Some updates

Hey everybody, just got back from a family trip to Canada. Let’s get caught up, shall we? Here’s a smattering of UH basketball updates leading up to the team’s departure for Asia on Friday:

>> No final word yet on the status of the last two signees for next season, Dillon Biggs and Gerry Blakes. UH coach Gib Arnold should know if they can get into UH by about the midpoint of the trip in mid-August. If they become the third or fourth academic casualties of the signing class, they will likely attend prep school for a year. Though their recruitment status would open up again, the feeling is they would remain in UH’s court because of Arnold’s early interest in them.

>> Because of some injuries, the team’s practices leading up to the trip haven’t been a full 5-on-5 among the 10 eligible players to travel. Sophomore forward Trevor Wiseman has a severe ankle sprain that Arnold said would likely put him out of all exhibition games on the trip (though he will still go). Also, sophomore center Davis Rozitis didn’t practice this weekend because of a mild ankle sprain but is expected to return to action in the coming days.

>> Victor Bermudez, a 6-foot-3 combo guard of Las Vegas via University Park Academy in Texas, has given UH an oral commitment for 2011-12 but hasn’t yet been academically cleared to play for the Rainbow Warriors. UH is high on Bermudez — who was primarily getting interest from Big Sky Conference schools — and may award a scholarship if and when Bermudez gets through.

>> Tyler McDaniels, the 6-foot-9 junior forward and son of UH assistant coach Benjy Taylor, is enrolled in the UH system with the goal of joining the team as a walk-on after summer school. Indications are positive there.

>> Junior forward Dominick Brumfield (who, yes, is still on the team) has some academic work to do at home in California before he can return to play at UH next season. He seems to be in a nebulous gray area; don’t be surprised if this one goes either way by the time the team returns from Asia.

>> Junior center Vander Joaquim remains with the Angolan national team, which just placed third, behind host Portugal and Romania in the International Tournament of Guimarães. Angola, ranked No. 13 in the world, now travels to China for the Borislav Stankovic Cup. Arnold said there is a possibility Joaquim could link up with his UH teammates at one of the stops on the trip, but it is doubtful he would play in any UH exhibitions.

There is a possibility Joaquim will remain with the Angolan team and not return to UH in the fall — which would be a disaster for the Rainbows — but currently the expectation remains that he will be back.

>> Arnold still can’t comment on the investigation into his program about allegations of unfair treatment made by a former player. One got the impression, though, that he wasn’t overly concerned about it.