UH knows challenge lies ahead
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Columnist
Here it is Day 2 and ears are still cocked, waiting for the primal scream we have learned to expect from Manoa come NCAA selection time.
After the NCAA Volleyball Committee made the University of Hawai'i a stunning
No. 6 seed all but assuring the No. 2-ranked, 30-1 Rainbow Wahine's regional route to the final four will have to go through Lincoln, Neb., the waiting began for the scorching, high-decibel response.
As Nebraska coach John Cook told the Omaha World-Herald, "I would love to hear Coach Shoji's opinion right now on why they're a No. 6 seed and on why a team (Northern Iowa) that has lost to Bradley is a top-four seed."
Cook probably expected to hear it clear out in Lincoln — without necessity of a phone.
But, so far, there's been hardly a peep, which is both noteworthy and illustrative of the kind of team Hawai'i is.
Indeed, while Shoji has expressed disappointment over the seed and wondered out loud about the process that has led to some curious omissions and additions to the 64-team field, he's done it in moderate and surprisingly restrained tones.
Frankly, we've seen more steam come out of his ears over a chorus of "Tiny Bubbles."
I mean, can you imagine if Riley Wallace had a 30-1 team that got dealt with as Shoji's did? Seismographic needles would be quivering from here to Alaska.
When even the Northern Iowa coach, who got the No. 4 NCAA seed Hawai'i felt might be headed its way, says "I wasn't expecting this, to be honest," UH has grounds for disappointment. When UNI coach Bobbi Petersen said to the Cedar Falls Courier, "I don't want to say I'm shocked, but I was expecting a five, six, seven seed at most," few would blame UH for venting.
But from the Rainbow Wahine coaches to the players, the public comments have reflected a mature, we'll-take-it-as-it-comes tone if not a bring-it-on feistiness.
Shoji has said, "It doesn't do us any good to cry about it," and his players have pretty much said the same thing independently. Some, in fact, have claimed to relish the challenge of stepping into the Cornhuskers' den, if that is where the playoffs eventually take them.
Maybe there was a realization their competition would eventually drag them down. Or, perhaps they have learned not to expect too much from NCAA committees. Either way, there has been no we-wuz-robbed or woe-is-us self pity to be heard. Just a resolve to deal with whatever presents itself and make the best of it.
It couldn't have been easy, but it is both refreshing and the mark of a veteran, focused team. It might also be about the best thing the Rainbow Wahine can have going for them in these playoffs.
A team that doesn't dwell on its setbacks and embraces the challenge before it as another opportunity to prove itself is somebody to be reckoned with.
