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Xavier, UH DALLAS >> Thad Matta doesn't know much about Friday's opponent in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. However, the Xavier coach has already given Hawaii an edge in one department.
evenly matched
Musketeers a mirror image
of Rainbows, except in the
turnover department
WAC fortunes with 'Bows
Hawaii breaks into Top 25
RPI ratings play big roleBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.com"They win the battle of the hotel room," Matta said during a conference call with the media. "They've been on the road for something like 22 days. And they're in Dallas before we are."
Actually, the Rainbows have only been on the mainland for 14 days, having left Hawaii on Feb. 26. But No. 25 Hawaii (27-5) did beat the No. 22 Musketeers (25-5) into the DFW airport.
The Rainbows, beginning their third week on the road, arrived yesterday and wasted no time getting acclimated. Last night's short road trip was to the American Airlines Center -- site of this week's NCAA competition -- to take in the Dallas-Seattle NBA game.
"I wanted them to get a little feel for the place," Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said. "I think our players are comfortable in Dallas. We'll practice at SMU (today and tomorrow)."
And, naturally, there is the obligatory meal at the Golden Corral. Yesterday, Wallace got a call from the restaurant chain's headquarters, thanking him for all the national publicity.
"Maybe I should have him talk to my agent about endorsements," Wallace joked.
The only endorsement the 15-year coach wants is the one that would come with winning this week's sub-regional. It's not easy, not with all four teams in this bracket coming off tournament title wins.
Most analysts agreed that the West is the toughest bracket of the tournament, mentioning that the top four seeds are all conference champs: No. 1 Cincinnati (Conference USA), No. 2 Oklahoma (Big 12), No. 3 Arizona (Pac-10) and No. 4 Ohio State (Big Ten). But what many fail to mention is that there are eight other league tournament winners in the West as well: No. 5 Miami (Big East), No. 6 Gonzaga (West Coast Conference), No. 7 Xavier (Atlantic 10), No. 10 Hawaii (Western Athletic Conference), No. 13 Davidson (Southern), No. 14 UC Santa Barbara (Big West), No. 15 Illinois-Chicago (Horizon) and No. 16 Boston University (America East).
Stacked? You bet. But all Wallace is looking at is this week, with Friday's game against Xavier and, projecting a UH win, a game with Oklahoma on Sunday.
"I haven't really looked at the other brackets, all I'm worried about is our first two games," Wallace said. "I don't know much about Xavier, other than I talked to a coach at (the
University of San Francisco) who had played them. He said that their big guy, David West, is better than (Fresno State's) Melvin Ely.
"My brother has coached against Matta. He's young and intense. We don't know much about their style, but we'll break it down over the next few days. We know they're good."
Matta echoed Wallace's words yesterday.
"We're watching tape today and they're a lot like us," said Matta, whose team will carry the Atlantic 10 banner as the league's only tourney entrant. "The big difference is they don't turn the ball over. I've never seen an assist-to-turnover ratio like theirs. Our stat lines are very similar, but our guys' names are easier to pronounce.
"They have good size and great shooters. We'll have our hands full."
Xavier shoots 45.1 percent from the field and allows 40 percent defensively. Hawaii shoots 45.3 percent and allows 40.8 percent. Xavier averages 72.7 points and allows 62.2; Hawaii averages 72.2 and allows 62.8.
Both defenses rank in the Top 25 nationally.
If there is a knock on Xavier, it's the Musketeers' sloppy ball-handling. Xavier has a 0.9-to-1 ratio in assists-to-turnovers, compared to Hawaii's 4-to-1.
The weak link on the team may be 6-foot junior point guard Lionel Chalmers, who averages more turnovers than assists.
By comparison, Hawaii's junior point guard, 6-4 Mark Campbell, led the WAC in assist-to-turnover ratio and assists (4.8 apg). He has just 57 turnovers in 32 contests, and had just one of Hawaii's six turnovers in the 71-56 win over Tulsa on Saturday.
Repeating as WAC champs -- convincingly -- put Hawaii in both national polls for the first time since the 1997-98 season. The Rainbows debuted in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll at No. 24, up two spots, and jumped four places in the Associated Press writers poll to No. 25.
"I was surprised about breaking into the AP poll," Wallace said. "We had to make a big jump to do it. It just shows that the writers don't know about us. They see us one time on TV (Saturday on ESPN2) and we get it.
"During the regular season, every time we got near to being ranked, we lost a game. This time we won when we had to."
Injury report: Hawaii came out of the game with Tulsa healthy. Senior forward Mindaugas Burneika had electrode stimulation to relieve stiffness in his neck.
