In a move to increase athleticism and versatility on its roster, the Hawaii basketball team secured a written commitment from a multi-skilled forward with Division I experience.
James Jean-Marie is transferring from the University of San Diego, where he played in all 32 games, starting 28, last season.
Jean-Marie, who is 6 feet 8 and 225 pounds, can play the post and the wing, and is capable of being a five-position defender. As a junior, he averaged 7.4 points and 5.2 rebounds in 25.8 minutes per game. He connected on a team-best 40% of his 3s, and was 15th in the West Coast Conference in offensive rebounds. He has drawn comparisons in skills and workmanlike approach to former ’Bow forward Mike Thomas.
UH coach Eran Ganot praised Jean-Marie for his Division I experience and development as a player.
Jean-Marie will join UH as a senior with two years to play one season. He is seeking a waiver that would allow him to play this coming season. Without a waiver, he would have to redshirt as part of the NCAA requirement for players transferring between Division I programs.
Jean-Marie entered the transfer portal following his lone season with USD. He previously played at two junior colleges. The three assistant coaches instrumental in recruiting Jean-Marie moved from the USD staff to other coaching jobs. One of them was Chris Gerlufsen, who joined the UH coaching staff in September 2019.
“It was nothing personal about me and San Diego,” Jean-Marie said. “I felt I had to go somewhere else. All the coaches who recruited me from JUCO all left the program. The head coach is a great person. He helped me a lot. But I felt I had to move on and go somewhere else.”
After entering the portal, Jean-Marie received offers from several Division I teams. But he said he felt UH was the best fit.
“I enjoy the coaching staff at Hawaii, and the university, and the conference, and everything,” Jean-Marie said.
Jean-Marie was born and reared in Montreal. He grew up speaking Haitian creole and French. He said he did not learn to speak English until he was 17, when he moved to Texas for his senior year of high school. He said he learned English by watching Netflix shows and mustering the courage to engage in conversations.
“When I first got to Texas, I was kind of shy,” Jean-Marie said. “I couldn’t speak English and I was shy, so I didn’t know what to say. One day, I got mad. I said, ‘I’ve got to start talking to people. I have to get better at English.’ That’s what I did.”
That diligence extended to the court, where he improved his basketball skills — he can post up, drive and shoot 3s — at Athlos Leadership Academy in San Antonio, and then at Indian Hills Community College (Ottumwa, Iowa) and Navarro College (Corsicana, Texas). In 2017-18, Jean-Marie was a key contributor for a top-ranked Indian Hills team that went 33-0 during the regular season.
“We’re excited about him,” Gerlufsen said. “We can move him all over the place. He’s big enough to guard an interior guy, a five. And he’s athletic enough. He has good enough feet to guard perimeter players. He just fits the mode of what we’re trying to do with this recruiting class.”
Jean-Marie will be reunited with guard Noel Coleman, who earlier transferred from USD to UH.
