MAYBE not to the Final Four, but one of these years -- maybe next season -- Hawaii coach Riley Wallace will bring his Rainbow men's basketball team with him to the Big Dance -- the NCAA Tournament. Wallace hopes to take
’Bows to Final FourWallace knows his basketball 'Bows would enjoy the experience.
He ought to know. One of the highlights of his long coaching career is going to the NCAA Final Four. This week in Indianapolis, Wallace will be seeing his 25th straight Final Four. And every one has been fun, says Wallace.
"That's one of the perks of being in the coaches association," Wallace said. They issue tickets according to seniority and Riley has been around so long now that his seats are pretty good. Maybe not front row -- that's for corporate sponsors -- but close to it.
Good thing, too, according to Wallace.
Beginning with this year at the RCA Dome, all of the Final Fours will be held in huge domed arenas. Next year, it'll be held in the Alamodome in San Antonio and the following year, the Seattle Kingdome. Which means the Louisiana Superdome, site of the largest Final Four attendance ever, can't be very far behind.
In a domed arena, imagine what a Bob Uecker cheap seat would be like without binocularss. Like watching 10 ants going at it, man to man. Rather, ant to ant.
"It's not only to make more money, but to take care of more people," Wallace said. And coaches, obviously.
WALLACE is picking the Kentucky Wildcats to win it all, getting by Minnesota Saturday and then beating North Carolina Monday for the championship. "I think they're playing their best basketball of the year right now. And with their quickness, they make you play the whole court."
It won't be all play for Wallace. After the Final Four and a Bulls' game in Chicago next Tuesday, Wallace plans to contact some recruits. He needs a few good -- and big -- men for his team, which could indeed make it to the NCAAs next year.
Also, Wallace will be hosting the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic hospitality room at the Radisson Hotel during the Final Four. Besides being a treat for visiting coaches, the hospitality spread promotes goodwill, helping Wallace in scheduling future opponents.
And, yes, Wallace again plans to put up a mock bracket chart of this December's Rainbow Classic.
A funny thing happened when he did that during the 1994 Final Four in Charlotte, N.C. Cincinnati's Bob Huggins saw that his team was in the same bracket with Arkansas and Duke -- which both went on to play in the NCAA championship final with the Razorbacks winning -- so the Bearcats' coach promptly switched his team to the other bracket, which included the Rainbows and their first-round opponent, Boston University.
THE Bearcats aren't in this year's tournament. But Ohio State is and that could make for an interesting scene when Huggins shows up at the hospitality room. Especially, if he puts the Buckeyes in the opposite bracket from the Jayhawks. Huggins, you see, has been bandied about as a candidate for vacant Ohio State coaching job.
Anyway, Kansas heads the 1997 Rainbow Classic field, which probably means that it'll be in the different bracket from Hawaii. This time, though, there's no softy for Wallace to pick as his tournament opener. The other teams in the field will be Virginia, New Mexico State, Florida, Vanderbilt and Nebraska.
In the Rainbow Classic last December, Wallace wanted no part of Michigan. As it turned out, his 'Bows might have beaten the Wolverines, the NIT finalist which had a terrible tournament.
So what the heck, Riley. Go for it. Schedule Kansas this year.