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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, August 4, 2003

Marquee teams missing from 2003-04 schedule

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

If only that federal judge in Ohio had ruled earlier.

The University of Hawai'i men's basketball schedule for 2003-04 is all but set, and it appears strength of schedule will not be one of the Rainbow Warriors' strengths.

UH officials do not want to release the full schedule yet because of a snag in the Western Athletic Conference schedule.

However, UH's non-conference schedule will not feature any of the so-called marquee teams of college basketball.

"It's a combination of a lot of things," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "The first is, we've gotten better and teams don't want to come here and play us anymore. The second thing is, the numbers didn't play out with the exempted tournaments. All the big schools used up their eligibility, so they couldn't come."

A federal judge ruled last Monday that the NCAA could no longer enforce its rule limiting Division I teams to two exempted tournaments within a four-year span — the "2-in-4" rule.

The ruling came about two months too late for the 'Bows to make any changes to their 2003-04 schedule.

"We already have signed contracts that we have to honor," said UH associate coach Bob Nash.

This year's Rainbow Classic field is a who's that of mid- to low-majors: American, Bowling Green, East Tennessee State, Fairfield, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Lamar and Pepperdine.

For the first time, Hawai'i will participate in the Maui Invitational. But even that field is down compared to previous years: Chaminade, Central Michigan, Dayton, Ohio State, San Diego State, Santa Clara and Villanova.

UH will also host a four-team tournament, featuring Idaho State, New Orleans and Texas Southern.

Single home dates against UC Santa Barbara and Oregon State are the other non-conference games.

"It's not the greatest schedule, but it's what we have, so we can't complain about it," Wallace said. "You just have to go out and try to win as many as you can."

• Bracket Buster: The snag holding up the WAC schedule can actually be traced to ESPN's Bracket Buster. Hawai'i has again been invited to participate in the one-day event in February, and the 'Bows will again have to play a road game (last season they won at Kent State).

Wallace originally did not want to participate in Bracket Buster this season if a road trip was required, but ESPN requested that the 'Bows be involved.

The snag comes because UH now has to shuffle a WAC road trip to accommodate the Bracket Buster game. One scenario had the 'Bows playing three road games in three different cities in a span of six days.

"That's not fair," Wallace said. "So we're still trying to figure out how to fit everything in."

Fresno State and Tulsa are the other WAC teams invited by ESPN. The fourth WAC spot will go to either Nevada or Rice.

The Bracket Buster was created by ESPN last season as a way to showcase successful college basketball programs that don't normally get to play on national television.

• Maui field will hold: Shortly after the "2-in-4" rule was rescinded last week, ESPN.com hinted that the Maui Invitational could upgrade its field.

Not true, said Maui Invitational chairman Wayne Duke.

"Contracts are signed and we have a professional responsibility to follow through," he said.

Duke said pairings for the Maui Invitational will be completed by mid-August.

• Future upgrades: As long as teams are allowed to participate in exempted tournaments every year (the NCAA is trying to appeal last week's decision), Wallace is confident that UH's future schedules will be stronger.

"Georgetown and Kentucky already said they want to come out," he said.

Wallace said UH has been invited to travel for non-conference games, but he has always been against that idea.

"The big teams even guarantee you some money," Wallace said. "It makes sense to go there and make money and have your (power rating) jump. But it doesn't make sense to wear your team out with the travel when they already have to travel a lot as it is in the conference."