Drama in court could affect UH’s success on the court

On the basketball court, the University of Hawaii men’s basketball team is rapidly piling up victories (19 and counting) as it stands atop the Big West Conference.

In the NCAA’s court, the stack of legal documents in Infractions Case #00202 is steadily rising like one of the upscale Kakaako condos. The accompanying bills no doubt adding up to the purchase price of one with an ocean view.

The more you cheer the former and the more you peruse the latter, especially the just-released infractions appeal, you can’t help but confront the what-ifs in this drama that shortly hits the two-year point with the NCAA.

What if, for example, there had been no clumsy attempt at a cover-up by the various parties? What if somebody in the then-administration — chancellor or athletic director — had put a decisive foot down early, forcing coaches and compliance to work hand-in-hand?

The likelihood is that the excitement and winning this year’s Rainbow Warriors have brought to the Stan Sheriff Center would have been part of a longer three-year run. What UH has right now could have been one of the great multi-season spans in their history given the pliability of the Big West.

Instead of being a good bet for their first conference title and first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001-02— and after vanquishing UC Irvine they are definitely on target — it is not a stretch to see the ’Bows in the middle of a three-peat.

Most of the transgressions that brought the NCAA gumshoes here in March 2014 — a free iPad, the use of a car belonging to a man who may or may not have been a booster, an operations director acting as a coach, practice hours, etc. — were, in the grand scheme of things, manini.

Lying and obfuscating weren’t. Nothing raises NCAA hackles — or dooms an institution to more grief — than fibbing to the folks from Indianapolis.

Sans the cover-up, Isaac Fotu would have gotten no more than a three-game suspension last year. Gib Arnold probably not much more. The drama could have been over in time for UH to hang a Big West championship banner in 2015.

And with Fotu on the floor here instead of in Spain, is there any doubt UH could have won the Big West? Perhaps regular season and tournament last year?

Without the cover-up there would be no possibility of a postseason ban hanging over UH’s head for 2016-17 and no early-out escape clause for the presumptive seniors who would form the strong core of next year’s team.

Nor would there have been a cloud over recruiting while NCAA sanctions are contested, possibly for several more months.

In their strongly worded 66-page appeal of Infractions Report #428 filed this week, UH’s Alabama-based attorneys have gone to the hoop hard on the ’Bows’ behalf. It is the kind of focused, all-out effort the basketball team has been putting forth since Long Beach State.

Still, you wish the only court UH had to perform on since 2014 was the one with baskets at each end.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.