By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

When the National Invitation Tournament announced that Utah State's first-round opponent for today would be the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team, the immediate reaction on both sides was:

"Oh, gosh, no!" said Randy Rahe, Utah State assistant coach.

"We said, 'Why did it have to be those guys?' " recalls Jackson Wheeler, a UH assistant.

"They're about the last ones we wanted to see," Rahe said.

In Utah State's case, it wasn't so much because of the ability of the 19-11 Rainbow Warriors — the 25th-ranked Aggies (25-3) are 7 1/2-point favorites today — but because of several long-standing friendships.

For these best of rivals, the loser of the 4:05 p.m. (Hawai'i time) game calls it a season as the winner moves on, a situation that tugs at their ties and tries their friendships.

"We're all good friends, the head coaches and the assistants, and we root for each other throughout the year," Rahe says. "That's why it is tough now; you don't want to play your friends in a situation like this because one of us has to lose. That's not fun, even if you win."

Theirs is a friendship of once-frequent rivals, forged on the court, on the recruiting trail and across golf courses. It goes back more than a decade to a time when USU head coach Stew Morrill and Rahe, his top assistant, were at Colorado State and Wallace and Wheeler, his chief recruiter, were early in their UH tenure.

Curiously, Wallace and Morrill, who was then at Montana, were once competitors for the same CSU job in 1991, a position that eventually went to Morrill as Wallace, his deal sweetened by then-UH athletic director Stan Sheriff, pulled out.

Cast as competitors for six seasons in the old Western Athletic Conference where UH enjoyed a 9-5 edge, they have since come to know each other on more than just game days and beyond the bounds of the season.

When Wallace's two children, Rob and Kim, attended CSU, it was "Uncle" Stew and his wife, Vicki, who helped look out for them, Wallace said. "They watched out and helped them when they needed it and we appreciated that."

Said Morrill: "I'm sure Riley and (Joan) would have done the same for us, but Hawai'i was just too expensive for us to send any of our kids out there."

Wheeler and Rahe talk at least once a week, share coaching grapevine news, frequently travel the same junior college recruiting trails together and occasionally bounce evaluations off each other. "We were going to get together in Hutchison (Kan.) — until this game came up," Rahe said.

This week they have been looking at tape of each other's teams. "When you turn on the tape it all comes back," Rahe said. "They haven't changed that much in what they do, they're still well-coached and sound."

Said Wheeler: "They haven't changed much, either."

What has changed, however, is what could be riding on it. Morrill is rumored to be one of the leading candidates to succeed Rick Majerus at Utah, a move that, should it happen, could open up the way for a Rahe candidacy at Utah State. An upset today wouldn't enhance either scenario.

"All I know," Wheeler said, "is that it is tough when you play your best friends, especially this time of the year."

"It should be a good game," Rahe said. "But, believe me, I'll be glad when it is over."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.