LAS VEGAS -- Riley Wallace is ready to stack all of Hawaii's chips on the table. Rainbows play for
high stakes against Lobos''We want to play New Mexico,'' he said with a smile last night. ''We know we have to win at least another ballgame to get in (to the NCAA tournament).
''If you play San Jose, then people are gonna say that you need to beat Utah to get in. So I say it's a neutral court and we've beaten New Mexico three out of the four halfs that we played them, so ... ''
Well, Riley got his wish as the Lobos stomped the you-know-what out of San Jose State, 103-70, in yesterday's first-round at the Thomas and Mack Center.
''It was a massacre,'' said UH assistant coach Jeff Law, who scouted the game. ''San Jose was very, very bad, but New Mexico was very, very good.''
Does a blowout favor Hawaii, though? Maybe the Lobos will get a bit cocky in tomorrow night's rubber game with the Rainbows -- especially since New Mexico won by 20 points just a few weeks ago at their place?
Don't count on it, Law said.
''We wanted them to at least have to work for it (against San Jose),'' he said.
''It was too easy for them.''
So here we go, folks. It's time to spin that postseason wheel and see where the Rainbows land.
I agree with Wallace. Beat New Mexico and a footloose trip to the Big Dance is in the bag. Lose a close one to the Lobos and the NCAAs are possible for UH, but it's a long shot. Get blown out like in Albuquerque and the odds are about the same as hitting nine numbers in keno.
THE first round of the WAC tourney went pretty much as expected yesterday, with the exception of Southern Methodist eliminating Colorado State.
UNLV looked good against the sleepy Owls of Rice in the first game and the Wyoming Cowboys ran out of rope against the fast-hopping Horned Frogs of TCU.
So now we have a great match between Tulsa and UNLV in the first game tomorrow, followed by a TCU-Fresno State battle.
Rainbow fans should root for Billy Tubbs' team to knock off Tark's guys in that one. A loss for the Bulldogs might make Hawaii the fourth and probably last WAC team to be picked for the NCAAs.
Then it's Utah and SMU in the third game -- but don't expect the rapidly improving Mustangs to pull off the huge upset against the streaking Utes.
Then it's yet another ''biggest game of the season'' for the Rainbows.
A strong first half against New Mexico will be an absolute must for Hawaii. Since the start of the 1995-96 season, the Lobos are 41-2 when leading at halftime -- and 19-0 this season.
It's hard to put a big second-half run together against their strong inside-out attack.
Micah Kroeger, Michael Robinson, Eric Ambrozich and Danny Furlong have to play an aggressive, yet smart, inside game right from the opening tip.
Anthony Carter and Alika Smith will have to be clicking at both ends. Smith's first few jumpers have to fall and Carter cannot get into foul trouble, which is another tough task against New Mexico's bigger guards -- especially 6-foot-4 Charles Smith, who lit it up for a career-high 37 points the last time these two tangled.
Smith, forward Kenny Thomas and guard Clayton Shields are one of the toughest trios in the nation. They average 48.7 of the team's 76.5 points per game.
Wallace is undecided about playing a man-to-man defense or a zone. It will likely be both.
The man-to-man worked well at sea level in Hawaii and was effective for the first half at the mile-high Pit.
But the zone guards against fatigue and foul trouble -- and the Rainbows strangely seem to get their transition game going better out of the zone.
If the Rainbows can keep it close, they have a shot -- maybe even the last-second winning version that would send this team to a well-deserved NCAA tournament appearance.