Monday, March 9, 1998
Wahine picked;
'Bows nixedHawaii will play Arkansas in the first round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament
By Al Chase
Star-BulletinThe University of Hawaii's selection to the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament yesterday was sweet and sour.
It was a relief the Wahine (24-3) received a bid and gained an opportunity to make amends for their quick exit from the Western Athletic Conference Tournament. But there was some disappointment at being seeded No. 8 in the West Region.
"There was some doubt because of the past," said co-captain Nani Cockett, still limping on her sprained left ankle.
"I think we knew, but it's going to be tough," co-captain Brandi Ashby said. "It's disappointing to be seeded lower than Utah (No. 7) and have to play Stanford if we win our first game."
Emotions aside, the Wahine began preparing last night for their first-round game against the University of Arkansas on Saturday at Stanford University's Maples Pavilion.
It is Hawaii's fifth trip to the NCAA's, the first since 1996.
"A year ago today and several times previous to that, when we got an at-large bid we were happy to be going," UH head coach Vince Goo said. "And there were times when we were very disappointed when we didn't get selected.
"Today, there is slight disappointment that we didn't get to host the first and second rounds.
"To show how far the program has come, we've always watched the pairings hoping to go. Today we weren't hoping to go, we were hoping to host. That's a major jump, but our ultimate goal was to get to the NCAA Tournament. That was our No. 1 priority and we accomplished that.
"We're disappointed we can't play in front of our fans, but we'll be on ESPN2."
Arkansas, the No. 9 seed, finished seventh in the Southeastern Conference at 7-7. The Razorbacks were eliminated in the second round of the SEC Tournament.
The SEC is one of the best -- if not the best -- women's basketball conference. Six SEC teams are in the NCAA Tournament, led by defending national champion and undefeated Tennessee.
The Razorbacks (18-10) are coached by Gary Blair, who is 77-44 in five years as head coach.
"We don't know what they've got," Goo said. "I know the coach. He was at Stephen F. Austin before. He's a good coach and will have them prepared. We know they're not real big. They (Arkansas' post players) are 6-1, 6-1, but very quick. They have a 5-6 point guard and a 5-9 shooting guard. But they're not 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 (like New Mexico)."
Yesterday, UH assistant coach Serenda Valdez was trying to obtain tapes of Arkansas games. Unlike in the WAC, there is no exchange policy for the NCAA Tournament, and schools won't provide tapes on conference members. Valdez had one tape lined up from a Utah-Arkansas game in December, and was hoping to get tapes from Missouri and Valparaiso.
"About the best you can do now is get tapes from preseason, unless a team was on TV and we taped it," Goo said.
The remainder of the UH season is single elimination.
The Wahine will have five practice sessions to prepare for Arkansas.
"Knowing the competitive spirit our ladies have, in five days they'll bounce back and be ready to play Saturday," Goo said. "You gotta remember there's someone on the other side trying to be successful in the ballgame, too.
"Unless we're national champions, we're going to end up with a defeat."
The other first-round game Saturday has Ivy League champion Harvard (22-4) meeting Pacific 10 Conference winner Stanford (21-5).
The first-round winners play next Monday for the right to play in the West Regional semifinals in Oakland on March 21 and 23.
NCAA West Regional
First round: Hawaii (24-3) vs. Arkansas (18-10)
Rainbows fail to gain an NCAA bid, but will host Arizona State in the first round of the NIT
By Cindy Luis
Star-BulletinPop. Pop. Pop.
Bubble team after bubble team was selected yesterday for the NCAA Tournament, eventually bursting the hopes of the University of Hawaii men's basketball team.
For the second year in a row, the Rainbows got pushed off the NCAA dance card and are NIT-bound.
"Oh gosh, this was so final," said forward Micah Kroeger, one of seven Hawaii seniors. "Seeing it all up there (on the television) with us not there . . . For the seniors, it means we're never going to play in it now.
"We know we're a lot better than some of the teams that got in. But it's never been about who's the best, it's about who they want."
And again, it wasn't Hawaii.
A 19-8 team ranked 45th in the the Rating Percentage Index. A team that won its last five regular-season conference games and lost to the eventual Western Athletic Conference Tournament champions on their home court by five.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
"It's so disappointing," said UH coach Riley Wallace, whose team will host Arizona State (18-13) Wednesday in the first round of the NIT. "Again, these players deserved to go. They should have gone last year. This team has won 40 games in two years. When you look at some of the teams that got in ahead of us . . . No way you can compare us to a Western Michigan or even Washington.
"We're happy to still be playing and that our fans will get to see this team again. But we were right there. We didn't need anything else to get us in except some compassion from the selection committee."
