HPU, BYUH cancel
hoops tourneys

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By Jerry Campany
jcampany@starbulletin.com

When Federal Judge Edmund Sargus ruled to keep the "2-in-4" rule in place in college basketball in July, he said he wanted to see what impact it would have on smaller tournaments.

He got his answer this week, and it wasn't good for Hawaii.

HPU and BYUH have canceled their tournaments this year, saying that the rule -- which limits college basketball teams to two appearances every four years in exempted tournaments like the Maui Invitational and Great Alaska Shootout -- made filling a tournament impossible.

"It is out for this year," BYUH coach Ken Wagner said. "I thought the NCAA would change the rule, they have five or six times in the past few years. It is just really hard to find teams."

The issue went before Sargus because a group of promoters, including Sports Tours International, who promote and run HPU's tournament, sued the NCAA to have the rule abolished. They will go before the court again in October, but whatever happens, there will be no time to save the two tournaments this year.

"It took awhile to make this decision," HPU coach Russell Dung said. "The time element was a big factor."

The University of Hawaii's Rainbow Classic and Chaminade's Maui Invitational are in good health, but organizers of the Rainbow Classic say they are feeling the pinch as well, it just doesn't hurt as much.

"Its not the same game," Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said. "The field is just not the same, we are scraping the very bottom of the list and it will get worse next year."

Lee Frederick of Sports Tours International blames the NCAA for the premature death of the Hawaii tournaments.

"The NCAA, they don't give a damn about Hawaii," Frederick said. "The powers that be in the top six conferences only care about themselves and want all the tournaments in places like Ames, Iowa."

Stanley keeps U.S. unbeaten

Clay Stanley of Honolulu scored 13 points to lead the U.S. men's national volleyball team to a win over Slovakia in the second match of the Sofia Cup last night in Bulgaria.

Stanley had 11 kills and one block and an ace in the 21-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-21 win.

The U.S. is now 2-0 in pool play and plays Bulgaria (2-0) today.

af2 championship tonight in Peoria

The Peoria (Ill.) Pirates (14-5) host the Florida Firecats (12-7) tonight to decide the arenafootball2 championship.

Peoria came to the 50th state on June 8 and handed the Hawaiian Islanders a 64-50 loss.

In other league news, no Islanders were picked for postseason honors, but several players who played against them were chosen first-team all-af2, including offensive player of the year Mitch Allner of Tulsa.