Grafton basketball star Heffner commits to Hawaii
Aloha means hello and goodbye in Hawaiian.
Brock Heffner will pick up that and more of the language over the next few years. The Grafton senior orally committed to the University of Hawaii on Thursday to end a whirlwind two weeks in which he decommitted from IUPUI and was then sought after by a handful of schools.
In Hawaii, he’ll join a Big West program that went 11-10 overall this past season with a 9-9 mark in the conference.
“I’m just excited, being this young and having this opportunity to play for the state,” he said. “They don’t have any pro teams, so their basketball and their football teams are a big priority there. … I just love that pressure at this age.”
Heffner will make his commitment official Wednesday, the first day of the regular signing period for men’s and women’s basketball.
He is the 10th area player to commit to a Division I program this year. Two other area players – Sussex Hamilton’s Patrick Baldwin Jr. and St. John’s Northwestern
Academies Brandin Podziemski – have not committed. Brookfield Central’s David Joplin, who decommitted from Texas last week, has yet to commit to another school.
Heffner was in Joplin’s position a couple of weeks ago when he decommitted from IUPUI. It was a somewhat risky move given the number of players who are in the NCAA transfer portal or will be given an additional year of eligibility due to the pandemic.
Heffner said he was prepared to attend prep school if the right offer didn’t come. He ended up receiving offers from the Rainbow Warriors as well as from
Wagner, Canisius and North Dakota.
Heffner led Grafton, which finished 14-9 and reached the regional final, in scoring (21.6 points per game), rebounding (9.2) and assists (2.6).
The three-point shot was a much larger part of his arsenal this season. He shot 34.7% beyond the arc (35 of 101) after taking just 29 threes and hitting 13 as a junior.
When he leaves for college later this year he’ll take with him high expectations.
“I just want to be a Hawaii legend and be loved and I’m really going to put in the work to be that,” he said.