Posted on: Thursday, August 7, 2003

Dream on, UH hoops fans

Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Maybe it was too good to be true, this intriguing idea of Derrick Low leading the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team to the promised land.

But for as long as it lasted — which was from about the time Low scored 33 points to lead Iolani School to the state championship as a sophomore until Tuesday, when he announced he will be attending Washington State in 2004-05 — what a dream it had been.

Imagine a point guard from Hawai'i who could be a four-year UH starter. Picture someone who could take the legacy of David Hallums, Kalia McGee, Jarinn Akana, Alika Smith and expand the frontiers.

If Smith had been worth 3,000 to 3,500 fans per game in the roof-raising end of the 1990s, what might have Low been able to bring to the Stan Sheriff Center?

What a combination it could have been with former Kalaheo High star Julian Sensley, former Iolani teammate Bobby Nash and Low together in green on the same court. It isn't hard to imagine the three launching UH to a couple of NCAA Tournament appearances.

Low could have made a name and a future here for himself like few others. It could have also been coach Riley Wallace's parting shot at age 67 in what would have been a 22-year stay at UH by Low's senior year.

Perhaps that's what Wallace had in mind when he chose to personally undertake the recruiting of Low. Word is that Wallace anointed Low as UH's No. 1 priority with promises to build around him and give him the keys on a four-year run at the point — something not extended any other UH recruit.

So what happened on the way to Hoops Heaven?

Did Wallace not show enough "love" by failing to call as often or as sweetly as Washington State, as some around Low have suggested? Was Low, who didn't even visit Pullman, Wash., leaning to leaving all along, as some maintain? Or, did Washington State and the Bennetts, father Dick and son Tony, capture Low's heart and tap into his soul in one of those recruiting surprises?

Maybe we'll never really find consensus on what — or who — kept Low and UH apart. Meanwhile, the wish is that Low finds success in the Palouse. You hope he might become basketball's version of ex-Saint Louis School quarterback Jason Gesser at a school that has been to just one NCAA Tournament in Low's lifetime. And, maybe UH will find the point guard of its dreams.

You just hope that four years down the road neither finds a reason to regret what might have been.