’Bows, Wahine After spending a week in Oklahoma, members of the Hawaii basketball team will have barely enough time to do their laundry before they get back on a plane bound for Las Vegas to play in the National Invitation Tournament.
will play on
The UH men play at UNLV
Women visit Arizona State
on Wednesday in the NITBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comThe Rainbow Warriors meet Nevada-Las Vegas at the Thomas and Mack Center on Wednesday in an NIT first-round game.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Hawaii time. The game will be televised live on ESPN.
The team arrived home yesterday after playing in the Western Athletic Conference tournament in Tulsa and had hoped it would host a first-round game. But UH coach Riley Wallace said the players voted unanimously to endure the quick turnaround and continue their season on the road.
They are scheduled to fly to Las Vegas this afternoon.
"They're excited to go to Vegas," Wallace said. "We've been to the far reaches of the world. We've been to Kent (Ohio), we've been to Ruston, La., so Vegas is a reward.
"Plus we've got a lot of people from Hawaii living in Las Vegas, so maybe they'll come out and support the Rainbow Warriors."
Should the Rainbows win Wednesday's game, they would play the winner of the game between Minnesota and St. Louis on March 24 or 25. Wallace said they would probably stay on the road for the second-round game.
Hawaii (18-11) lost to Tulsa in the semifinals of the WAC tournament last Friday and was informed of its NIT opponent shortly after landing in Honolulu yesterday.
Wallace said NIT officials indicated UH was a strong candidate to host a game. But the committee had to adjust its plan after the NCAA Tournament field was announced yesterday.
"Once Tennessee, Boston College and Texas Tech didn't get in they had to scramble and they said they couldn't find anyone to come in here," Wallace said.
"We're playing and that's all that matters."
UH is making its seventh appearance in the NIT, the last coming in 1998, when the Rainbows played three games in Honolulu and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Wednesday's game will be the first meeting between Hawaii and UNLV since the Rebels defeated the Rainbows 64-59 in the preliminary round of the 1998 WAC tournament in Las Vegas.
UNLV was among the schools that broke away from the WAC in 1999 to form the Mountain West Conference.
The Rebels are 21-10 this season and finished tied for third in the MWC at 8-6 under second-year coach Charlie Spoonhour. UNLV lost to Colorado State 62-61 in the MWC tournament championship game Saturday on its home floor.
Marcus Banks leads UNLV with 20.2 points per game and shoots 51 percent from the field. But that's the extent of Wallace's knowledge of the Rebels.
"I don't know anything about them, haven't seen them play," he said.
All Times HST NIT schedule
Opening Round
Today
Valparaiso (20-10) at Iowa (15-13), 4 p.m.
tomorrow
Villanova (15-15) at Siena (19-10), 2 p.m.
Boston College (18-11) at Fairfield (19-11), 2:30 p.m.
Drexel (19-11) at Temple (15-15), TBA
Wednesday
Illinois-Chicago (21-8) at Western Michigan (19-10), 2 p.m.
College of Charleston (24-7) at Kent State (21-9), 2 p.m.
Providence (16-13) at Richmond (16-12), 2:30 p.m.
Wichita State (18-11) at Iowa State (16-13), TBA
First Round
Tomorrow
Georgetown (15-14) at Tennessee (17-11), 2 p.m.
DePaul (16-12) at North Carolina (17-15), 4 p.m.
Wednesday
Ohio State (17-14) at Georgia Tech (14-14), 2 p.m.
Brown (17-11) at Virginia (15-15), 2:30 p.m.
Seton Hall (17-12) at Rhode Island (19-10), 2:30 p.m.
Boston U. (20-10) at St. John's (16-13), 2:30 p.m.
Louisiana-Lafayette (20-9) at UAB (19-12), 3 p.m.
Minnesota (16-12) at Saint Louis (16-13), 3:10 p.m.
Nevada (18-13) at Texas Tech (18-12), 4:30 p.m.
