Wahine are starting over

RENO, Nev. » When the Hawaii women's basketball team has its first practice of the season tomorrow, it really will be a new beginning for the Wahine.

First-year coach Jim Bolla said he purposely did not look at any tape or statistics of any of UH's returning players. Everybody starts out even, Bolla said yesterday, addressing reporters at the Western Athletic Conference basketball media preview.

"We've erased the blackboard, we're starting fresh," said Bolla, who replaced Vince Goo, who retired following UH's 8-20, 6-12 WAC season last year. "We really don't know what we have. I know they've worked hard in the offseason."

Bolla coached at UNLV from 1982 to 1996, advancing to the NCAA Tournament seven times.

The Wahine were picked by the league's coaches to finish eighth in the WAC this year, as they did last season.

"We'll put it up in the locker room and just say, 'Hey, this is where they think you are and we just need to go out there and prove you're better than that,' " Bolla said.

Bolla said he will expect a lot from seniors Jade Abele and Milia Macfarlane.

I've asked them to step up. They're the first one in the drills. When we start practice Saturday I expect them to lead," he said.

Abele, a 6-foot forward, was named to the preseason All-WAC team.

Last go-round: Rice, Texas-El Paso, Tulsa and Southern Methodist make their final Hawaii visits as WAC members this winter before leaving for Conference USA next season.

Rice men's coach Willis Wilson said he won't miss one of college basketball's toughest road trips.

"I'm really, really, really looking forward to the day that I can go to Hawaii for a vacation and not play basketball," Wilson said. "The 'Bows haven't been very kind to the Owls when we've come out there. Some interesting games. Every game has been hard-fought by both teams. ... We've learned a lot about preparation. But no matter how ready you are there are going to be some situations where you have to be spontaneous."

Would he bring his team to the islands for the Rainbow Classic some year?

"If I feel like I need to lose some games I might," Wilson quipped.

Local girls: Big things are expected from Hawaii high school products Jodi Nakashima (Roosevelt) at Boise State and Aritta Lane (Aiea) at Fresno State, who are both going into their senior seasons.

Broncos coach Jen Warden said Nakashima and her returning teammates told her in the Honolulu airport last Feb. 19 -- after a 64-49 loss to the Wahine -- that they had decided they would all spend the entire summer in Boise preparing for this season. They lived up to the promise, Warden said, giving her reason to believe the Broncos will improve from last year's 9-20, 5-13 WAC showing.

"She was a huge part of that decision," Warden said. "For players from Hawaii, they're away from their families just like foreign players. She really set the standard. Her teammates said, 'If Jodi's going to sacrifice this, I can sacrifice what I thought my summer might be.' She's a big leader in that situation."

Nakashima is also a leader in long-range scoring, as her .415 3-point rate (44-for-106) was among the league's best last season. She averaged 5.6 points per game.

Lane was also inspired by her game at Hawaii last year -- a 63-54 victory -- her coach, Stacy Johnson-Klein, said.

"She is at the top of her game right now. She's really focused for the first time," Johnson-Klein said. "I think the win at Hawaii was big for her last year. She'd never done that before and I think it gave her a lot of confidence."

Lane, a 6-foot forward, led the Bulldogs with 12.5 points per game last season as Fresno State went 13-16, 7-7.

Wearing the bull's-eye: Texas-El Paso forward Omar Thomas said he doesn't mind the pressure of the Miners being the coaches' and media favorite to win the league going into the season.

"It's nice to know you have the respect," he said. "I think they've recognized that we worked hard to have a good year last year, and that when you get success, you work even harder to keep getting it."

Thomas led the 2003-04 Miners in scoring (15.5 ppg) while coming off the bench. UTEP went 24-8 and tied for the WAC title with a 13-5 mark. The Miners lost to Maryland 86-83 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.