Final Four coach has Hawaii connection

Long after his coaching debut at the University of Hawaii, Louisville’s Rick Pitino now may be eying the Basketball Hall of Fame while going for his second national championship in this year’s Final Four. His first chore today is to defeat co-semifinalist Kentucky, which he coached to his first national title in 1996.

Pitino was a graduate assistant coach at UH in 1974 and became a full-time assistant and interim head coach during the 1975-76 season. The Rainbows went 2-4 at the end of that season after Coach Bruce O’Neil was fired. Pitino was implicated in sanctions by the NCAA against UH for rules infractions in 1977, after he had gone to an assistant coaching job at Syracuse.

Learning this week that he did not yet make the Hall of Fame, Pitino told the New York Post that he was not upset, adding, "The worst part about it was telling your wife and children you didn’t make it."

Strangers in the night, 626,367 of them

The news that 626,367 people visited Hawaii in February — 5.6 percent more than in February 2011 — is a good reminder that at any particular time in this beautiful state, there are many strangers among us.

From around the world, these people are in our midst every day, and, to some extent, it’s odd to think that many of the folks we see walking or driving around each day are not really from here. Many of them certainly look like they’re from here, while others are easy to spot as visitors, based on their clothing styles or the cars they are driving, among other giveaways.

Ideally, the taxes they pay while here are enough to cover the wear and tear they impose on our infrastructure, but still their presence generally is appreciated: We get to meet people from faraway places, and, even better, they spend a lot of money while they’re here, helping many of us pay our bills so we can continue to say, "Lucky we live Hawaii."