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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, March 18, 2001


Future bright for fairy tale 'Bows

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

DAYTON, Ohio — The incredible journey of the Hawai'i men's basketball team ended with short-term disappointment and long-term excitement.

It ended with a 79-69 loss to Syracuse in the first round of the NCAA Championship Tournament on Friday at the University of Dayton Arena. But with it came renewed hope for the entire Rainbow basketball program.

"This team is one of the most special teams in all my years of coaching," Hawai'i coach Riley Wallace said. "A lot of these guys are coming back ... there will be a lot of excitement surrounding next year."

It took a while to build, but by this season's end, the Rainbows had captured the imagination of an entire state with their unselfish play and disciplined offense.

This was a team that found a way to blend six players from foreign countries with seven players from seven different states. This was a team that set a school record for assists, even without a true point guard and not one player averaging more than 4.5 assists per game. This was a team that could score from inside and out, with just about every player on the roster contributing at one point or another during the season.

Most of all, this was a team that transformed from also-rans in the Western Athletic Conference to one of the most unexpected qualifiers for the NCAA Tournament.

"I think we all know this was big," freshman center Haim Shimonovich said. "Nobody expected us to be here, but we did it."

By now, the story has been told over and over, much like the fairy tale that it resembles. Everybody knows the part about the early-season injuries. Everybody knows about the early struggles on the road. And everybody knows about the magical late-season run.

It is a story Wallace hopes is never forgotten.

"I really wish people knew about these guys from the start," he said. "So that they could really understand what they went through and how hard they worked to get this. This team deserved everything it got because they stuck with it and bought into it and never quit."

Never was that more evident than during this last trip, which brought a whole new meaning to the term road warriors. The Rainbows left Dayton for Honolulu this morning, ending a 20-day stay away from Hawai'i.

It started with a breakthrough victory at San Jose State. Then, there was that incredible run through the WAC Tournament at Tulsa, Okla., where they beat three of the conference's top four teams in a three-day span to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

And, of course, there was the weeklong stay in Dayton. While the dreary climate of the city was forgettable, the atmosphere of the Midwest Regional certainly was not.

Alongside teams like Illinois, Kansas and Syracuse, the Rainbows stood proudly. While coaches like Bill Self of Illinois, Roy Williams of Kansas and Jerry Green of Tennessee were the most covered by the media, Wallace was the most quotable.

For better or worse, the Rainbows were one of the most popular teams in the region with the media. Some of it had to do with an article that ran in the Dayton Daily News last week, accusing foreign players of playing in professional leagues in their home countries, but mostly, it was because Hawai'i had a great story to tell.

Many of the central characters are expected back for next year's chapter.

Four of the 13 players on this year's postseason roster were seniors: Troy Ostler, Nerijus Puida, Lane O'Connor and Todd Fields. Ostler leaves as the program's third-best shot blocker in history. Puida was one of its best all-around players, the only forward ranked in the top 10 of all-time assists leaders. O'Connor and Fields were the leaders of the scout team that Wallace credited as a key to the late-season surge.

But 10 others are expected to return, and seven of them made significant contributions this season.

Guard Predrag Savovic, the team's leading scorer, was a first-team All-WAC selection this season, and should be an All-America candidate next season.

Mike McIntyre and Carl English became an effective tandem at point guard by the end of this season. McIntyre, perhaps the team's best pure long-range shooter, may be better suited at the off guard position, but his experience at both positions this season was invaluable. English displayed flashes of brilliance late in the year, and he will be viewed under an entirely different light next season, both by Wallace and opposing coaches.

Freshman Phil Martin was an unexpected, but effective, starter at power forward this season. With added maturity and strength, he could blossom into an inside force, capable of replacing Ostler's statistics.

Shimonovich and Mindaugas Burneika played key reserve roles in the post this season, and will battle for starting spots next season. Bosko Radovic, who suffered a season-ending broken leg in December, could be the leading contender to take over Puida's small forward position.

Freshman David Hilton, who started most of the season at point guard, and walk-on guards Lance Takaki and Ryne Holliday are also expected to return.

"It's a good group to work with," Wallace said. "And we'll bring in some recruits, so we could be back (to the NCAA Tournament)."