No, we're not talking about dancing around half-naked in green body paint in the hopes of getting some national, er, exposure, on ESPN, like one Hawaii basketball fan did last night.

We're talking real sacrifice, like sneaking away from work half an hour early and fighting traffic to make a 5 p.m. tip off. And then blowing out your vocal chords for the next hour-and-a-half.

"People said they wouldn't be here at 5 o'clock," Rainbow coach Riley Wallace said. "But they proved them wrong. We've got the best fans in America right now because this place does rock."

Could you repeat that please, coach? Couldn't hear you.

Was this a volleyball game or something?

No, strictly hoops. And the 10,000-plus Maniacs at the sold-out Special Events Arena helped Hawaii knock out Nebraska, 87-62, in a semifinal of the Rainbow Classic last night.

"If Nebraska's at home, they don't break down in the second half," Wallace said.

Hawaii led only 38-33 at halftime, but the Rainbows fed off each successful play and the wave of sound that grew and grew in the second half.

"It's the best crowd we've played in front of on the road," said Nebraska coach Danny Nee. "This arena rocked. This place rates right up there with Kansas and Iowa State. It's obvious they love (Anthony) Carter and (Alika) Smith."

The decibel level ranked up there with the season-opener against Indiana and last year's Fresno State game.

"Every game they're more and more hyped," Rainbow forward Erin Galloway said. "It helps us come out with a full head of steam."

The Hawaii-Nebraska game was played at 5 because ESPN wanted No. 2-ranked Kansas playing in the second game.

"ESPN preferred Kansas as the feature game," Hawaii athletic director Hugh Yoshida said. "It may be better for our long-term national exposure. We realize it was inconvenient for our fans, but we wanted to accommodate (the network)."

There were large blocks of open seats during the National Anthem, but they filled up in the early minutes of the Rainbow game (as opposed to large empty patches during the Kansas-Vanderbilt game). Hawaii's sixth man was in the house.

"How can you not love this crowd? They're behind us all the way," Smith said. "We fed off them tonight. We had a lot of great hustle plays."

Especially in the second half. The noise level became deafening when Carter slammed off a breakaway after a steal with 15:16 left, and it didn't let up until the game ended with walk-ons Luke Meyers, Kelii Silva, Dean Penebacker, Rahula Hall and Robbie Robinson on the court.

Los Angeles Lakers general manager Jerry West wasn't watching the players too closely by that point, but he did comment on the crowd.

"The fans here make Hawaii hard to beat," West said. "The crowd's always a factor when they're this loud and vocal. They're really into the game partly because of Hawaii's style. They play an up-tempo type of game where you see a lot of exciting plays that get the fans going."

Galloway hasn't been around as much as West, so his perspective is a little different.

"We had really small crowds in junior college," he said. "It was just family and friends at games."

The kind who will sneak out of work early to watch you play.