Thanks to Hawaii's victory at Kent State, Bracket Busters Saturday wasn't a complete bust for the Western Athletic Conference. UH salvaged
Bracket Busters
for WACBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comThe Rainbows' 79-78 road win over the Golden Flashes turned out to be the only victory for the WAC in the event highlighting mid-major conferences.
Fresno State played Creighton close before falling 67-66 in Omaha. Louisiana Tech lost at home to Northern Iowa 76-71. Tulsa closed the day with a 69-60 loss at Gonzaga.
WAC commissioner Karl Benson tried to put a positive spin on the conference's 1-3 mark, citing the national television coverage the WAC received on ESPN and ESPN2.
"We certainly would have enjoyed a couple more wins out of it, but I think the early analysis is that it turned out to be a very good exposure opportunity for the WAC," Benson said.
The Missouri Valley Conference was the big winner of the day, finishing 4-0, led by Creighton's win. The Mid-American Conference was 0-4, including Kent State's loss.
The Rainbows take the momentum of their win into this week's WAC road games at Tulsa on Thursday and Rice on Saturday.
The Rainbows (15-8, 7-7 WAC) landed in Tulsa yesterday for the first of two trips to Oklahoma over the next three weeks.
After Saturday's game at Rice, the Rainbows return home to close the regular season against Boise State and UTEP next week. They then head back to Tulsa for the WAC tournament set for March 11-15.
The Rainbows have a seven-game winning streak at Tulsa's Donald W. Reynolds Center. UH swept through the 2001 and 2002 WAC tournaments held at the Reynolds Center, defeating the host Golden Hurricane in the title game both years. They also won last year's regular-season contest at Tulsa 90-82.
Clean cut: The Hawaii basketball team's new look may be around a while, not that the Rainbows really have a choice.
Most of the UH players shaved their heads before the Kent State game. Even senior guard Mark Campbell, whose shaggy locks earned him the nickname "sheep dog" when he arrived at UH, sported a clean dome. After the Rainbows snapped a six-game losing streak on the road, the 'Bows may be convinced that bald is beautiful.
Even without the benefit of clippers, the Rainbows might have been on their way to early hair loss, as four of their last five games have been decided by two points or fewer.
English moving up: UH junior Carl English picked up his third WAC Player of the Week award of the season yesterday, becoming the first Rainbow to do so since the 1995-96 season.
Former UH guard Anthony Harris was the last Rainbow to win the conference's weekly honor three times in the same season. TCU's Lee Nailon, Tulsa's Michael Ruffin and New Mexico's Lamont Long each won three WAC awards in the 1998-99 season when the 16-team conference was split into Pacific and Mountain divisions.
English's latest award is the fourth of his career, tying him with Anthony Carter for the most for a UH player.
English leads the WAC with 20.4 points per game this season and has moved up to seventh on UH's career scoring list with 1,121 points. He is 169 points behind Phil Lott for sixth place.
Bulldogs closing in: Fresno State can clinch the WAC regular-season title with a win over second-place Nevada on Saturday.
The Bulldogs (19-6 overall, 12-3 WAC) lead Nevada by two games and close the season with road games at Tulsa and Rice next week. Fresno State won the regular-season championship twice (1997 and 2001) and claimed the WAC tournament once (2000).
Saturday's game is also the last regular-season game at Fresno's Selland Arena. The Bulldogs move into the Save Mart Center next season.
TV time: Both of the Rainbows games this week will be televised. Thursday's game at Tulsa will be shown live at 5 p.m. on ESPN2. Saturday's game at Rice will be televised on Fox Sports Net (Oceanic channel 42) at noon.