Unhappy with 10th seed, UH opens against Xavier

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

TULSA, Okla. — There was lots of catered food from Tulsa's famous Rib Crib at the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team's "Selection Sunday" party yesterday.

UH coach Riley Wallace was puzzled by the seedings. "We beat a 3 (Georgia) and an 8 (Wisconsin), and we're a 10. I don't know how they come up with that," he said. David Crenshaw • Special to The Honolulu Advertiser

The 'Bows were seeded No. 10 in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament yesterday. They will play No. 7 Xavier in a first-round game at Dallas' American Airlines Arena Friday. No starting time has been set yet.

"I suppose it's better than being an 8 or a 9 (seed) because if you win that, you play No. 1 next," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "But it's still no respect."

Hawai'i is having its greatest season ever with a record of 27-5. That includes the co-championship of the Western Athletic Conference regular season, and the championship of the WAC Tournament. On Saturday, the 'Bows beat Tulsa, 73-59, to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

"It's like we worked so hard and nobody noticed," senior tri-captain Mindaugas Burneika said. "I'm not going to lie. We were a little disappointed when we saw 10th seed. We're happy to be in the NCAAs and you have to go out and play no matter what your seed, but it was kind of sad to see that we were only 10th."

The Hawai'i players and coaches gathered in Wallace's hotel suite yesterday to watch the unveiling of the tournament brackets on television. They cheered when "Hawai'i" was revealed in the West Region, but then left the room quietly a few minutes later.

"It's frustrating in a sense because we don't get that respect," UH sophomore Carl English said. "We thought we had a chance to be a 5, 6 or 7 seed. When they pulled out that 10 on us, it was like, man, what do we gotta do? We're a much better ball team than what we got credit for."

But not all the news yesterday was disrespectful.

For the first time this season — the first time since 1998, actually — Hawai'i broke into one of the national top 25 polls.

The 'Bows were ranked No. 24 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll released yesterday.

Mindaugas Burneika said all his team's hard work went unnoticed. Advertiser library photo

"I don't know if we have to try and prove anything," Wallace said. "We just have to prove we can win."

Indeed, this will be Hawai'i's fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament. The others came in 1972, 1994, and last year. Each of the previous three ended with a first-round loss.

"We already broke lots of records, why not break another one?" Burneika said.

There was some good news

If anything favorable for the 'Bows came out of yesterday's bracket announcement, it was the site. Hawai'i makes a trip to Dallas every year to play Southern Methodist. On Feb. 7, the 'Bows beat SMU, 85-76.

"I would have preferred Sacramento (Calif.), but Dallas is OK," Wallace said. "It's better than Albuquerque (N.M.) and the guys are comfortable in that town."

What's more, the 'Bows will not even change time zones this week. After winning the WAC Tournament championship Saturday, they stayed in Tulsa through last night.

The 'Bows will depart Tulsa this morning for a 1-hour, 20-minute flight to Dallas. They will have four days to prepare for Xavier and its All-America candidate, David West. The 6-foot-9 forward leads the Musketeers with 18.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game.

Hoping to take advantage of familiar surroundings, the 'Bows will probably practice at SMU's Moody Coliseum this week.

"It's a short trip, we know the city, and we've played well over there before," senior Predrag Savovic said. "We've been proving ourselves all year, we just have to do a little more now."

• Savo's back: Not that there was any doubt after his Most Valuable Player performance in last week's WAC Tournament, but Savovic said yesterday that his lower back "feels great."

Savovic suffered muscle spasms in his lower back Feb. 28, and was questionable in the days leading to the WAC Tournament. But in three games in three days, he scored 74 points and grabbed 22 rebounds.

"I'm over it," he said. "The back is fine. Couldn't you tell?"

• Common teams: Among the teams on Hawai'i's schedule this season, five made the NCAA Tournament field: Alcorn State, Georgia, Wisconsin, San Diego State and Tulsa.

The 'Bows went 6-1 against those teams, including 3-0 against Tulsa. Hawai'i also defeated Georgia and Wisconsin, although both of those teams received high seeds.

"Georgia is a 3 (seed) and Wisconsin is an 8," Wallace said. "So we beat a 3 and an 8, and we're 10. I don't know how they come up with that."