Hawaii head coach Riley Wallace
barks out instructions to his team last night.
''I told them after the game how much I love them,'' Wallace said after the season-ending 89-80 overtime loss to UNLV last night. ''I told them that they are very special and how much the state of Hawaii has grown to love them.''
The Rainbows -- picked to finish in the middle of the WAC pack -- instead wrote a storybook season, with a theme based on teamwork and flow of emotion that never shut off right until the final buzzer of the second-round NIT game.
They finished with a 21-8 record and made believers of their own fans and everybody else who saw them play.
UH has four of its five starters back next season, but Wallace took time to praise the team's two seniors, Seth Sundberg and Danny Furlong.
''We'll never replace Seth and Danny because they were tremendous with this group with leadership as seniors -- and they both were better than anybody thought they would be.''
Wallace said this team is obviously one of his favorites.
''I couldn't be prouder of any team that I have ever coached,'' he said. ''One thing you like is kids who go out there and respond to what you're teaching -- and then they play better than they are which means they all have heart."
Then the tears almost flowed from the veteran head coach, as he sat deep in the still-rocking Thomas and Mack Center.
''They reach down every night and give you something else,'' he said. ''You can trust them on and off the court and that's something you really strive for in college basketball today. ''They are very, very special. When you see them walking through an airport, you're not going to be impressed, but when they get on that court they spill their guts out and you have to be impressed.''
Wallace said that the final game of the season was indicative of the team's cohesion.
''I can't single anybody out tonight,'' he said. ''They all did a great job. They never gave up.''
He also had a message for the returning players, including four starters from this season.
''They've got to stay together as a unit, behave on and off the court and hold their heads very, very high,'' he said. ''They can make this something that they can build on for the future.''