Rainbows hope TULSA, Okla. >> Hawaii coach Riley Wallace expects his team will have at least one more game this season, probably at home.
to host NIT game
Hawaii’s chances of making
the postseason for a record
third year in a row look goodBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comThe Rainbow Warriors are scheduled to depart Oklahoma this morning and hope to have a National Invitation Tournament bid waiting for them when they get back to Honolulu.
"It looks good," Wallace said yesterday. "I talked to New York and they said our name is on their board."
An NIT berth would send Hawaii to the postseason for the third year in a row, a first for the program. The Rainbows played in the NCAA Tournament the last two years after winning the Western Athletic Conference tournament.
Hawaii has played in the NIT six times and made its last appearance in 1998, when the Rainbows advanced to the quarterfinals.
UH submitted a bid to host an NIT game before the team left for the WAC tournament in Tulsa. The Rainbows hosted at least one game the last three times they were invited and Wallace said the Rainbows could be in line to host a first-round game this week at the Stan Sheriff Center, possibly Wednesday.
Hawaii (18-11) was eliminated from the WAC tournament on Friday with a 66-56 loss to Tulsa in the semifinals.
Tulsa (22-9) earned the WAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by defeating Nevada 75-64 in the WAC championship game last night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Hawaii is among four WAC teams under NIT consideration. Nevada (18-13), Rice (19-10) and SMU (17-13) are also in the running for tournament bids.
Although the Rainbows had envisioned a return to the NCAA Tournament, they can look at Tulsa's NIT title run in 2001 for motivation.
"Tulsa showed two years ago what they were made of," Wallace said after Friday's loss. "They went right through it and won on the road in some tough places and they won the NIT. That's an honor; they've got that banner up and they're proud of it."
Tulsa celebrates: After two years of frustration, Tulsa finally got a chance to party on its own court.
The Golden Hurricane claimed their first WAC tournament championship last night before a boisterous crowd of 5,326 at the Reynolds Center.
Tulsa had played in the previous three WAC tournament finals, losing at Fresno State in 2000 and falling to Hawaii at the Reynolds Center the last two years.
The crowd was the second smallest for a WAC final since the tournament began in 1984. The least-attended final came in 1992, when 4,971 showed up to watch Brigham Young defeat UTEP in Fort Collins, Colo.
English named All-Tournament: Hawaii guard Carl English was named to the All-Tournament team along with Kevin Johnson and Dante Swanson of Tulsa, Kirk Snyder of Nevada and Quinton Ross of Southern Methodist.
English scored 15 points against Rice on Thursday and matched his career high with 33 against Tulsa on Friday.
English, who spearheaded Hawaii's WAC tournament victories at Tulsa the last two years, received a rousing ovation from the crowd when he walked out to accept his award and shook hands with the Tulsa players.
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