UH goes long way to play on national TV
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
Let's face it, the only brackets the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team might be able to bust through tomorrow is the National Invitation Tournament.
The way this season is going, UH head coach Riley Wallace will take that — and a chance to play before a national television audience.
The Rainbow Warriors are scheduled to play Kent State tomorrow in one of nine Bracket Buster Saturday games. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. (Hawai'i time), and the game will be televised live on ESPN2.
"People are trying to get me to say I don't like it," Wallace said. "Nothing's bad as long as we're on (national) TV. I don't care who we play ... that publicity is good for the WAC and good for Hawai'i."
The travel itinerary wasn't so good.
Less than three hours after a 73-71 victory over Nevada in the Stan Sheriff Center Wednesday night, the 'Bows were on a flight to Denver. After a one-hour layover, they flew to Cleveland. That was followed by a one-hour bus ride to Kent, Ohio.
All told, it was a 16 1/2-hour trip, factoring in the five-hour time difference.
What's more, the 'Bows were greeted by 40-degree temperatures, although the snowstorm that shut down the city earlier this week has passed.
They will also be greeted by a pretty good Kent State team that advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament last season. This season, the Golden Flashes are 18-5, although they have lost three of their last four games.
"Kent State is about like the upper three or four (teams) of the WAC, from what I've seen on film," Wallace said. "Everybody I've talked to says they're good and we have to be ready for them."
The Golden Flashes, who compete in the Mid-American Conference, rank among the top 10 in NCAA Division I with a .503 field-goal percentage, and are second in the nation with a .417 percentage from 3-point range.
• Top player hurting: Antonio Gates, Kent State's best player, sat out of practice yesterday because of a bruised knee.
His injury came early in a 98-55 victory over Buffalo Tuesday. He played just six minutes of that game, recording four points and two rebounds.
Gates, a 6-foot-5, 250-pound forward, is still expected to start tomorrow. He leads the Golden Flashes in scoring (20.7 per game) and rebounding (7.8).
• Late uniforms: UH players arrived safely in Ohio, but their game uniforms did not. A bag containing the Hawai'i travel jerseys was apparently lost somewhere along the route. It was expected to be recovered by today.
• No return: Every traveling team in the Bracket Buster has been assured a "return" home game next November.
Kent State, however, will apparently not get to play at Hawai'i. When the Bracket Buster was first organized, each team signed a contract with a designated partner.
Hawai'i was paired with UC Santa Barbara, and Kent State was paired with Detroit. Because of that, UCSB will travel to Hawai'i in November, and Kent State will travel to Detroit.
However, coaches from both Hawai'i and Kent State have expressed an interest in working out a game in Hawai'i.
• No-win zone: In Wallace's 16 seasons as head coach at UH, the 'Bows are 0-5 in games played in the Eastern time zone. The last one was a 79-69 loss to Syracuse in a NCAA Tournament game at Dayton, Ohio, two years ago.
