Not long ago, ‘Iolani’s Hugh Hogland was a tall, gangly kid who could barely make a shot.
Then came years of a repetition, growth spurts and a love for basketball that has been exceeded by only one thing: his accomplishments. The 6-foot-9 senior and last season’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser All-State Player of the Year will get a chance to play at the college level, he said.
“I pretty much committed to UC Santa Barbara,” Hogland said after the third-ranked Raiders toppled No. 2 Punahou 49-38 on Wednesday night. “They had some academic issues with their bigs, so I might be getting a scholarship.”
UC Santa Barbara coach Bob Williams heard about Hogland and got to see him play recently.
“Coach Williams has been coaching for 20 years. They liked what they saw, and they said they liked what they saw even more live than on video,” Hogland said.
On Wednesday, it was a typical night for Hogland, who had 22 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks. His court vision and passing skills have grown, he can hit the open 3 and go coast to coast with the rebound. Defense, however, is still his bread and butter.
“We’ve played some big guys,” said Punahou coach Darren Matsuda, whose team played in the ‘Iolani Classic and Punahou Invitational recently. “But Hugh is a special shot blocker. He’s athletic and he’s a better shot blocker than all of them.”
Hogland’s background in volleyball is visible on the basketball court, and he has gotten stronger battling in the post. He doesn’t have any other offers, but it doesn’t matter at this point.
“I’m so far under the radar,” he said. “I’m super stoked. I’ve wanted to play basketball all my life.”
Congratulations to this fine young man. I saw the game last night and he and his brother were outstanding.
But after 6-7 years of underachieving, can we get rid of Matsuda? He underwhelms with the enormous of amount of talent he has. The only year he won, he had a NFL 1st Round Draft Pick and future potential All-Pro in Buckner on the roster (after not making states the year before losing to AOP).
He’s a club coach that coaching at the Varsity Level. He never did anything at the intermediate level. His game adjustments are that of a rookie PAL League Coach. This game should have easily been won by Punahou.
But due to superior coaching on the part of Coach Dean, Iolani once again did what they are expected to do while Punahou underachieves with loads of talent.
@Pun Alum 95
Punahou’s whole athletic dept. is messed up. There’s a lot of politics and inconsistent leadership throughout the administration. That trickles down to the teams and the lower levels. Punahou was the #1 HS athletics program within the last decade and I don’t know if they are #1 in the state anymore, but I guess thats what happens when you lose your AD to retirement and replace him with several people, not all of whom are competent. Accountability isn’t there and there is no vision.
Anyways, kudos to Iolani athletics, never has the level of athleticism or numbers that the other ILH D1 teams do, but always more than competitive.
Dean Shimamoto did a masterful job in preparing his team for a very good Punahou team.
The ILH is once again the toughest league in the state.
Couldn’t be happier for Mr. Hogland’s offer from UCSB. He sounds like a great kid and if he does end up at Santa Barbara, he’ll absolutely love it. As a Gaucho alum, I stand by my words in saying that UCSB can be an awesome collegiate experience with challenging academics. Campus is situated in gorgeous area on Cali’s Gold Coast (including a great surf break). Sounds like he has a V-ball background that might be attractive to UCSB’s V-ball program … walk-on after B-ball season maybe? Of course as a Punahou alum, I wish he’d lower his game just a notch when playing my boys.
@islandstyl, you could have prepared Punahou better to face Iolani than Coach Matsuda. He is one of the worst coaches in the state. He should go back to coaching club ball. He wasn’t even that good there too.