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RAINBOW CLASSIC NOTEBOOK

Four teams commit
for next year

More than half of the field for next year's Rainbow Classic is set, said Hawaii associate head coach Bob Nash, who books the teams.

Boston College, Nebraska, Georgia and Portland have committed to join host Hawaii in next year's tournament, which runs Dec. 18-22.

Georgia won the 1996 tournament, beating Maryland, 73-65, for the championship.

Bracket racket

He's not complaining, but Tennessee coach Jerry Green is among those to notice the lopsidedness of the tournament brackets.

The side of the field which played its first games yesterday --Hawaii, Saint Louis, Manhattan and Texas A&M --came into the tournament with an overall record of 16-17, while today's first-round competitors come in at 32-9, and include the two nationally ranked teams, Iowa and Tennessee, and George Washington and Detroit-Mercy.

"I don't know who set these brackets up, but I'll tell you right now, ours is certainly loaded," Green said with a laugh.

Name game

Texas A&M would have had a better chance at beating Saint Louis yesterday if its NBA namesakes had shot better. Guard Bernard King went 3-of-16, and forward Nick Anderson was 3-of-7. Each scored eight points, and King scored over 10 points below his team-leading average.

Tip-ins

Saint Louis coach Lorenzo Romar said his NBA career intersected that of Iowa coach Steve Alford by one year. "It was my last year and his first. But we never played against each other." ... Manhattan head coach Bobby Gonzalez was previously an assistant for former Hawaii assistant Pete Gillen at Providence and Virginia. ... Six NBA scouts are in town for the tournament.

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Dave Reardon, Star-Bulletin