greatness."

UH must replace three-year center Vander Joaquim, pass-first point guard Jace Tavita and streaky shooting swingman Hauns Brereton. All had positive attributes, but speed wasn’t among them.

Fourth-year coach Gib Arnold brought in seven newcomers (five perimeter-based) with a mind toward shifting the balance of power in line to the more standard guard play of the Big West.

While established big men Christian Standhardinger and Isaac Fotu should still have plenty of say in the fortunes of the Rainbow Warriors, there was no denying, on this day at least, the shift in dynamic to the perimeter.

Arnold found equal praise to dole out with criticisms on Monday, which followed several weeks of workouts in smaller groups of players and coaches, plus weekly conditioning drills at Queens Beach.

"It’s really nice. I really like this backcourt," said Arnold, a former point guard at Punahou and UC San Diego. "They’re all a lot better than I ever was, and a whole lot more athletic, which has been a little bit of our Achilles’ heel. I think we’ve been on the other side of that scale as far as athleticism on the guard line for our first three years. I think we’ve been trying to hide it. I think this year we’re going to try to play to it."

The Nov. 8 season opener against Tennessee State is still about as far off as the state of Tennessee, but thanks to new NCAA rules, the ‘Bows were, for the first time, able to fully practice before the calendar read October.

Defensive pressure and rotations will be emphasized for much of the interim. More than two hours of Monday’s practice was devoted to defensive drills, and that time distribution doesn’t figure to change much in the coming weeks.

Starting jobs and minutes are up for grabs, and the UH coaches treated the practice that way, with plenty of mixing and matching in 2-on-2, 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 drills.

Nevels, out of Mt. San Antonio College (Calif.), showed he is a strong contender for court time. He was impressive in his shot-making ability and perimeter pressure; stat keepers credited him with 11 deflections and four steals over the course of practice.

"Ready to work," Nevels said. "I think with our athleticism and from what I’ve seen of the team last year, we’re going to be able to guard teams a whole lot better on the wings, and in transition. We’re just way more athletic, so we’ll cause a lot more problems."

Every player came in healthy, though redshirting Missouri transfer Negus Webster-Chan was away at a family funeral and isn’t expected back until after Wednesday.