How many times, you wonder, in this remarkable 13-0 season has head coach Alan Matsui told his Sacred Hearts Academy basketball players not to look ahead? How often has he implored them to play their games one at a time and not gaze beyond?

However many it might have been, be assured Matsui is doing his best to live what he preaches this week of all weeks.

The Lancers are the No. 1 seed in the Hawaiian Airlines Girls Basketball State Division II Championships that begins today and Matsui has more reason than most for wanting his team's season to go on ... and on.

It has less to do with championships and trophies than you might think. Though, to bag a title after all the Lancers have been through these past few years would likely result in a roar resounding well beyond their Kaimuki campus.

For as soon as the season ends for the Lancers, whether it be clutching the championship trophy or going out in their opener tomorrow, Matsui faces a decision he clearly does not want to make.

Either he walks away from Sacred Hearts, where he has built up the program from two-, three- and four-win seasons to its first state tournament appearance, or he leaves the boys junior varsity team at his alma mater, Hawai'i Baptist Academy.

That much is certain. What he will do is less sure, he maintains.

The choice is his even if he didn't want to make it this soon. When the HHSAA voted earlier this month to reconcile the basketball season for boys and girls, bringing the girls in line with what the boys have traditionally had, it meant Matsui's days of holding both jobs were numbered. When it was further decided last week to do it next year instead of waiting until 2008-09, it meant he was one of a handful of prep coaches on the clock.

"The way it was going, I thought I'd have another year or so to have to make the decision," Matsui said.

Realigning the seasons was, of course, overdue and the right thing to do for equality. But for those caught in the middle, it can hit hard. Few could feel the impact as much as the all-girls school making its first tournament appearance.

A fact not lost on the Lancers. "Basically, the whole sophomore class and the juniors came up to me as soon as it came out in the newspaper and said, 'Coach, we want to know...' " Matsui said. "I looked at them and said, 'What are you asking?'

"They said, 'Are you coming back?' "

"So, I asked them, 'Are you asking me back?' " Matsui recalled. "They said they were and that made me happy that they wanted me back as hard as I've been on them at times. I told them, 'I love you guys and a family decision will have to be made.' "

In the meantime, Matsui said he's also had calls from officials at HBA. "They wished us luck — and told me 'not to rule us out.' "

Matsui said the decision can wait. "I told (the players) that I want this to keep going as long as we can."

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