Sunday, October 23, 2011

Watch for Brereton

Hauns Brereton.

Yes, a number of players on the UH roster can rightfully be considered keys to the season but PTW's sense is that the 6-foot-7 Brereton is going to bring a special trait to this season's Rainbow Warrior squad.

That is, being a glue guy.

If he wanted to jack up the requisite number of shots, Brereton could average 15-20 points next season what with his face-the-basket and dribble-drive scoring ability. But by his own design, he won't.

He'll be in the low teens in scoring, plus grab a solid number of rebounds and also distribute the ball to the guys on the team who needs a certain number of touches in order for them to stay focused on the collective and not the personal.

For the record, Brereton averaged 20.2 points, 7.1 boards and 1.5 assists last season as a sophomore at Western Nebraska.

Feel free to lord it over PTW if this prediction goes awry. On the flip side, send $25 and ask us about your future love life if we bulls-eye this one.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm with you on Haun Brereton's significance for this upcoming season. He's not one of the more flashier players on the team, but he's fairly strong, athletic, and plays with intensity. He actually was the most physically fit player in the grueling off-season conditioning at the Marine Corps Base and during beach workouts.

Anonymous said...

Don't know on what you predicated your assessment, but having seen Brereton, I am concerned that he will be much less than expected and nowhere near what you predict. First, he is not close to 6'7, being a tad over 6'5 at best. Second, I don't think Brereton is very athletic. His strength is good, but not dominant, and he is below average in jumping, speed and quickness. Brereton is a very hard worker, shoots well, and has a decent handle, but he is slow getting off his shot, and his lack of quickness limits the use of his handle. His lack of athletic ability also makes him below average defender despite his effort. Let me put it this way - if Brereton were truly 6'7 and weighed about 225 lb. or more, he could be a good mid major 4 man. Unfortunately, he is not, and his lack athleticism, especially speed and quickness, will limit his contributions and small forward or shooting guard. I like having Hauns on the team for his effort, attitude and team spirit, but compared to a fairly recent Hawaii swing man, Matt Lojeski, I am disappointed in what he brings to the table.

Kevin McCarthy said...

This is interesting -- disparate views of Brereton.

However, a lot of teams certainly wanted him -- from the Salt Lake City newspaper:

Hauns Brereton, a sophomore at Western Nebraska Community College, has received a scholarship offer to play basketball for BYU.

Brereton, a 6-foot-7 guard/forward, received the offer after taking an official visit to BYU this past weekend, according to his coach, Russell Beck, a Utah native.

Brereton averaged 20 points and seven rebounds a game last season for WNCC, a national power in the junior college ranks.

He shot 39 percent from 3-point rainge and 79 percent from the free-throw line. Beck reports that Brereton averaged 27 points per game over the last 17 games of his sophomore season.

Brereton has more than 22 Division I scholarship offers. He has also visited Hawaii and Tulane.

Utah and Santa Clara have offered official visits, while Memphis, Nebraska, Texas Tech and Ole Miss have expressed interest.

+++++

Time will tell.

We liked Matt Lojeski but having him on the team in lieu of Brereton would complicate matters this season because another shooter isn't what UH needs. Coach Arnold has to have a guy willing to sacrifice personal numbers while doing the small stuff that adds up to cohesion and hopefully victory.

Anonymous said...

I would be cautious with the second poster's (aka Oahuan/BBfan's) thoughts. His so called "insider anaylsis" has gone astray on more than one occasion. His previous predictions on Adhar Mayen's quickness, Petras Balocka's scorability, or Douglas Kurtz's defensive ability were completely off-based. To make things even worse, he bashed Bill Amis's athleticism and Vander Joaquim's ability in the post. I would take his comments with a grain of salt.