Only two teams with a higher RPI than Hawaii weren't selected -- No. 35 Wake Forest (15-13) and No. 42 Vanderbilt (18-12). Both had losing conference records: the Demon Deacons were 7-9 in the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Commodores 7-9 in the Southeastern Conference.
Twenty-two teams with a lower RPI than the Rainbows advanced to the NCAA Tournament, 17 as conference tournament champions. This included Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament champion Prairie View, the only team in the tournament with a losing record (13-16).
The five at-large teams with a lower RPI selected over the Rainbows were Miami (18-9), Oklahoma (22-10), St. Louis (21-10), West Virginia (22-8) and Western Michigan (20-7).
Four teams Hawaii beat by a combined 74 points also made it: Kansas (76-65), Nebraska (87-62), Illinois State (84-63) and Indiana (82-65).
"I think it will be interesting to see -- if we can ever find out -- if UNLV replaced Hawaii as our fourth team," WAC Commissioner Karl Benson said from his home in Denver last night. "I don't know what the (selection) committee's defense will be. Seeing that Nebraska got in . . . I don't know.
"When I left the arena (after the WAC championship Saturday night), people were asking if I was happy that we had four teams guaranteed into the tournament. My reaction was, 'Let's not forget about Hawaii.' Hopefully they were on the board, but there's always someone who is going to be 65. Last year, it was TCU."
Wallace was told Hawaii was one of two teams under consideration that weren't selected.
Last year, Hawaii was left out despite a 21-8 record. The host Rainbows beat Oregon in the first round of the NIT, then lost at UNLV.
Should Hawaii win Wednesday, the Rainbows face the winner of the Gonzaga-Wyoming game being played in Laramie, Wyo. The site of the second-round game is yet to be determined. Hawaii has put in a bid to host the game, which would be played Monday, March 16, or Tuesday, March 17.
The WAC will have an all-time high of four teams in the NCAA Tournament: UNLV, Utah, New Mexico and TCU. Four others are in the NIT: Hawaii, Fresno State, Colorado State and Wyoming.
"My feeling was, out of our 16 teams, 10 merited postseason consideration," Benson said. "We got eight out of those 10 into postseason play. That's a more realistic percentage to look at than saying we got eight out of 16 teams. The ACC got eight out of nine teams in, and getting the same postseason number as the ACC is a more revealing number in looking at where the WAC stands."
NIT men's basketball
Wednesday
Arizona State (18-13) at Hawaii (19-8), 7:30 p.m.
St. Bonaventure (17-14) at Vanderbilt (18-12)
Georgia (16-14) at Iowa (20-10)
Kansas State (17-11) at North Carolina State (16-14)
Rider (18-9) at Penn State (15-12)
Long Island U. (21-10) at Dayton (20-11)
Georgetown (15-14) at Florida (14-14)
Seton Hall (15-14) at Georgia Tech (17-13)
Gonzaga (23-9) at Wyoming (19-8)
Fresno State (18-11) at Pacific (24-9)
Ball State (21-7) at Memphis (16-11)
Creighton (18-9) at Marquette (18-10)
Southern Miss (22-10) at Auburn (15-12)
Colorado State (20-8) at Minnesota (15-15)
Alabama-Birmingham (20-11) at Missouri (17-14)
Thursday
North Carolina-Wilmington (20-10) at Wake Forest (15-13)
Monday-Tuesday, March 16 or 17
N.C.-Wilmington-Wake Forest winner vs. St. Bonaventure-Vanderbilt winner
Georgia-Iowa winner vs. Kansas St.-N.C. State winner
Rider-Penn St. winner vs. LIU-Dayton winner
Georgetown-Florida winner vs. Seton Hall-Georgia Tech winner
Arizona St.-Hawaii winner vs. Gonzaga-Wyoming winner
Fresno State-Pacific winner vs. Ball State-Memphis winner
Creighton-Marquette winner vs. Southern Miss-Auburn winner
Colorado St.-Minnesota winner vs. UAB-Missouri winner
Wednesday-Friday, March 18-20
N.C.-Wilmington-Wake Forest--St. Bonaventure-Vanderbilt winner vs. Georgia-Iowa--Kansas St.-N.C. State winner
Rider-Penn St.--LIU-Dayton winner vs. Georgetown-Florida--Seton Hall-Georgia Tech winner
Arizona St.-Hawaii--Gonzaga-Wyoming winner vs. Fresno State-Pacific--Ball State-Memphis winner
Creighton-Marquette--Southern Miss-Auburn winner vs. Colorado St.-Minnesota--UAB-Missouri winner
Semifinals
Tuesday, March 24
At Madison Square Garden, New York
Third round winners
Championship
Thursday, March 26
Semifinal winners
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