Friday, March 16, 2001

The dance
starts today for
Rainbows

Hawaii doesn't consider
itself a Cinderella -- yet

RAINBOWS NOTEBOOK

By Dave Reardon
Star-Bulletin

DAYTON, Ohio -- Happy to be here? Certainly.

In awe? Hardly.

The current University of Hawaii men's basketball team has zero experience in the NCAA Tournament, and tonight's first-round opponent Syracuse has been to The Dance six of the past seven years, 27 times total.

Syracuse began its recent run in 1994, when the Orangemen beat Hawaii, 92-78, in the first round, in Hawaii's second and most recent trip to the tournament. Also, UH has the second-worst overall record in the tournament's field of 65 (17-13), while Syracuse (24-8) is ranked 17th in the nation.

"We don't want to come walk in and walk out," Hawaii post Troy Ostler said. "We want to make some noise and show people what kind of team we are."

Tip-off for the final of four Midwest Region first-round games at the University of Dayton Arena is scheduled for approximately 5:10 p.m. HST today.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim goes for his 600th win for the second game in a row. The Orangemen are coming off a 55-54 overtime loss to Pitt in last week's Big East Tournament.

Boeheim feels he'd have a better shot against the only other Hawaii team Syracuse has played.

"I think (this year's Rainbows) are a much better and more well-rounded team. I've been very impressed with how they played this year. I would rather play the '94 team, but I don't think that can happen," he said.

The eight teams playing here practiced in the arena for the first time and also spoke with the media yesterday.

Wallace talked again of his team's chemistry and looseness -- gained through winning seven of its past eight games, including a sweep of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament in Tulsa, Okla., last week. It was culminated with a 78-72 overtime victory over the Golden Hurricane -- its biggest road victory ever.

"Right now we are very confident," Wallace said. "This team doesn't know they are supposed to be nervous, let the coach be nervous. Actually, this year I sat on the bench and relaxed more than any year."

But at yesterday's 50-minute practice, Wallace was animated, making coaching points to players as the Rainbows scrimmaged relatively hard -- especially when compared to the glorified shoot-arounds of Syracuse and other teams, run mostly by assistants as the head coaches kibitzed with colleagues and media types.

Some of the buzz was about how the precision-passing and long-range-shooting Rainbows would deal with the 2-3 zone of athletic Syracuse.

The Orangemen have some sharpshooters of their own. They fire an average of 16.0 treys a game, making 5.5. Hawaii's numbers are 16.03 and 5.7.

Bombers are the leading scorers for both teams: Preston Shumpert (19.5 points per game) for Syracuse and Predrag Savovic (17.8) for Hawaii. When Savovic learned on Sunday that UH drew Syracuse, his eyes got big, he rubbed his hands and gleefully said one word: "Zone."

Syracuse forward Damone Brown indicated there is nothing special about his team's defensive scheme. "It's just a zone," he said. "We have to be active for it to work."

As of today, Hawaii has been on the road for 18 consecutive days. But the Rainbows say they've gotten used to living out of suitcases.

"It hasn't taken us too long to adjust to such a long trip," Ostler said. "It actually gives us more time to get adjusted to the environment, the time, and we don't get jet lag."

If the bench becomes a factor, Hawaii could have a big edge with freshman guard Carl English, junior forward Mindaugas Burneika and center Haim Shimonovich. English and Burneika are capable of scoring sprees.

The Rainbows also hope to use their strong halfcourt passing flex offense to get easy baskets. "We need to get the ball inside," forward Nerijus Puida said.

Shimonovich makes everybody better on defense because of his 6-foot-10, 245-pound presence. Guards and wings can play their men tighter with Shimonovich guarding the paint.

UH must play good defense to slow Shumpert, Brown (16.7 ppg, 8.9 rpg), DeShaun Williams (12.3 ppg) and point guard Allen Griffin (211 assists).

Griffin said he is trying not to look past Hawaii. "We have to take it like a regular game," he said. "If we don't come to play, we know we can lose."

And Hawaii feels, thinks, knows it can win.

"We are not a Cinderella story yet," Ostler said. "We need to win a few games and prove ourselves, and then people can start considering us a Cinderella team."

The Rainbows might not be ready for glass slippers quite yet. But they're not ready to go home to the rubber ones, either.

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UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii