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Hawaii women's basketball coach Vince Goo has released the 2003-04 Rainbow Wahine schedule, which includes seven teams in the preseason and two Western Athletic Conference opponents that finished last season with an RPI rating of 100 or better.
The top teams on the preseason schedule, participants in the Rainbow Wahine Classic, are Texas (29-6 a year ago) and Arizona (22-9), teams that finished sixth and 30th in the final 2002-03 RPI ratings.
"This schedule is not as tough as last year's, that's obvious," said Goo, who brought defending national champion Connecticut and top 15 teams Oklahoma, North Carolina and Texas Tech here a year ago.
"We will have seven returning players and seven new players, so we will be young. There aren't as many Top 25 teams on this schedule, but there are a number of veteran teams we'll play and that will be good for us in preparing for the conference schedule."
The Wahine open the season Nov. 22 in the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort Classic against the Lipscomb (Nashville, Tenn.) Lady Bisons (12-15) of the Atlantic Sun Conference. Also in the tournament are Maine (25-6) of the Atlantic 10 Conference and Washington (22-8) of the Pacific-10 Conference.
The other teams in the Rainbow Wahine Classic are Virginia (17-14) of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Navy (16-12) of the Patriot League, Hartford (7-21) of the America East Conference, Big East Conference representative Syracuse (10-18) and Montana (19-10) from the Big Sky Conference.
The Hawaii Invitational is a round-robin event with Hawaii opening Dec. 14 against the St. Mary's Gaels (11-17) from the West Coast Conference and playing Texas-Arlington (15-13) of the Southland Conference two nights later.
The Ala Moana Hotel Paradise Classic is the fourth and final preseason tournament.
UH plays Fairfield (12-17) from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in its opener. The other first-round game has Northern Iowa (18-12) of the Missouri Valley Conference meeting Tennessee Tech (12-17) from the Ohio Valley Conference.
Hawaii begins the conference season with road games at Fresno State, Nevada and San Jose State. It is the first time the Wahine have started WAC play with three consecutive road games.
2003-04 Wahine schedule
Waikiki Beach Marriott Classic
Nov. 22: Washington vs. Maine, 1 p.m.; Hawaii vs. Lipscomb, 3 p.m.
Nov. 23: Third place, 3 p.m.; Championship, 5 p.m.
Rainbow Wahine Classic
Nov. 28: Texas vs. Navy, 12:30 p.m.; Virginia vs. Arizona, 2:40 p.m.; Hawaii vs. Hartford, 4:50 p.m.; Syracuse vs. Montana, 7 p.m.
Nov. 29: Pairings and times to be announced.
Nov. 30: Seventh place, 11 a.m.; Fifth place, 1:10 p.m.; Third place, 3:20 p.m.; Championship, 5:30 p.m.
Hawaii Invitational
Dec. 14: Hawaii vs. St. Mary's, 5 p.m.
Dec. 15: St. Mary's vs. Texas-Arlington, 4:30 p.m.
Dec. 16: Hawaii vs. Texas-Arlington, 7 p.m.
Ala Moana Hotel Paradise Classic
Dec. 22: Northern Iowa vs. Tennessee Tech, 5 p.m.; Hawaii vs. Fairfield, 7 p.m.
Dec. 23: Third place, 3 p.m.; Championship, 5 p.m.
Western Athletic Conference games
Jan. 3: at Fresno State
Jan. 5: at Nevada
Jan. 8: at San Jose State
Jan. 15: Southern Methodist, 7 p.m.
Jan. 17: Louisiana Tech, 7 p.m.
Jan. 22: at Texas-El Paso
Jan. 24: at Boise State
Jan. 29: Rice, 7 p.m.
Jan. 31: Tulsa, 7 p.m.
Feb. 6: San Jose State, 7 p.m.
Feb. 12: at Louisiana Tech
Feb. 14: at Southern Methodist
Feb. 19: Boise State, 7 p.m.
Feb. 21: Texas-El Paso, 7 p.m.
Feb. 26: at Tulsa
Feb. 28: at Rice
March 4: Nevada, 7 p.m.
March 6: Fresno State, 7 p.m.
March 9-13: WAC Tournament at Fresno, Calif.
Home games at the Stan Sheriff Center.
