Conference trips had ups, downs

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team won only one game on the Western Athletic Conference road this season.

Who cares?

The road is the reason why the WAC is so wacky.

There was all-you-can-eat barbecue in Tulsa, Okla. Sleepwalking in Ruston, La. Blackjack in Reno, Nev.

Senior walk-ons Ryne Holliday and Lance Takaki made all the road trips and played a combined three minutes.

But all was not lost.

Holliday and Takaki were doubling as undercover voters for The Honolulu Advertiser's annual WACkys — the best and worst of the Western Athletic Conference.

After all, they had the best seats in every arena and plenty of time to review the sights and sounds.

The 'Bows departed Honolulu last night for the WAC Tournament at Tulsa. They will play a quarterfinal game against Rice on Thursday.

The WACkys, however, are based purely on regular-season trips, and the decisions of the two seniors are final. Here, then, are their selections (to avoid any biases, they were not allowed to pick Hawai'i in any category):

• Arena

Best: Tulsa's Donald W. Reynolds Center was opened in 1998, making it the newest facility in the WAC. "It's new, it's clean, and the rims are good," Takaki said.

Worst: Rice's Autry Court was opened in 1950, making it the oldest facility in the WAC. "The locker rooms are horrible. You could put three midgets in there and they'd be cramped," Holliday said.

• Fans

Best: The Fresno State fans don't have to be coaxed into wearing a certain color. They wear red for every home game. "In the past, Tulsa had the loudest fans. This year, it was Fresno," Takaki said.

Worst: San Jose State by default. "They're the worst because they don't show up," Holliday said.

• Cheerleaders and Dancers

Best: Life at the end of the bench apparently has its perks, as Takaki and Holliday discovered in Tulsa. "They were right there in front of us," Holliday said. "I was really impressed with the Tulsa dancers."

He didn't specify whether he was describing their routines . . .

Worst: Rice gave it the old college try, but ... "When we were there, they did this thing where the guy cheerleader was lying down and the girl cheerleader stood on his back and made like she was surfing," Holliday said. "It was horrible."

• Team introductions

Best: Tie between Boise State and Nevada.

At Boise State, the lights dim as the sound of thundering hooves blare over the sound system. The overhead Jumbotron plays a video of a bronco stampede, and then the Bronco players come running out. "I thought that was cool," Holliday said.

At Nevada, a similar scheme is used with a pack of howling wolves displayed on the screen. At the end of the clip, the announcer says "the strength of the pack is in the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is in the pack." Takaki said he liked that because he once played football for the Pac-Five Wolfpack.

Worst: At Rice, the announcer says only the first name of the starting Owls. The crowd then shouts out the last name. "It would be a lot better if more than 10 people yelled the guys' names," Takaki said.

• Timeout entertainment

Best: At Boise State, two fans are tied to opposite ends of a bungee cord and instructed to race toward opposite baskets to shoot a basketball. Within seconds, both contestants were bouncing around the court, struggling to shoot the ball. "That was awesome," Takaki said. "We were cracking up."

Worst: Once again, San Jose State by default. "I don't think they did anything," Holliday said.

• Restaurants

Best: There isn't much to do in Ruston, home of Louisiana Tech. Eating is one of the highlights. The Cajun Cafe is a winner, and Holliday said he had "some real good barbecue" in Ruston.

Worst: In El Paso, Texas — which is near the Mexican border — many of the restaurant workers speak very little English. That was a problem for a team with players from seven different nations, none of them being Mexico. "We had the worst service," Holliday said. "We had to wait one hour for our food."

• Overall city

Best: "Reno!" Holliday and Takaki said in unison. On a trip to play Nevada, the 'Bows stayed in the Reno Hilton, home to one of the largest casinos in the city. The fun was merely an elevator ride away, and all of it legal.

Worst: Factoring in the wind-chill, the temperature got down to 0 degrees while the 'Bows were in Tulsa. In a quote that appeared on national television, Takaki said: "I've never been so cold in my life."

• Moment

Best: Only on the road can something like this happen. At Ruston, a restless Takaki took a sleeping pill and wound up sleepwalking around the hotel. Along the way, he stopped to talk to teammates and fell on his face several times. He doesn't remember any of it, but his teammates won't let him forget it.

Worst: At Tulsa, the 'Bows lost by 25 points and more than half the players came down with flu-like symptoms. "I spent that whole trip in the bathroom, so it had to be the worst," Takaki said.