Sidelines
There are multiple
keys to UH’s successIT'S 19-3 now, an unheard of "Hoosiers"-style run, and this calls for some flowery accolades and silver-tongued words. It's time to say something weighty and dramatic and eloquent and articulate and true about Rainbow basketball this wonderful season, and so here we go. This team ... this is a very good team.
How else can you describe it? They're good and getting better, deep and getting deeper, and all they do is win. So many players, so many options, so many alternatives, so many pieces that all seem to fit. If somebody's flat, as the formerly volcanic Mike McIntyre was Saturday, then someone else is ready for a 32-point, career-high Savo-rrific hot streak.
The key to this team? Riley Wallace has a whole ring of keys it seems sometimes --a janitor's master set -- and the jingling and jangling are sweet music. Because every night, another one opens the door.
It sounds too good to be true, this kind of analogy, but these are the things that happen on the way to 19-3 and a 10-1 conference start. This is what dreams are made of, Tony Akpan -- Tony Akpan! -- igniting emotions Saturday with electric, athletic hustle.
(Have you ever seen a hose turned on full blast and then let go? That was Akpan, whirling, writhing, whipping with energy in all directions at once, an unbroken colt finding joy in its first gallop. The crowd loved it, but the 'Bows loved it even more. It might have been the first glimpse of Akpan's future, the potential transformation of hard-working hack machine into infectious shot blocker.)
And then there is Savo, the new, improved, "within the system" Savo, who now seems content with being the anonymous MVP. He's cool with letting Carl English charge his way into the spotlight, with allowing McIntyre to take over games, with blending in and hiding in the background until it's time to strike.
He did it with sudden, surgical precision on Saturday, merely scoring at will almost every time he touched the ball.
And Hawaii won again.
BUT THE THING about a run like this is the falls are farther and hurt more. The losses are a punch in the face. This week's road swing could be brutal, as all WAC trips are. It's too soon to start counting chickens, too soon to take anything for granted, not in early February, not even at 19-3.
But if McIntyre can return to that wonderful dream and never awake ...
If Akpan can really help just enough ...
If Savo can be Savo, but not too Savo ...
If Mark Campbell can add just a point or two a game to his precision and defense ...
If Haim Shimonovich can do that voodoo that he does, but without the foul trouble ...
If Lance Takaki can take -- and make -- one more meaningful shot ...
If English can find just the right hairstyle for the stretch run ...
If Phil Martin can be just a little of what he could be ...
If Mindaugas Burneika can find his smile ...
Maybe, just maybe (cue inspirational music), this is a team on its way to becoming even better than good.
Kalani Simpson's column runs Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
He can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com