[ UH BASKETBALL ]
The tinsel has come off this particular tree. Rainbow Classic
has fadedBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comThe Rainbow Classic is no longer the draw it was, even a few years ago.
The oldest eight-team preseason tournament in the country opens its 39th running tomorrow with a field that features talented players and well-coached squads, but no big college basketball name.
A victim of the over-saturation of exempted tournaments and the economics of no television contract, the Classic has been a tough sell as of late. The highest-ranked team this week is Butler, currently three spots out of the Associated Press Top 25 and eight spots out of ESPN's rankings.
Compare it to last month's Maui Invitational -- with the huge ESPN tie-in -- and the Rainbow is as bad off as Cinderella after the ball, wondering if Prince Charming will ever come back. Fans at the Lahaina Civic Center got Indiana and Gonzaga, both ranked entering the event, while Butler is as close as fans at the Stan Sheriff Center will get to seeing a Top 25 team.
In addition, Chicago State and Texas-Pan American, ranked 280 and 293 in the Sagarin ratings out of 327 Division I teams, fill out the Classic field.
Consider that:
>> Butler (8-0) was one of 11 undefeated teams as of yesterday, but there's already discussion of how the Bulldogs will need to win the Horizon tournament to get into the NCAA Tournament some three months from now. They were 26-6 last season and didn't get invited, losing in the first round of the league tourney.
>> The top NBA Draft prospect in the Classic field will be on the sidelines. Western Kentucky's All-American 7-foot-1 center Chris Marcus had ankle surgery Dec. 11 and isn't expected to be back before the Sun Belt opener Jan. 4 at Middle Tennessee. And that's being optimistic.
Still, there are no NCAA championship contenders vying for Monday's title. And there have been many in the 38 previous years of this event.
Since 1964, 128 teams have participated in the Classic. Twenty-three have at least one NCAA title banner hanging up.
In fact, there are only 10 teams that have won NCAA championships that have not played in the Classic: Wyoming, Kentucky, CCNY, La Salle, Loyola-Chicago, UCLA, UTEP, Georgetown, UNLV and Connecticut.
Four days, 16 games. It's still a pretty good post-Christmas present for college basketball fans.
A look at the field, by record:
Butler (8-0)
It's the first trip outside of the Midwest for the Bulldogs, who come in off last Saturday's 68-46 win over St. Louis.Butler is trying to match its impressive 13-0 start from a year ago with the next step against Texas-Pan American on Saturday.
Junior guard Darnell Archey had 16 points against the Billikens, including four 3-pointers. Butler had 260 3-pointers last season and several outside shooters who will try to top that total this year, including Archey, junior forward Mike Monserez and senior guard Brandon Miller.
This is Butler's first appearance in the Classic.
Hawaii (4-1)
The defending champion Rainbows are looking for their eighth Classic title, and third in four years.Hawaii puts its 16-game home winning streak on the line tomorrow against Bradley. The Rainbows have won both of the tournaments they've hosted this year: the Hawaiian Airlines Tip-Off and the Adidas Festival.
Hawaii's lone loss was on the road, 60-49 at San Diego State.
Junior guard Carl English, MVP of the Adidas Festival, leads the Rainbows in scoring with a 17.8-point average. Also averaging in double figures are junior center Haim Shimonovich (12.4) and junior guard Michael Kuebler (11.0).
The Rainbows lead the WAC in 3-point shooting (48.6 percent), almost as accurate as from the floor (49.3 percent). The UH record for 3-point percentage is 39.3 (1991-92).
Western Kentucky (5-4)
The Hilltoppers learned to win without Chris Marcus last year, going 15-2 with him out of the lineup due to foot surgery. With Marcus out for at least another two weeks, WKU has to learn again.The 'Toppers saw their three-game winning streak end Monday at Pacific, 70-57. Senior forward Nate Williams led the team in scoring for the fourth straight game with 14 points.