Junior Dave Young is questionable for Xavier. The starting guard, who averages 8.4 points and 3.6 rebounds, suffered a hairline fracture on his left (non-shooting) wrist last Thursday against Massachusetts.
Young sat out the last two games. He had his splint off Sunday night and was awaiting X-ray results in order to be cleared to play against the Rainbows on Friday.
Travelin' man: WAC commissioner Karl Benson was back home in Denver last night in time to celebrate his mother's birthday. He arrived from Indianapolis yesterday and headed off to Albuquerque for the West sub-regional games Thursday and Saturday in "The Pit."
Benson, in his first year on the NCAA basketball selection committee, was originally scheduled to oversee the sub-regional in Sacramento, but his assignment was changed over the weekend.
He got grilled by the Dallas ESPN Radio affiliate yesterday, particularly over the snub of Oklahoma as a No. 1 seed.
Benson said that he expects the Hawaii-Xavier game to be a good one.
"I'm a little biased," Benson said during the radio interview. "I'm rooting for Hawaii. A Hawaii win will allow me to come in from Albuquerque and see their game Sunday."
His first selection experience was "exhausting but exhilarating," Benson said in an interview with the Star-Bulletin last night. "It takes time to get through all the numbers and data."
WAC teams Fresno State and Nevada were considered for at-large berths in the early discussions but didn't make it past the early cut.
As for Hawaii's No. 10 seeding, Benson said that the committee had leeway to move a team up or down a spot to adjust the bracket.
"Sometimes the seed numbers that you end up seeing aren't those exact numbers," he said.
NCAA Tournament opening round game Hawaii vs. Xavier
When: Friday, about 10 a.m. Hawaii time
TV: KGMB
UH Athletics
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The Hawaii basketball team just picked up a whole bunch of new fans -- and not just the bandwagon jumpers. UH now has serious rooters spread out from San Jose, Calif., to Ruston, La. WAC riding the Rainbows’
By Dave Reardon
fortunes at The Dance
dreardon@starbulletin.comThe hopes of the rest of the Western Athletic Conference are the same as those of the Rainbows: Now that UH is in the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year, maybe it can come away with at least a win or two.
The WAC might not be wearing green, but it hopes to see some courtesy of the Rainbows.
UH's athletic department budget gets a quick booster shot of at least $50,000 for making it to The Dance. More money comes over time, but Hawaii shares it with the league.
The NCAA pays out units of approximately $100,000 (generated from its TV contracts with CBS and ESPN) for every tournament game appearance made. For each victory, a unit is added to the payout -- which goes directly to the schools' conferences -- and the payment is paid over six years, for a $600,000 total.
The WAC had 36 units last year accrued over the previous six years, which it doled out equally to men's basketball playing schools. Each school got a check for around $3.6 million.
"Financially it's a must for us," WAC assistant commissioner Steve Macy said. "For the WAC, the NCAA Tournament revenue is the main cash flow that we distribute back to the schools. The NCAA Tournament money is based solely on number of games played."
The WAC earned five units six years ago, so the Rainbows and Golden Hurricane need to win three games between them to keep the conference at 36 units. A breakthrough into the Elite Eight (like Tulsa two years ago) or the Final Four (like former WAC member Utah in 1998) means big money for the conference members years down the road.
"When teams get in, we need them to win," Macy said. "When people see what those units are worth and each stays with the league for six years, well, there will be lots of people in the conference rooting for Hawaii and Tulsa to win. I think the teams are good enough to get it to 37."
The teams that make it to The Dance get a bonus from the WAC of $50,000 each. If they make it to the third round, it is increased to $100,000. If a WAC team should get into the Final Four, the league gives it a total bonus of $200,000. This money is in addition to the share it gets as a conference member.
"The program does make some money," UH associate athletic director Jim Donovan said. "But in my view, the biggest benefit is long-term. In addition to the share money, you get exposure, which leads to better recruits and selling more basketball season tickets, and more TV appearances next year. It will help us out on the bottom line this year. But more importantly, it will help us and the WAC a lot for the future."
Expenses for the tournament are covered by the NCAA, including travel and accommodations for 75 people including the players, coaches, trainers, managers, band, cheerleaders and other personnel.
"Despite the NCAA picking up expenses, there still end up being things the schools in the tournament pay for," Macy said. "The bonus money helps them with that."
UH athletic director Hugh Yoshida said the money is nice, and important to UH and the WAC.
"But, No. 1, I think our team being in such a tournament is most important because of the great experience it is for our student-athletes."
