Sidelines
Rainbows’ kind
of mind games
working well
"Some of us need psychology -- they've helped me." -- Riley Wallace THE scene: A wild and raucous, sweaty, steamy, joyous Saturday night. The guys were going crazy. Hawaii 83, SMU 74, and there was jumping, hugging, screaming, whooping in the locker room. Hawaii was undefeated in the WAC, and it seemed like this win was the biggest of them all.
Finally, when it settled down enough, UH President Evan Dobelle addressed his Rainbows.
He went on and on, spouting praise and doling out accolades, adding one compliment after another.
"So," Riley Wallace said then. "I guess what you're trying to say is they need the next two days off?"
Dobelle -- thoughtful and president-like -- considered this carefully for a beat. Yes, he said finally, he thought so.
"They were high-fiving him," Wallace said. "I thought they were going to break his arm."
Score another win for Wallace. His team, ready to take on the world, got even higher.
Before the WAC games, the big games and the tournament games come the mind games. And Wallace's record on the court this season speaks well for his record off it.
Wallace said, "(Predrag Savovic) says, 'Why do you play with my head like this?'
"I said, 'Because it works.' "
And at 15-2, maybe it does.
All coaches fancy themselves amateur psychologists, to mixed results. But Wallace might be hitting his stride this season. He's pushing all the buttons. He's armed not only with experience and instinct, but real psychologists, Michael D'Andrea and Judy Daniels.
"I just had two complaints about something," Wallace said. "Some fan tells me I'm not coaching right, and I get an e-mail saying I fixed the Rainbow Classic by playing Portland in the first game. I feel lousy, the next guy who comes in, I'm going to punch him in the nose. And (D'Andrea) walks in, he says, 'Isn't it a beautiful day?' And I say, 'No, hell no!' And he says, 'Let's talk about that.' By the time he leaves, it is a beautiful day. And that's what they're all about."
Wallace has seen it in Mike McIntyre, whose seemingly sudden offensive explosion he traces to psychology, to peaking more than bottoming out.
"And you can see him when he pumps you -- after he makes a shot and he does this to the crowd?"
Rainbow fans have seen what Wallace is talking about.
"That means, 'Give me some support. I need it. I love you and I want you to love me,' " Wallace said. "That's Mike, that's what Mike is trying to tell you. Because it's all in, and he wants to get it out."
But it works both ways. The players have to take it. And Savovic, while sometimes befuddled by it, is receptive in the end, Wallace said.
Haim Shimonovich turns the tables, telling coaches he plays better with easy practices.
"He's very intelligent and a con man," Wallace said.
No, no. That's psychology.
Kalani Simpson's column runs Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
He can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com