UH’s Shoji has quite a puzzle to assemble

A strange thing, the concept of talent. The word can mean almost anything, especially when it comes to sports.

It is everything and nothing to coaches. They need it in their players to win, but they also have to develop it and get it out of them on game night.

The difference between raw and refined is usually the difference between winning and losing.

Hawaii volleyball coach Dave Shoji started two-a-days on Saturday with a squad possessing plenty of the unprocessed variety. So much so that the word talent makes him cringe a little. He has a different term for it.

"We have a lot of untapped potential," he said before yesterday's second 3-hour session of the day at steamy Gym 2. "The potential's there. We've just got to bring it out. Unfortunately we're all at different levels throughout the roster. So it's not always pretty."

And turning athletes into volleyball players is just half the job. Then Shoji has to figure out who plays and where. He said there isn't much settled other than the obvious, such as third-team All-America left side Jamie Houston in the lineup somewhere.

"I don't think anything's real set," Shoji said. "The lineup is not set, the alignment of the lineup is definitely not set. We're still trying to plug the players into different positions."

It's not like the early nonconference matches can be considered practice games. Every W takes on added value when your fate is determined by the NCAA selection committee come tournament time.

The Wahine are a landslide preseason pick, as usual, to win the WAC championship. They've done it 12 years in a row. But the conference schedule is considered just a warm-up by those who expect UH to make it to the final four - at least - every year.

A squad that failed chemistry (senior Tara Hittle said the current Wahine are already a tighter-knit group two days in) went 27-6 last year, falling in the second round of the regionals.

The expectations are higher and always have been for the Wahine.

Four national championships tend to up the ante, especially among some of the less-than-patient fans starving for UH's first NCAA crown in 21 years.

Shoji can proudly point to three of his former players on the U.S. Olympic team. The critics can do the same, however, noting that none of the Wahine teams led by those stars won a national championship.

As he heads into his 34th season, Shoji said he can't dial up a team-building challenge of this magnitude "in recent memory."

Pressure?

Again, he chooses different terminology.

"The base (of fans) is loyal. And because they are loyal it puts a little more, I wouldn't use the word pressure, but an obligation to be good. We want to reward them for being loyal to us. It's kind of a two-way thing," he said.

Whatever combination he puts on the floor will be tested immediately. The season opener is Aug. 29 against defending national champion Penn State.

Shoji has plenty of raw material, but only 18 days to make it into a team.

Reach Star-Bulletin sports columnist Dave Reardon at dreardon@starbulletin.com.