Eastern Washington (18-12) at Wyoming (20-10), 4 p.m.
UC Santa Barbara (18-13) at San Diego State (15-13), 5 p.m.
Hawaii (18-11) at UNLV (21-10), 7 p.m.
TBA
Valparaiso-Iowa winner vs. Wichita State-Iowa State winner
Villanova-Siena winner vs. Illinois-Chicago-Western Michigan winner
Drexel-Temple winner vs. Boston College-Fairfield winner
College of Charleston-Kent State winner vs. Providence-Richmond winner
Second Round
March 24-25
Quarterfinals
March 26-28
Semifinals
At Madison Square Garden, New York
April 1
2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Championship Round
April 3
Third Place: Semifinal losers, 12:30 p.m.
Championship: Semifinal winners, 3 p.m.
UH Athletics
BACK TO TOP |
The Rainbow Wahine basketball team received a bid yesterday to the Women's National Invitation Tournament for the fourth consecutive year. The women visit Arizona State
on Thursday for the WNITBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comHawaii (16-12) travels to Tempe, Ariz., to play host Arizona State (15-13) on Thursday in a first-round game. The game time will be announced today. If the Rainbow Wahine advance, they would play the winner of that day's Northern Iowa at Baylor game on Saturday, Sunday or next Monday.
Hawaii did not submit a bid to host a first-round WNIT game, according to senior women's administrator Marilyn Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano. Should the Wahine win in the first round on the mainland, it is unlikely they would come home for subsequent rounds due to financial considerations even though bidding to host is on a game-by-game basis.
The Rainbow Wahine (16-13) received word of their invite when they arrived home late last night following the loss to Louisiana Tech in the semifinal round of the Western Athletic Conference tournament in Tulsa, Okla., last Friday.
"We're going to the WNIT with some disappointing feelings about not going to the NCAA tournament," said Hawaii coach Vince Goo. "However, it is totally different this year (vs. the past two seasons) because we do not merit an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. We're going to the WNIT with a different attitude than years past."
The Wahine did not receive an NCAA at-large bid in 2000-01 and 2001-02, despite playing in the WAC championship game both times. They lost to Texas Christian and Louisiana Tech, respectively, and left the title showdowns with a 23-7 record prior to the postseason in both campaigns.
The bid this year serves as a reward for a team that did not meet its first goal of a 20-win season, yet produced a decent year despite unaccustomed ups and downs on the road.
In four WNIT appearances under Goo, Hawaii is 5-4.
Three years ago, the Wahine lost in the first round on the road to St. Mary's.
The following season, UH won its first three games at the Stan Sheriff Center against Santa Clara, Brigham Young in overtime and Oklahoma State to reach the final four in Albuquerque, N.M., where the New Mexico Lobos ended an exciting postseason run by the team.
Last year the road-weary and disappointed Wahine lost to host Oregon State 62-50 in the first round.
This is the 10th time a Goo-coached team has gone to a postseason tournament in his 16 seasons heading the UH program.
Times to be determined Women's NIT
Wednesday
Western Illinois (21-8) at Missouri (15-13)
Delaware (21-7) at St. Joseph's (18-10)
South Alabama (19-10) at Auburn (18-11)
Thursday
Hawaii (16-12) at Arizona State (15-13)
Northern Iowa (18-10) at Baylor (20-10)
St. Louis (17-13) at Iowa (16-14)
Marquette (15-13) at Toledo (20-9)
Creighton (21-8) at Maine (25-5)
Seton Hall (14-14) at Siena (24-7)
Georgetown (15-13) at Richmond (19-10)
Florida International (19-10) at Florida State (16-12)
Friday
Nevada-Las Vegas (17-11) at Oregon State (14-14)
Santa Clara (20-10) at Fresno State (18-11)
Montana (20-8) at Wyoming (17-11)
Montana State (20-7) at Colorado State (18-11)
Ball State (19-8) at Indiana State (21-7)
UH Athletics
