Gib Arnold essentially served up the first plate himself.

Thankfully for the new Hawaii men’s basketball coach, he has a sous chef or two to prepare the next helping.

After producing a flurry of mostly unassisted spring signings following his March hire, Arnold’s 2010-11 recruiting class is in place. But with the new summer evaluation recruiting period starting yesterday, the coach is back on the road for the 2011-12 season and beyond … this time, with assistant Benjy Taylor and director of operations Scott Fisher out there as wingmen.

Individual coaches are allowed to attend camps and other organized events such as tournaments to assess prospects during this period. Arnold and his staff have until July 15 to evaluate recruits. After a five-day dead period of no contact, scouting will be allowed until the end of the month.

Arnold is slated to have four scholarship openings for 2011-12, his second season.

"We’ll be all over. It’s no secret," Arnold said yesterday. "Benjy’s in Milwaukee. He’s flying tonight to see a tournament in Indianapolis, I’ll be flying from here to Texas and Tulsa, and Arizona and Vegas. We’re usually at a tournament for a day or two, and then moving off. As for today I’m in Los Angeles to check out two tournaments going on here."

Fisher is scouting in Australia, where he played and coached in the National Basketball League for more than 20 years. He is allowed to act as a normal recruiting assistant while associate head coach Walter Roese is away with the Brazilian junior national team.

During the upcoming dead period, Arnold plans to help his family move from Los Angeles to Hawaii. He then will head back on the road.

Newcomers coming in fall

Arnold said none of the eight players signed for the 2010-11 season would arrive in Hawaii until the start of the fall semester.

"I kind of wanted to be there when they came in, give them my full attention," Arnold said. "I don’t have many returnees (four on scholarship), so I didn’t want them to feel they came out to Hawaii and now they’re by themselves."

Among the expected newcomers are four junior college players: Vander Joaquim, Josten Thomas, Dominick Brumfield, and Anthony Salter. All had some coursework to complete to get their associate’s degrees and be eligible to play in the fall.

Arnold said all signees were "progressing as planned."

Roese’s team takes silver

Roese, the head coach of Brazil’s junior national team, guided his players to a silver-medal finish at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in San Antonio, Texas, on June 30.

Brazil lost to Team USA 81-78 in a tightly played contest. It was Brazil’s best finish after taking three bronze medals in past years.

Roese’s team also qualified for the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship in Latvia.

"They were leading most of the game. He had a good summer," Arnold said.