Wahine basketball team holding out hope for NCAA berth
| • | Wahine players show emotions after 53-50 loss |
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
TULSA, Okla. — Two weeks after being upset by Rice, eighth-ranked Louisiana Tech barely escaped the University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine, 53-50, in yesterday's WAC Tournament championship. The vast gap in the Western Athletic Conference is clearly closing. But will three points keep Hawai'i out of yet another NCAA Tournament?
The conference's automatic berth puts the Lady Techsters in their 20th NCAA Tournament. Hawai'i is desperately seeking its sixth today, when the 33 at-large invitations are handed out. It hasn't been to the NCAA since 1998, and optimism is at a premium. Even Tech coach Leon Barmore skated around the question of if the Rainbow Wahine are worthy.
"The conference needs two teams in," said Barmore, who has been to nine Final Fours and won one national title. "I thought Rice was in, but they really hurt themselves yesterday (Friday) so Hawai'i needs to be in the NCAAs. They sure do."
Need and want have never come up in the NCAA committee discussions. Coach Vince Goo's case is solid, with no "bad losses." But it lacks the knockout punch an upset would have provided.
Of the Rainbows' seven defeats, five have come against teams ranked in the top 10 — Stanford, Baylor and Tech (three times).
Rice provided the other two — "and we avenged that by 23 points" — Goo said. The Owls dropped from 41 to 46 in the CollegeRPI.com power rating after losing to UH on Friday, while the Rainbows bumped up four spots to 42. Tech was 20 going into yesterday's game, which it won in the final minute after trailing by seven at halftime.
More than the dominant win over Rice, that heartbreaking loss gives Goo hope.
"They've gotta know we're playing good now, staying with Louisiana Tech, holding them to 53 points," he said. "I've heard people say if it was a blowout today we don't go. It wasn't a blowout, was it? We showed them we can play some defense, and play with some good people."
Even Barmore, whose team has won its last 20 conference tournament games, agreed with that assessment.
"Hawai'i could have beat us today just as easily as we won," he said. "And that's good. It's good for our league. It was good for us, to be honest with you."
It was good for Hawai'i, even if it is disappointed by the NCAA again today.
"We played with composure, played smart against some good people," Goo said. "We played smart today, real smart yesterday.
"We told the players after the Rice game, I thought we were a .500 team coming into this season. After last year, I thought we'd be OK as a .500 club knowing what we lost in offense, defense and experience. But we didn't know Kim (Willoughby) was going to do what she did. We didn't know Tasja (Allen) was going to have a good early season, that (Christen) Roper would have such a good year as a starter. Janka (Gabrielova) we kind of had an idea, but we didn't know Karena (Greeny) was going to have her finest year. We didn't know Michelle (Gabriel) was going to step in and Chelsea (Wagner) would be able to contribute as a freshman. Winning 23 games is way above and beyond .500.
"They just kept coming."
