Tough tests, big trip ahead on Wahine hoops schedule

Dana Takahara-Dias has laughed off difficult schedules before. Year three of her tenure as Rainbow Wahine basketball coach could require the most bravado yet.

In its 2011-12 schedule announced on Tuesday, Hawaii plays a home-heavy schedule of 20 dates at the Stan Sheriff Center, but it will be tested at every turn by power-conference teams and other mid- and low-majors that tasted the postseason last March.

UH plays five NCAA tournament teams from 2010-11: DePaul, Texas and UC Davis in nonconference action and Western Athletic Conference foes Fresno State and Louisiana Tech. Seven other schools on the 2011-12 schedule were in the WNIT: California, Virginia, Portland State, Denver and Florida Gulf Coast in nonconference, and Nevada and Utah State from the WAC.

For a Wahine team that went 11-19 and lost five seniors from last season, that could be asking a lot. But Takahara-Dias shook it off as valuable experience.

"We love playing at home, we play successfully at home, even if we are playing a tough nonconference schedule," Takahara-Dias said. "It gives us the opportunity for every advantage.

"I tell you, it’s very challenging to get teams out, because of the financial crisis," she added. "Of course it’s (the better) teams that can afford the trip. There are good programs but nevertheless we’re excited to play great teams from (14) different conferences. That will benefit us when we start conference play."

There is one notable departure from the slew of 12 Division I nonleague home games, broken up into four four-team tournaments. UH will play at Army and at Columbia in New York at the start of December in the longest road trip in program history, nearly 5,000 miles away from Honolulu. The longest Wahine trips to date have been to Ruston, La., to play LaTech, about 4,000 miles away.

"It’s a huge opportunity not just to play basketball games, but it will be beneficial for our recruiting base," Takahara-Dias said. "It also gives our ladies a unique experience to visit the East Coast. Hopefully we’ll have some spare time where we can take up a tour of the new World Trade Center and making sure that we honor and not forget the events of Sept. 11."

UH’s final WAC schedule before leaving for the Big West Conference, at least, is more favorable than in Takahara-Dias’ previous two years. UH has no more than two games on a single road trip, except at season’s end when the Wahine go from Utah State and Idaho straight to the WAC tournament in Las Vegas, starting March 7.