By Dayton Morinaga
SURREY – One day after making a commitment to join the University of Hawaii basketball team, Burnaby-based high school basket ball star Manroop Clair honored it by signing with one of the top American college basketball programs.
University of Hawaii 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.
Back at home, Clair’s family, including dad Surinder Clair, was ecstatic and overcome with pride at their son finally reaching the top echelons of his basketball journey.
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,” said coach Arnold. “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).
“Hawaii came after me hard and everything fell into place,” he said. “It seems like a good fit for my future in basketball and school wise, just everything.”
Clair’s original plan was to enrol at prep school for another year, and graduate in 2013. He changed those plans recently, and will be eligible to play for the Warriors as a freshman in the 2012-13 season.
“He’s actually listed on all the recruiting sites as a 2013 (graduate), so a lot of schools were looking at him for 2013,” said his AAU coach, Pasha Bains. “Only a few schools knew that he could actually come out in 2012 if he wanted to, and so Hawai’i recruited him for 2012 and I think it’s a good fit for both sides.”
Bains has coached Clair with the DRIVE basketball team on the AAU circuit for the past several years, including this year.
“He’s averaged 30 points a game for us against good competition, with guys trying to stop him,” Bains said. “He’s definitely exciting to watch. He’s the kind of player who puts you on the edge of your seat because he can do so many things and he’s a gamer.”
Bains noted that Clair has “outstanding” shooting range, but can also handle the ball.
“Because he can shoot it on an elite level already, he can contribute in that sense right away,” Bains said. “But he still needs to fill in to his body a little bit. He’s got the great basketball sense and knows how to play the game. I think he can really blossom into a solid all-around player on the D-1 level.”
Several other programs were recruiting Clair, including New Mexico State, Santa Clara, Weber State and Wyoming.
Clair said he is on track to complete his classes at Huntington Prep this semester. He has not made any official visits, but would still like to make take one to Hawaii after finishing his classes.
