HONOLULU – OK everybody, all at once: Knock on wood.
At the risk of jinxing the University of Hawaii men’s and women’s basketball teams, a glance at the Big West Conference tournament brackets offers some rare optimism compared to past years.
The Rainbow Warriors (20-12) are the No. 5 seed and will face No. 4 Long Beach State (16-16) in Thursday’s 11:30 a.m. (Hawaii time) quarterfinal at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. The game will be televised live on FSNPT and broadcast live via radio on ESPN 1420 AM.
UH and Long Beach State split their regular season meetings this season, with the 49ers winning, 65-50, in Long Beach on Jan. 31 and the Rainbow Warriors topping CSULB, 78-59, on Feb. 26 in Honolulu.
Long Beach State may be the most “streaky” team in the Big West, based on the way their season went. The 49ers entered conference play on a six-game losing skid, but then opened with two league victories.
After a 73-67 overtime loss at UC Davis on Jan. 10, Long Beach State won six straight games including the win over Hawaii representing the Rainbow Warriors’ worst margin of defeat to date (15 points). The 49ers then took another U-turn, losing five consecutive games, including the 19-point loss to UH which was Long Beach State’s worst Big West defeat.
But the 49ers appear to be back on track, ending league play with three straight victories (vs. Cal State Fullerton, 70-47, Cal State Northridge, 69-58, and UC Riverside, 59-58). Granted, the combined Big West record of those three opponents is 12-36, but regardless Long Beach State does have momentum heading into the tournament.
The Rainbow Warriors, meanwhile, are coming off a resounding 91-70 win at Cal State Fullerton (9-22) last Saturday – matching UH’s biggest margin of victory in Big West play this season.
In an encouraging sign, five different Rainbow Warriors scored in double figures: Garrett Nevels (16), Stefan Jovanovic (15), Aaron Valdes (12), Isaac Fleming (11) and Stefan Jankovic (10).
The career-high 15 points by Jovanovic is particularly encouraging, since that is his first double-figure outing in a span of 18 games, dating to his 13-point night against Southern on Dec. 29. Low-post scoring has been a weak area for Hawaii throughout much of the season.
In another bright sign, Valdes grabbed nine rebounds to go with his 12 points, the most boards he has had in a single game since also grabbing nine vs. Chaminade way back on Dec. 19.
Valdes is still the team’s leading rebounder with an average of 5.3 rpg, but until last Saturday he had not had more than five boards in a game since snagging six caroms in the Big West opener against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Jan. 7. He and the Rainbow Warriors are best when he is active and scoring and rebounding around the basket.
Valdes’ three assists also represent his highest total since a victory over East Carolina way back on Nov. 26.
And then there is Fleming, who had missed three straight games with a sprained ankle before returning on Senior Night vs. UC Santa Barbara, only to get hurt again and leave the game for good early in the second half.
At Cal State Fullerton last Saturday, Fleming scored 11 points, dished out six assists and blocked one shot in 21 minutes off the bench. Mike Thomas, a former starter at power forward who also is recovering from an ankle injury, added six points and five rebounds in 18 minutes of reserve action.
That kind of boost will be invaluable if UH is to make a run in this week’s tournament, where bench support and depth are sure to be big factors for every team.
Should the Rainbow Warriors make it past Long Beach State, and the rest of the bracket plays out as expected, they would face No. 1 seed UC Davis at 3:30 p.m. (HST) on Friday. The Aggies (24-5) put together an impressive 14-2 league record, but one of the losses came to Hawaii.
Granted, that was at the Stan Sheriff Center back on Jan. 22, but the game showed UH can match up well with UC Davis, which was shown even in a 74-67 loss at Davis on Feb. 21.
And should the Rainbow Warriors somehow advance to Saturday’s championship game, they probably will face either No. 2 seed UC Santa Barbara or No. 3 seed UC Irvine, each of whom swept its series against Hawaii this season. But as they say … it’s hard to beat a team three times.
So while the Big West regular season proved to be an up-and-down journey for the Rainbow Warriors in an injury-plagued 8-8 campaign, they are now healthy and seem more than capable of at least getting past the quarterfinals, which has not happened the past two seasons.
The Rainbow Wahine, meanwhile, are already guaranteed a spot into the semifinals by virtue of winning the Big West regular season title and earning the accompanying “double-bye” into the 9 a.m. (HST) game Friday against the lowest remaining seed. So in a worst-case scenario, they will play No. 4 seed Long Beach State, which lost to UH, 72-64, in Honolulu on Jan. 29 and 47-46 in Long Beach on Feb. 26.
Should the Rainbow Wahine advance to Saturday’s noon championship game, they will likely face Cal State Northridge, which handed UH one of its two conference losses, 53-46, back on Jan. 10. But the Rainbow Wahine were missing All-Big West first team swing player Shawna-Lei Kuehu to injury in that game. She returned right after, and Hawaii has not lost since, running off 14 straight victories.
And regardless of how they fare in the Big West Tournament, the Rainbow Wahine (22-7, 14-2 Big West)) are guaranteed a berth in the Women’s NIT as a reward for winning the regular season title.
For the Rainbow Warriors, it appears like an all-or-nothing situation as anything short of a tournament championship would likely end their season.
But so far, taking it one game at a time, each Hawaii team seems to have as good a chance as anyone to make a two- or three-game run and possibly go “dancing” this postseason.
Knock on wood …
