'Bows at last arrive at next NIT stop
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
MINNEAPOLIS — The well-traveled Hawai'i men's basketball team went from Sin City to a Twin City yesterday.
After a five-night stay in Las Vegas, the Rainbow Warriors arrived in Minneapolis yesterday for a game against the University of Minnesota tomorrow. Tip-off for the second round game of the National Invitation Tournament is scheduled for 3 p.m. (Hawai'i time) at Williams Arena.
Hawai'i, which is 19-11, will be playing Minnesota (17-12) for the first time.
The weather was actually better than expected — temperatures were in the high 40s and skies were clear — but the logistics were not.
Because of limited available seats on flights to Minneapolis, the UH players and coaches had to split up into five separate travel groups yesterday.
The first group arrived in Minneapolis around noon; the last group got there around 8 p.m. As a result, UH head coach Riley Wallace canceled yesterday's scheduled practice at Minnesota's Williams Arena.
"We were only going to shoot around for an hour or so to see the gym," UH associate coach Bob Nash said. "We still have (today) to get in a good practice."
Yesterday was also the first time the team traveled since the United States went to war with Iraq (the 'Bows were in Las Vegas when the attacks started).
"I didn't think anything about it," Wallace said. "There's been a lot of security in place at airports for a while now, so it was nothing different."
Wallace's son, Rob, is a second lieutenant and currently in aviation school with the U.S. Marines. Because he is still in training, he will not be sent to Iraq.
"He has to graduate before they can send him out," Wallace said. "But you think about if he were ready, he might be over there. That part, I worry about."
UH junior forward Phil Martin, who is from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, was one of the players worried about traveling yesterday.
"You hate to think about it, but sometimes you feel like anything can happen at anytime," he said. "I don't know about the other guys, but I feel real nervous getting on planes and stuff right now."
What's more, Martin is concerned about the negative reaction some Canadians — especially the French Canadians — are showing toward the United States' involvement in Iraq.
"I'm hoping people don't group the whole country like that," Martin said. "I gather that (the war) needs to be done."
One UH player especially concerned about the war is junior center Haim Shimonovich. He is from Israel, which is considered one of the prime areas for a potential Iraqi attack.
"I talked to my family and they sounded calm," Shimonovich said. "Maybe they were just saying that not to scare me. But it's still scary to me to think that another country could bomb Israel."
Because of those thoughts, Shimonovich said he wasn't so much concerned about traveling in the United States.
"I feel pretty safe here," he said. "I'm more worried about the stuff back home."
If the 'Bows win tomorrow, they will fly again a few days later to the East Coast — to either Philadelphia or Rhode Island. Eventually, they hope to get to the NIT final four in New York.
"We have to travel, so we travel," Wallace said. "You can't think about all the negative stuff when you travel as much as we do. You just go out and do it."
