One will have to excuse the Chaminade University men's basketball team if they have a down year. After all, the Silverswords lost their top four scorers from a year ago which equates to 78 percent of their point production.
Gone are
Tyler Cartaino,
Kendall Small,
Andre Arissol and
Eliet Donley to graduation. And despite the heavy personnel losses, the Pacific West Conference coaches still believed enough of the Silverswords to pick them fifth in the conference in what is already a proving to be a very unique year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 'Swords open the season Saturday when they face in-city rival Hawai'i Pacific University at The Shark Tank. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. The Pacific West Conference has designated in-pod play only, meaning Chaminade, HPU and Hawai'i Hilo will face each other six times each with matchups being on consecutive days at the same venue.
However the cupboard isn't completely bare.
Isaac Amaral-Artharee (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic), last year's PacWest Freshman of the Year, returns as does
Kevin Kremer (Chico, Calif./Utah/Pleasant Valley HS). Between them, the duo combined to take seven of the PacWest's Freshman of the Week honors in 2019-20.
Also back are
Roman Young (Wichita, Kan./Mineral Area College/Sunrise Christian Academy) and
Bill Awet (Sydney, Australia/SIU Edwardsville/Victory Rock Prep, Fla.). Young was a steady force while running the point, nearly tripling his assist total between his junior and sophomore seasons. Meanwhile Awet started the final four games last year, averaging 11.0 points during that span and helped pick up the slack after Cartaino's season-ending wrist injury in the 'Swords' sixth-to-last game against Concordia Irvine.
The Silverswords also return forward
Kobe Young (Honolulu/Kamehameha-Kapalama) and guards
Garrett Seagren (Oakland, Neb./Oakland-Craig) and
Nathan Pickett (Atlanta/The Skill Factory), both of whom sat out last season.
But as he usually does, 10th-year head coach
Eric Bovaird brought in another talented recruiting class, headlined by
Jessiya Villa (Martinsburg, W. Va./Hawai'i/Kahuku), a transfer from Division I Hawai'i who was the 2017 Hawai'i State Player of the Year by three different publications at Kahuku High School.
There are also three junior college transfers including
Sawyer Storms (Idaho Falls, Idaho/College of Southern Idaho/Idaho Falls HS),
Raazhel Watkins (Concord, Calif./Sacramento State/College Park HS) and
Malik Parsons (San Diego/Wenatchee Valley College/Lincoln HS). Storms was an all-state forward as a senior in high school and served in the same LDS mission to Ghana as Villa did. Watkins last played at Los Medanos College in 2018-19 where he was a two-time all-league honoree. Parsons was mid-fall addition to the team after setting the Wenatchee Valley all-time scoring mark with 1,392 points.
The final three newcomers are freshmen.
Patrick Renane (Havdrup, Denmark/Dublin, Calif. HS) played at northern California power Dublin High School while
DeRay Seamster (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic) was a high school teammate of Amaral-Artharee.
Rameon Witt Jr. (Calabasas, Calif./El Camino Real) rounds out the prep additions.
Following this weekend's HPU series, the 'Swords make their home-opener next Saturday, Jan. 30 against UH Hilo. As with the rest of the universities in the state, there will be no fans allowed at McCabe Gymnasium due to the State of Hawai'i's and City and County of Honolulu's gathering restrictions. However all six home games will be video streamed live on a pay-per-view basis.
