Rainbows enter land of the unknown

Shanghai » For years, it was difficult to get any sort of information out of the secluded People’s Republic of China.

Though much has changed about the nation in recent years, apparently that old notion holds true today when scouting the nation’s premier hoops league, the Chinese Basketball Association.

The Hawaii men’s basketball team is scheduled to play — according to the most recent schedule — four games against two different Chinese pro teams, starting on Friday against Shandong in the city of Weifang.

Normally, NCAA teams aren’t allowed to play sanctioned games against professionals. The one allowance is when the game happens during an international tour (allowed once every four years) on foreign soil.

After flying north into Qingdao this morning, UH was to get in a practice in the evening to prepare for the pros. But as advance scouting reports go, UH is essentially flying blind on this one. No available roster or game tape exchange, as is the norm among NCAA opponents.

“We aren’t going into these games with a scout on these teams,” UH coach Gib Arnold acknowledged. “I have no idea who we’re playing like we would during the season. I know they play quality basketball. I know these guys are professionals; they’re paid to play.

“It will be a new experience for our guys playing these guys. They’ll be older, they’ll have played together a lot more. We’ve had 10 practices and a scrimmage game. But I think it will be another learning experience playing against another style of basketball.”

The UH coach expects plenty of drive-and-kick action with the opposing big men stepping away from the basket to shoot 3-pointers, so UH’s bigs would have to cover them accordingly. Shandong’s guards may also leak out for fast-break baskets if the Rainbow Warriors are caught napping.

“Our transition defense is going to have to be really good, which I like, because if there’s only one thing we could get in during these games, is an understanding of how good we are in defensive transition,” Arnold said. “That would pay dividends 100-fold in the season.”

The CBA has been dominated by two teams, the Bayi Rockets, and most recently the Guangdong Tigers, who’ve taken seven of the past eight titles. UH isn’t playing one of the elite, however; the first team up, the Shandong Flaming Bulls, finished 14-18 last season, according to the hoops compiler website asiabasket.com.

The teams are limited to a couple of foreigners on their roster to keep the emphasis on building up the league with homegrown talent.

With the NBA lockout showing no signs of abating, the rumor mill has been rife with reports that stars in their prime such as Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwight Howard or Kevin Durant will make an unprecedented, if temporary, leap across the Pacific to the CBA.

But American pros playing in China is nothing new. Former NBA’ers have come to Asia to extend their careers, with the most notable current example former All-Star Stephon Marbury, who played point guard for the Foshan Long Lions last season.

No matter who’s out there, sophomore point guard Bobby Miles plans to treat the game just like any other — even with UH limited with a roster of 10 players.

“It’s just going to be a good experience overall, just to play against new challenges, opponents. It’s going to be tough,” Miles said.

He said he’d try not to think of them as professionals.

“Just as basketball players,” he said. “We’re just going to go out there and play hard, play together.”

It’s anyone’s best guess what kind of crowds will show up for the games, but UH assistant coach Brandyn Akana (who arranged the contests) thought attendance might range between 500 and 1,000.