There is no hiding the importance of this one.

Outwardly, Hawaii coach Bob Nash downplayed the significance of today's matchup at Boise State as just another Western Athletic Conference game, another chance for his Rainbow Warriors to perform with poise.

Make no mistake, however. The Rainbows (10-18, 3-11) know exactly what's at stake in this showdown with the Broncos for a WAC tournament berth. Tip-off is at 4:05 p.m. Hawaii time at Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho.

As strange as it sounds, this battle for supremacy — and who gets left home from Reno, Nev. — between the eighth-place teams in the standings has been brewing for two months, ever since UH beat BSU 76-68 in Honolulu on Jan. 4.

“;It's definitely a championship game, for us to get to the tournament,”; UH senior swingman Roderick Flemings (16.6 points per game) said.

The Rainbows beat Nevada, and the Broncos topped Louisiana Tech last week to up the ante. If UH wins today, it is assured a spot in the tourney. A loss to the Broncos is a setback, but a trip is still possible with a win at Idaho (4-10) on Saturday and help from a tiebreaker — Nevada would need to finish higher in the standings than LaTech — to surpass Boise.

It's even possible for seventh-place Idaho to miss the tourney or UH to rise as high as the seventh seed with two wins this week. Of course, the Rainbows are also 0-7 on the road and 4-11 all-time at BSU and Idaho combined.

UH hasn't missed a WAC tournament since 1999.

The 'Bows arrived in Boise on Tuesday night and got in a day of practice yesterday. Since the win on senior night last Saturday over the Wolf Pack, Nash has stressed ... a lack of stress.

“;We know it's an important game in the back of our guys' minds, and our coaching staff,”; Nash said yesterday from Boise. “;We don't want to put undue pressure on these guys, where they try to do more than they're capable of doing. We just want them to go out and give maximum effort. Play with calmness, play with confidence, and then we'll see what happens after the game.

“;We get too jacked up about having to play over our heads to try to win a game, then we tend to make mistakes when we do things like that. To rush, to be not in sync. We just have to stay calm and know what we have to do, and just be focused enough to go out and stay with our game plan.”;

UH was effective defensively last week in a 61-50 loss to regular-season champ Utah State and in the 74-63 win over the Wolf Pack. By playing 40 minutes of zone and operating deliberately on offense, the 'Bows have hid a primary weakness: depth, specifically the lack of guard play beyond Hiram Thompson.

Coach Greg Graham's team might look to extend the Rainbows fullcourt and wear UH down in an end-to-end battle, but Thompson and his teammates have faith in what's worked of late.

“;Our zone's been working well. We've been practicing every day just trying to keep everything in front of you,”; said Thompson, who went 10-for-16 on 3-pointers in the last three games. “;Packing the middle, and just trying to rotate on the shooters. But we definitely don't want teams to get to the hole, so we're packing it in, and also giving everybody some rest, to play big minutes.”;

Ike Okoye leads BSU with 13.0 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. Three other players average double-figure scoring. Reigning WAC player of the week Robert Arnold is coming off a 35-point, 15-rebound game at New Mexico State.