WKU features a balanced scoring attack with four starters averaging 11-13 points and three with 11 or more 3-pointers. The Toppers may be hard-pressed to match last year's records of 28-4 overall and 13-1 in the Sun Belt. But they are favored to repeat as East Division champs and, if Marcus is back, to win the conference tournament for the third straight year.
WKU is in the Classic for the first time.
Tennessee Tech (5-4)
The Golden Eagles ended a three-game slide Saturday against North Texas. It was the first home game in nearly three weeks for Tech, which had lost three of four road games (Ohio State, Creighton and Idaho State).This is the Golden Eagles' first trip to the Classic. They went 27-7 last season and earned a trip to the NIT after a heart-breaking 70-69 loss to Murray State in the Ohio Valley tournament title game.
Tech is led by 6-8 senior forward Damien Kinlock, one of four top scorers on the roster under new head coach Mike Sutton. Kinlock is averaging 16.4 points and 8.5 rebounds.
Tech opens the Classic tomorrow against Alcorn State.
Texas-Pan American (4-8)
The Broncs snapped a modest two-game winning streak Saturday, falling at Lamar 67-63 in overtime. UTPA trailed 58-48 with two minutes left, but scored the last 10 points in regulation to force OT.The Broncs are one of seven independents in Division I. They've begun to replace the scoring of guard Mire Chatman -- third nationally last year in points and steals -- with senior guard Kevin Mitchell (14.8 ppg) and junior forward Allen Holcomb (11.1 ppg, 8.5 rpg).
This is the Classic debut for UTPA.
Bradley (2-6)
The Braves will try to end a four-game skid against the host Rainbows tomorrow. They fell at IUPU-Indianapolis last Saturday 75-73 and have lost the last four by a combined 12 points.Bradley has already played -- and lost to -- Butler, 75-70 on Dec. 10. The Braves are under first-year coach Jim Les, who teamed with Hersey Hawkins to lead Bradley to a school-best 32-3 record in 1985-86.
Les is still playing with his starting lineup, but has two solid junior guards. During the Classic, Phillip Gilbert, who has scored at least 20 points in six of eight games, should become Bradley's 38th player to reach the 1,000-point mark. He has 949 so far.
James Gillingham is Bradley's third all-time leading scorer, and is averaging 16.4 points.
This is the Braves' sixth Classic appearance. They have lost their last six games here and have not won a Classic game since beating Villanova and Wake Forest in 1985, when Les was the senior point guard.
Chicago State (2-6)
The Cougars are on a roll, having won two straight, including Monday's 79-74 win over Texas Southern.While two wins might not seem much, it has coach Bo Ellis very pleased. His team lost 19 straight at the end of last year and the skid was at 25 before defeating Northern Iowa last Saturday.
Forward Rubeen Perry had a career-high 19 points Monday, while sophomore guard Craig Franklin played all 40 minutes in turning in a double-double (11 points, 10 assists). CSU continues to rely on senior center Clark Bone for scoring and rebounding.
The Cougars, making their first appearance in the Classic, face Western Kentucky in Saturday's second game.
Alcorn State (1-6)
Last year's trip to Hawaii was supposed to be part of coach Davey Whitney's farewell tour. But the 72-year-old coach was persuaded to return for one last season, perhaps encouraged by having three starters back from last year's 21-10 team that won 14 in a row at one point.But the Braves have struggled, particularly in trying to replace all-conference Marcus Fleming's 15.1-point, 7.9-rebound averages. ASU's lone win came at UTEP on Nov. 26; the last game was Dec. 14 when just 223 showed up to see the 74-67 loss to Jacksonville State, the fourth defeat in a row.
Lee Cook, a 6-10 junior, leads the conference in scoring (21.8 ppg) and is second in rebounding (9.3 rpg). The most consistent help he's gotten has come from 6-6 swingman Tori Harris (11.0 ppg).
This is ASU's first Classic appearance.
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