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Duke moved back into the No. 1 spot in the AP college basketball poll yesterday, a record fourth straight year the Blue Devils were on top of the final rankings of the season. Hawaii sneaks into
Top 25 for first timeAssociated Press
Hawaii (27-5), which is in the rankings for the first time since a three-week stint in the 1997-98 season, got 130 votes.
Duke (29-3), which won the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament Sunday with a 91-61 victory over North Carolina State, had been tied with UCLA for the most consecutive years as the final No. 1. The Bruins' run was 1971-73.
This is the sixth final No. 1 ranking for Duke, leaving it one behind UCLA and Kentucky for the most ever.
The No. 1 ranking is Duke's 14th in 18 polls this season and the Blue Devils were a unanimous choice for nine of those weeks, never dropping below third.
The Blue Devils received 58 first-place votes and 1,759 points from the national media panel to easily outdistance runner-up Kansas (29-3), which had been No. 1 the last three weeks.
The Jayhawks were No. 1 on 10 ballots and had 1,667 points, 37 more than Oklahoma (27-4), which knocked them from the No. 1 spot by beating them 64-55 in the Big 12 championship game on Sunday.
The Sooners, who didn't receive a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament, received two first-place votes in moving up one spot to their highest ranking of the season.
Xavier, who faces Hawaii in the first round of the Tournament, is ranked 22nd.
If Hawaii beats the Musketeers, it will face the winner of Oklahoma and Illinois-Chicago.
UConn completes season-long run at No. 1: From the preseason WNIT to the eve of the NCAA Tournament, it was Connecticut all the way.
The unbeaten Huskies completed a season-long run at No. 1 in the AP women's basketball poll, the third straight year they have finished on top.
Only Texas has had a longer run of consecutive No. 1 finishes in the poll, which started in the 1976-77 season. The Longhorns topped the final poll four straight years, from 1984 through 1987.
It was the sixth time a team went all season at No. 1 and the second time for the Huskies (33-0). They first did it in 1999-2000, a season they capped with their second national championship.
"I think it's a consistency we're proud of," Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said.
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INDIANAPOLIS >> Butler won 25 games -- and didn't get into the NCAA Tournament. RPI the X-factor
in seedingAssociated Press
Gonzaga finished sixth in The Associated Press poll and could manage only a No. 6 seed.
Each year, it seems, the same thing happens: The power conferences take most of the 34 at-large bids and most of the high seeds, while the mid-majors find themselves fighting for respect.
The reason sometimes is as simple as the Ratings Percentage Index, which is designed to measure several factors and determine the best teams.
"The RPI is one of the tools we use," NCAA Tournament selection committee chairman Lee Fowler said. "It's not like we sit down and go through it from one to 100 and say 'OK, No. 45 gets in over No. 50.' Our process is comparing teams to teams."
The six strongest conferences, however, have clearly dominated the pairings. Of the 34 at-large bids this year, 27 went to teams from the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and Southeastern conferences.
Their RPIs are helped by the fact that 19 of the Top 25 teams come from their conferences and because the committee looks closely at the final 10 games of the season. Those factors hurt the mid-major programs, who are likely to get major victories only in November and December.
Some teams, however, think there is too much emphasis placed on the RPIs.
"To base everything on the RPI is a circular argument," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said last week, before his team was seeded lower than he had hoped. "It definitely benefits the football conferences."
Butler coach Todd Lickliter just found out what Few meant.
He believes the Bulldogs did everything they could by going 25-5. They set a conference record for wins, won the regular-season title and two regular-season tournaments. Butler won at Purdue and at Ball State, when the Cardinals were a Top 25 team, and became the first team to defeat Indiana in the Hoosier Classic.
In fact, it went 13-0 in non-conference games.
But by losing five games, three on buzzer-beaters, Butler was left with a No. 77 RPI ranking -- and that cost them.
"I'd heard that the RPIs wouldn't be weighted that heavily," Lickliter said. "But as I look at it, it seems it was weighed very heavily."
Fowler, who is North Carolina State's athletic director, had said repeatedly that RPI ratings would be only part of the equation.
But those numbers again appeared to make a great impact.
Of the teams with the top 50 RPIs, 46 received bids. Beyond the top 50, only three teams -- Missouri, Wisconsin and Wyoming -- earned at-large bids.
Perhaps more confusing is the plight of Gonzaga, which went 29-3 and lost only to Pepperdine, Illinois and Marquette -- all NCAA Tournament teams and members of the Top 25.
Gonzaga shared the regular-season West Coast Conference title with Pepperdine, then defeated the Waves in the conference tournament and is one of only three teams -- Duke and Michigan State being the others -- to reach the regional semifinals each of the last three years.