WAC Commissioner Karl Benson doesn't think so.

Hawaii coach Riley Wallace is praying that it ain't so.

The dozens of fans, family and band members who waited in the cold outside the Thomas and Mack Center for almost an hour to applaud the team as it left the arena hope not.

And Fresno State coach Jerry Tarkanian feels the Rainbows should get the nod over his Bulldogs. Of course, Tark and the NCAA aren't exactly on the best of terms but ...

Still, a quality loss - such as the one last night in the WAC quarterfinal - should not be enough to slide Hawaii off the NCAA bubble when the 64-team field is announced Sunday. The Rainbows are ranked 40th in the latest Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), fourth-best in the WAC behind No. 3 Utah, 14th-ranked New Mexico and Tulsa, a preseason Top 25 team.

"I told Riley after the game that no way does his team not belong in the NCAA Tournament," said New Mexico coach Dave Bliss, whose athletic director, Rudy Davalos, is on the NCAA selection committee. "Hawaii's had a tremendous season with one of the finest set of guards in the country (Anthony Carter and Alika Smith). Unfortunately, I don't vote and my A.D. doesn't listen to me."

The committee members may have heard Benson's subtle push in getting at least six of the 16 WAC teams selected. Seven teams have won 20 or more games: Utah (24-3), Tulsa (23-8), New Mexico (24-6), Hawaii (20-7), Fresno State (20-11), Colorado State (20-9) and UNLV (20-9).

Hurting the Rainbows' chances is their late-season slide, where they went 6-4 over their last 10 games and lost two of their last three, including an 18-point blowout by Fresno State last Thursday in Honolulu. One of the keys last night was, if Hawaii was going to lose, the loss needed to be close.

"There's no question in my mind we deserve to go, but things aren't always fair," said Wallace. "I don't think this hurt us as much as the Fresno loss or the one down at New Mexico. We got back in the game, competed until the very end and that should look good. The committee looks at the overall season and I hope when the committee looks at all the factors, they'll take a team that has shown so much heart, overcome so much adversity and played the college game the way it's meant to be played."

"This team has gone through so much adversity, especially losing Seth, who was so much a part of the team," Alika Smith said, referring to 7-foot-1 senior Seth Sundberg, out for the last month with a ruptured spleen. "It's a great bunch of guys, coming out and playing hard every day. I think we deserve it."

So does Tarkanian.

"I think if there's only one team from our (Pacific) division that goes, it should be Hawaii," said the Fresno State coach. "If we had played well (yesterday), it should be us but since we didn't, it should be Hawaii."

The Rainbows find out Sunday if the NCAA's heart matches their own.