Coach Gib Arnold urges patience from fans to get through what he calls "growing pains" for the Hawaii men’s basketball team — the defections of several of his players since he took over the program two years ago.

Taken individually, reasonable explanations have been given for four premature player departures since UH’s 16-16 season of 2011-12, and eight defections overall since 2010.

Taken collectively, the Rainbow Warriors’ player attrition rate has raised alarms among the program’s fanbase. Only two of nine players remain from Arnold’s initial recruiting class of 2010 — centers Vander Joaquim and Davis Rozitis.

The most recent departure was freshman point guard Shaquille Stokes last week, making UH 0-for-5 in getting four-year players to stay over the past two years. Four other players (three high schoolers) failed to qualify academically to UH last summer, adding to the recent criticism.

Getting American high school players has been a big part of Arnold’s recruiting philosophy to this point. Past regimes in Manoa relied heavily on the junior college and international routes; in the past 25 years, there have only been a handful (fewer than 10) four-year American mainland players out of high school to play men’s hoops at UH.

"It’s been tough, and a lot of people said we can’t do it," Arnold said. "But I believe we can, and we’re going to continue to recruit the highest level high school kids that we can."

SO WHY HAS IT been so hard to get players to stay?

The typical reasons found anywhere are distance from home, pressure from friends and former coaches, lack of playing time, an opportunity to play at a higher-profile school, or friction with the current coaching staff. Distance from home, especially, has often been cited when players have left Manoa.

Point guard Bobby Miles, forward Joston Thomas, forward Trevor Wiseman and Stokes have been this spring’s departures. After signing with UH in 2010, point guard Anthony Salter, guard Jordan Coleman, shooting guard Bo Barnes and forward Dominick Brumfield left during or after that season.

"I think every situation’s a little bit different," Arnold said. "There are times when a lot of the stuff that goes on behind closed doors, it’s a family situation here. There are things that go on behind closed doors that I’m not going to release to the public.

"On occasion, a player’s going to leave. But obviously we’re not going to go to the papers and say this kid left because he did this wrong and this bad and got in trouble here and here and did this. Because that ruins his further opportunities. I would never do that."

Among those that could be reached, none of the outgoing players spoke negatively of the UH coaching staff.

"I’m going to miss everyone, from the school, to my friends out here, to the coaching staff," Stokes said. "I wish them the best of luck in the years to come."

Arnold would not go into depth on specific players, but it’s believed that among the four who left this spring, playing time was the biggest singular issue. Miles, Thomas and Wiseman are said to have fallen out of favor with the coaching staff near the end of the season, and Stokes — who was expected to challenge for a starting job next season — was having trouble in spring practices handling senior Jace Tavita, a bigger point guard with starting experience at Utah. Stokes’ grandmother had also fallen ill back in New York City; he plans to play at a school somewhere on the East Coast.

Arnold said there would not be a significant APR hit based on the departures — "not enough to hurt us" — because most were in good academic standing when they left.

UH IS HARDLY ALONE in this problem. Nationally, transfer rates are at an all-time high. CBSSports.com’s unofficial count of end-of-season transfers hovers around 400. Arnold recently referred to a statistic released by the NCAA that 40 percent of Division I men’s basketball players transfer sometime over their career.

"It is a big problem in college basketball," he said. "And the averages are climbing, which is very noticeable."

High-profile programs and players are susceptible, too. Xavier guard Mark Lyons and Connecticut forward Alex Oriakhi are two of the notables to change it up this offseason. WAC powers Utah State and New Mexico State have taken their losses. Past UH staffs were not immune, either; promising players straight out of high school such as Dominic Waters and Kareem Nitoto transferred out after one or two seasons.

Some believe the AAU circuit combined with the Internet/smartphone/now-now-now information age is at fault for the turnover rate.

"I think a lot of it has to do with instant gratification of this generation," Arnold said. "A lot of it has to do with the AAU programs; you used to just recruit the high school coach. … It used to be where freshmen and sophomores came off the bench. The juniors and seniors played, and you worked ’til you got a shot. (Now) it’s not really like that. … there’s a big emphasis on playing, and playing now."

Barnes, who set a UH freshman record for 3-pointers with 57, and Stokes, the 2011 New York City Player of the Year, have been the toughest losses for Arnold, he said. Barnes, of Scottsdale, Ariz., has since landed at Arizona State.

UH takes advantage of getting transfers when possible, too. Rozitis came over with Arnold from USC, and projected starting power forward Christian Standhardinger is a Nebraska transfer. San Jose State point guard Keith Shamburger is expected to join the team this summer.

INTERNATIONAL AND JUNIOR COLLEGE players tend to stick around with greater frequency (Thomas, Salter and Brumfield notwithstanding). JUCO players usually have only two years of eligibility left, whereas international recruits don’t have any D-I schools to return to near home.

Arnold has gone those routes to an extent, but is still intent on pursing high schoolers — especially local products like Miah Ostrowski — when they appear. Ideally, Arnold says, he envisions batches of four-year players staying and indoctrinating the next waves in the ways of the program.

Four freshmen (three true and one second-year) are slated to suit up for UH in 2012-13: forwards Caleb Dressler and Isaac Fotu, and guards Orel Lev and Brandon Jawato. Fotu (New Zealand) and Lev (Israel) are international players.

"Just be patient. Be patient with us," Arnold said of his message to the fanbase. We’ve got four freshmen coming in again this year. Our goal would be for all four of those guys to continue on and progress and get better and better and graduate from the University of Hawaii, and help us win championships. That’s obviously our goal and will continue to be our goal."