IT was a "Lost Weekend" for University of Hawaii fans, who came away with different feelings. New ‘season’
gives UH fans
reason for hopeOne was a feeling of despair because of that Fiasco in Fresno Saturday where the football 'Bows were again humiliated by a team that had no business winning by such a large margin (51-12).
The other was a feeling of optimism despite the basketball 'Bows losing their season opener to California, 71-60, yesterday at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Maybe it's because one season is ending and the other is beginning.
Or, putting it another way, hope sure beats no hope.
It has been a hopeless cause in football where the Rainbows have losing streaks of 0-10 (1998), 0-16 (overall) and 0-24 (WAC road games).
Instead of improving with each game, the football 'Bows have gotten worse. And they still have to play Northwestern and Michigan.
Last I heard, there's no "Mercy Rule" in college football.
In basketball, though, the 'Bows won't have to throw themselves upon the mercy of the court.
DESPITE losing to the Pac-10 Bears, they showed signs of promise. Maybe not enough to come up with a third consecutive 21-win season, but at least a winning one, which is more than you can say about Rainbow football.
"They're a good team to open with. Pac-10 school, very well-coached team," Rainbow coach Riley Wallace said. "I hate to lose, but I think the fans saw that we can improve."
There were enough glimpses of the team's potential in the first half as the 'Bows led, 34-30. But Cal, with four returning starters, had too much experience, and it showed when it came down to crunch time.
"I thought we played good basketball for 30 minutes," Wallace said. "When you're putting a new team together, they just didn't click down the stretch."
The difference? In hindsight, call it 20-20.
The Rainbows had 20 turnovers and 20 fouls, the latter allowed Cal to enjoy a huge 21-3 advantage in free throws, a startling stat against the home team.
"You don't expect that. I didn't see a lot of calls that were bad, so we probably earned them all," Wallace said.
"With 20 turnovers, that's hard to win against a good team like Cal," said Johnny White, the Rainbows' new point guard. "We've got to take care of the ball better."
"We've just got to cut our turnovers. We threw the ball away, mostly in transition, between the free throw lines," Wallace said.
"I thought everybody had their moments tonight where we got enough to go back and work on. We outrebounded them, we shot better."
WHEREAS the basketball 'Bows might have their moments, the football 'Bows didn't. Again.
Shut out the week before, Fresno State scored on eight of its first 10 possessions in whipping Hawaii, the nation's laughingstock with the longest losing streak.
It was a real team effort. The defense played as poorly as the offense, giving up 30 first downs and 528 total yards.
Throw in special teams play that included three botched kicks, and it wasn't frustrating, it was grim.
If there's any potential for the football 'Bows, it's the potential of losing by 60 points to Northwestern, which comes to town with an eight-game losing streak.
We'll get to experience the difference in caliber of the Big Ten and Western Athletic Conference when their worst two teams meet in what could be called the Bottom's Up Bowl.
Their seasons have been enough to drive Hawaii and Northwestern fans to drink.