Posted on: Tuesday, January 1, 2002
Basketball 'Bows at 11-2, gaining national attention
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team is hoping 2002 turns out to be as prosperous as 2001.
The Rainbow Warriors are 11-2 so far this season, and their early rise to the top of the Western Athletic Conference standings has not gone unnoticed.
For the first time this season, the 'Bows received votes in both the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and the Associated Press Top 25 yesterday. UH got six votes from the coaches, and three from the media in the AP Poll.
Also, CBSSportsLine.com listed Hawai'i as one of "six surprising schools to watch entering 2002." The others are Tulane, Pittsburgh, Utah State, Rutgers and Georgia. And that was before UH's WAC victories over Fresno State and Nevada last week.
"The point was to give a little pub to some underexposed teams," wrote Dan Wetzel, a senior writer for CBSSportsLine.com.
After UH's 83-73 victory over Fresno State last Thursday, the Fresno Bee described the 'Bows as "the Western Athletic Conference's best squad."
Perhaps most important, Hawai'i is No. 56 in the latest Rating Percentage Index (RPI) released yesterday. Less than two weeks ago, the 'Bows were No. 146.
Although its system is arguable (Arizona is No. 1 in the RPI, ahead of Duke), the RPI helps determine at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.
And UH is expected to receive even more exposure in the near future.
Senior guard Predrag Savovic has a good chance of becoming UH's first WAC Player of the Week this season when the award is announced tomorrow. He scored 42 points and grabbed eight rebounds in Hawai'i's two victories last week.
Southern Methodist guard Quinton Ross, and Louisiana Tech guard Gerrod Henderson are the only other legitimate candidates from teams that won two games last week.
Ross recorded 37 points and 14 rebounds; Henderson had 38 points and 13 rebounds.
Also, UH sophomore guard Carl English is the subject of a feature article scheduled to appear in the next edition of ESPN The Magazine.
Of course, all the attention could backfire if Hawai'i is unsuccessful this week on its first WAC road trip of the season. The 'Bows are scheduled to play at Texas-El Paso on Thursday, and then at Boise State on Saturday.
UTEP and Boise State both went 0-2 in WAC road games last week.
"It's better for us because they did lose," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "You lose a little bit of that edge when you have doubts in there that you're losing rather than winning. Both teams are beatable if we play our game."
Still, Hawai'i has much to prove. In the past three seasons, the 'Bows are 2-20 in regular-season WAC games on the road.
ESPN.com is listing Hawai'i at UTEP as one of "This Week's Games to Watch," because: "The Rainbow Warriors are the hottest team in the WAC, but they haven't left the islands. They go to UTEP and Boise State this week and must prove that they're not simply a home-cooked team by getting at least a split."
