I felt confident our team would win the Midnight Ohana scrimmage the minute after Hawaii head coach Riley Wallace installed the other guys as 12-point favorites. Underdog or not, I
like my team’s chancesNot that I want to offend the Big Redhead the first day of the season, but as you may know, Riley and I haven't agreed on much.
A couple of weeks ago, Riley asked sportscaster Bob Hogue and me if we wanted to coach in the Green-White scrimmage. We held a draft yesterday in Riley's office.
I can't speak for Bob, but I checked for booby traps and burly bodyguards before I stepped through the doorway to shake Riley's hand. We exchanged some nervous chatter about how this was a kinder, gentler Riley Wallace, and who would have thought the three of us would be together in the same room without packing guns and knives.
Riley laughed, showed us the big board, then asked which one of us wanted to call the coin flip. Because I whipped Bob so badly in the 1992 Green-White football game -- What was the score again? Oh yeah, 47-27, in favor of the Paperboys -- I let him call the toss.
HE barked out heads, as in talking. It was heads, prompting Bob to take Johnny White faster than the Milwaukee Bucks selected Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The theory is White is the only proven point guard in camp, but I've got a secret weapon planned for him. White will wish I had picked him before we're through.
We drafted back and forth with Bob selecting White, Erin Galloway, Marquette Alexander, Predrag Savovic, Gary Gillman and Kelii Silva for the Green team.
UH assistant Jackson Wheeler and I countered with Mike Robinson, Geremy Robinson, Damon Lee, Michael McIntyre, Casey Cartwright, Philipp Czernin, Bryan Moeller and Dean Penebacker.
I showed the draft list to Rainbows basketball announcer Bobby Curran at football practice. He quickly sided with the Green team, telling me I'd be lucky to keep it close.
But that's OK, I like our chances. For one, TV guys have egos the size of Alaska. I figure Hogue will be in the huddle drawing plays on some chalkboard he found in the back of his closet. He'll be switching from man to zone, and throwing in a couple of gimmick defenses for good measure. They'll be so confused, they'll stuff Bob in the trash can at the half.
As for me, I have an old playbook that Jerry Tarkanian gave to me 10 years ago during my beat days at Nevada-Las Vegas. I'm sure there's a play or two Wheeler can put in for good measure.
Tark loves an attacking defense. It's tough to pass or shoot with somebody inside your jersey. We're also going to run and press after made baskets.
We're going to taunt like Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning. These guys are going to be green all right -- green with envy. They'll be wishing they were members of our elite unit before the scrimmage is through.
WITH Mike Robinson, we've got the leader of the pack. He averaged 12.7 points and 10.3 rebounds in the three postseason NIT games last season. He's looking at this as his breakout year. He and Moeller will man the paint quite nicely.
McIntyre will be at the point, Geremy Robinson at the two-spot, and Cartwright sharing time at small forward with Czernin. Lee rounds out our guard-oriented team that will run the floor with a helter-skelter mentality.
Naturally, Riley sided with TV. He walked up to Bob, hand extended, and told the sports anchor, "You got the best of them."
I had an inkling of a doubt creep into my mind, but Geremy changed all that. He took one look at the two teams, glanced over at McIntyre, and said, "We're going to wear them out."
I like the sound of that. So get ready Bob, the pressure's all on you, big guy. You're the favorite. We have nothing to lose. Just like six years ago, when the bookies took you and Michael Carter. We won going away. And come tomorrow morning, we're going to do it again -- on the court.
Paul Arnett has been covering sports
for the Star-Bulletin since 1990.