The bad news is that the Western Athletic Conference is having an uncharacteristically terrible season in men's basketball.

The good news is that it is so awful almost everybody in the conference has a chance to win the thing.

Which, if you are the University of Hawai'i, is an opportunity to be relished. And, hopefully, not wasted.

As the Rainbow Warriors (7-10, 3-2 WAC) hit the road on their annual arctic swing for games at Boise State tomorrow and Idaho Saturday, opportunity stares them right in the kisser.

For the first time in years there is no WAC team ranked in the Top 25. Heck, there is nobody to be found in the top 85 of the power ratings. Not until No. 95 in the Ratings Percentage Index of College www.RPI.com do you even spot a WAC team, Nevada (10-7, 2-2). There are, however, several teams to be found in the 200s and 300s, including UH at No. 269.

So it shouldn't be a surprise that, among 32 Division I conferences, the WAC has been hovering between 19th and 20th in the power ratings. If the NCAA Tournament were played this weekend, only the WAC champion would go. Nor is that likely to change by March, when it is played. And, for perhaps the ultimate putdown, the WAC will be lucky to land even one team in the televised portion of ESPN's Bracket Buster next month.

That makes for a rare year indeed for the WAC, which has had a long run of solid seasons as a so-called mid-major conference. But if that doesn't portend well for the bottom line when NCAA money is distributed, it does mean things are wide-open in the race for the one automatic NCAA Tournament berth.

That goes to the winner of the WAC Tournament, March 11-14, in Las Cruces, N.M. regardless of record or ranking, rendering the regular season almost meaningless except for tournament seeding and preparation purposes.

Not a bad thing, really, if you are the 'Bows. Picked to finish sixth in the nine-team conference in the annual preseason poll, the 'Bows can have as good a shot as anybody come tournament time, if they can sharpen their act. History tells us the 'Bows have come out of the pack to win the tournament before, 1993-94 as a fourth-place team and 2000-01 as a team in a fifth-place tie.

UH had better, deeper teams those years to be sure. But, then, the WAC was much tougher in those seasons, too.

This season Utah State (14-5, 4-0) might be the class of the WAC, but the Aggies are far from imposing against a watered down schedule. Likewise for would-be contenders New Mexico State (10-10, 4-1) and Boise State (13-5, 4-2).

This week's road trip and next week's homestand to wrap up the first round should tell us a lot more about the 'Bows. But we already know enough about the WAC to think there is opportunity amid the crushing mediocrity.

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