HONOLULU – (Hawaii Athletics) University
of Hawai`i men's basketball coach Gib Arnold announced the fifth
addition to his 2012-13 recruiting class with the signing of guard Manroop
Clair. Clair will join UH this fall and will have four years of eligibility.
Clair, a 6-foot-2,175-pound native of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, suited
up for nationally ranked Huntington Prep in West Virginia this past season. He
joined the team midway through the season in December and helped the
talent-laden squad to a 28-2 overall record.
But it was with his AAU team, DRIVE, that he originally turned heads with his
lethal shooting range and deft ball-handling. Clair led DRIVE in scoring
in almost every game last summer and averaged 29.6 points and 4.6 assists. He
also helped lead DRIVE to a second-place finish at the Northwest Championships
in Seattle, as the team upset AAU powerhouse Northwest along the way. During
his past two seasons with DRIVE he has displayed his shooting prowess by
converting better than 40 percent of this three-point attempts.
"We are thrilled to have Manroop join our team," Arnold said. "He has deep
range to play a shooting guard and the ball-handling skills and vision to play
the point. He plays an exciting style of basketball and UH fans will love
watching him play. He is a true gym rat, a hard worker and a self-made player.
He is a great get for Hawai'i and I am looking forward to coaching him."
Clair joins four others in this year's recruiting—junior college transfer
Brandon Spearman (Chicago, Ill.) and freshmen Caleb Dressler (Vancouver,
Wash.), Isaac Fotu (Auckland New Zealand) and shooting guard Orel Lev (Tel Aviv, Israel).
2012-13 Recruiting Class
Manroop Clair, 6-2, 170, G, Fr., Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, Huntington
Prep
Caleb Dressler, 6-10, 240, C, Fr., Vancouver, Wash., Evergreen HS
Isaac Fotu, 6-9, 235, F, Fr., Torbay, Auckland, New Zealand, Rangitoto College
Orel Lev, 6-4, 190, G, Fr., Tel
Aviv, Israel, Ironi Tet High School
Brandon Spearman, 6-3, 190, G, Jr., Chicago, Ill., Indian Hills Community
College