Mike Thomas will have a different look and a different view with the University of Hawai’i basketball team this season.
Thomas is the lone returning starter from last season’s history-making 28-6 team, but he will not be in the staring lineup this season. The 6-foot-7 forward will sit out as a redshirt player due to a wrist injury. The 2017-18 season will serve as his senior campaign.
“The decision to redshirt was definitely tough,” Thomas said. “It’s tough to even be here at the beginning of practices, you can’t lead by example and play. But it kind of was a no-brainer from the fact that if I’m missing half my season with the injury anyways and we have the (NCAA) sanction and everything like that, it would be smarter to come back next year.