The University of Hawaii women's volleyball coach hasn't quit grinning since Friday when his Wahine team swept Brigham Young to earn a spot in this week's NCAA final four. Shoji doesn't care how cold it is in Cleveland, the host city; any place is warmer compared to being frozen out of the national championship picture since 1988.
"I don't know if I've come down yet," said Shoji, who left today for Cleveland. "Every time I think about it, I get this big smile on my face.
"It's such a relief personally because of the doubters, more so on the mainland than here. The biggest hurdle has been getting that chance to play for the title. We've had some really great teams ... 1989, '90, '91, 1994 and '95 ... and never got this far. We've been one win away for so many years that, unless you get there, people forget about you.
"This puts us back in people's minds. When they talk about the best programs in the country, they have to include us again."
It's going to be almost total recall for Hawaii (34-2) this week with the rest of the final four comprised of teams UH has already played this year. In Thursday's semifinal, the Wahine open with top-ranked Florida (37-1), the team they beat to open the season at the State Farms NACWAA Tournament in Normal, Ill., last August.
Should Hawaii advance to Saturday's championship, the opponent would be either No. 2 Stanford (29-2) or defending national champ Nebraska (30-3). The Cardinal handed the Wahine their first loss of the season on Nov. 2; the Wahine swept the Cornhuskers to win the title of the NACWAA event.
"We've played all three and I don't know if that's good or bad," said Shoji, seeking his fifth national championship. "It's a new season for everyone right now and August seems so long ago. I'm not putting that much weight on that early win over Florida. They have the same lineup as they did then. The question is, are they doing the same things as they were when we saw them."
The easy answer is no, since the Gators have not lost since they faced the Wahine on Aug. 23. Florida brings a 37-match winning streak into the Cleveland State Convocation Center for Thursday's 1 p.m. HST semifinal.
The Gators defeated Michigan State Friday to earn a trip to the final four for the first time since 1993. Michigan State was the team that stunned unbeaten Hawaii in the regional final last season, a loss Shoji would have liked to avenge this week.
"We were prepared to play anybody but, deep down inside, I wanted to play Michigan State," Shoji admitted. "And if you told me in August that Nebraska would be back (in the final four), I would have been very surprised. But they've earned their way to be there."
So has Hawaii, whose last trip ended in a runner-up finish after losing to Texas in Minneapolis. The Wahine's last title was in 1987, against Stanford in Indianapolis.
It snowed both those years, as it did in 1983 in Lexington, when Hawaii won the second of two straight titles. It didn't snow in Stockton, Calif., in 1982, but the Wahine did come out of a heavy, 0-2 fog against Southern Cal to win in five.
"It's that time of year," said Shoji, whose team won the 1979 AIAW championship in Carbondale, Ill. "If we're where it's really cold, we know we're doing something right."