WAC honors UH's English
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
Carl English turned 22 on Sunday.
Yesterday, his gift from the Western Athletic Conference came in the form of a Player of the Week award.
English, a 6-foot-5 junior guard, scored 58 points in two games last week to lead the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team to victories over Rice and Tulsa.
He scored 30 in the win over Rice, and then 28 in the victory over Tulsa. He shot 11-of-18 from 3-point range in the two games.
"He deserves it," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "He carried us in those two games."
English now leads the WAC in scoring with 20.9 points per game. It was the second time this season that he received the award.
Also yesterday, English did not make the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 30 list. He was on the Preseason Top 50 list.
More Bracket talk: Officials for Bracket Buster on Saturday said yesterday that Hawai'i was inconvenienced logistically by getting matched against Kent State, but with good reason.
"It's a tremendous voyage for Hawai'i to come over," said Burke Magnus, ESPN's director of programming. "But we were looking to schedule the best possible matchups."
Kent State is located in Kent, Ohio, which is in the Eastern time zone — a five-hour difference from Hawai'i time. The game is scheduled to start at 9:30 p.m. (EST) Feb. 22. The 'Bows have a home game against Nevada on Feb. 19, and plan to make a day-long flight to Ohio only a few hours after that game.
Still, Wallace said he had no gripes about the situation.
"There was nobody in the west that we could play," he said. "And if you look at the other teams that were available, they're all good."
Future Brackets: Officials for Bracket Buster on Saturday said they are already planning to run a similar event next season, and the WAC has been assured of getting four teams in again.
Officials indicated that Hawai'i — if selected again — would likely have to travel again.
"It's not fair, but we'll go if they invite us again," Wallace said. "It's probably because it's easier for us to stay on the Mainland and play either before or after the (Bracket Buster) game than it is for a team to come over to our place. But it would still be nice to give our fans a chance."
Kent State rolling: The Golden Flashes won their seventh consecutive game, 70-60 over Miami (Ohio) last night, to improve to 16-2.
Prior to the game, Kent State had a Rating Percentage Index (RPI) of 30 — the highest among the 18 teams participating in the Bracket Buster. Hawai'i is No. 64.
But first... : The 'Bows arrived safely in Ruston, La., yesterday for a WAC game against Louisiana Tech on Thursday.
