Just about no one knows what the Hawaii women’s basketball team has been up to for the past two weeks. Coach Dana Takahara-Dias is banking on that being a good thing heading into the Rainbow Wahine’s final Western Athletic Conference season. UH opens up at San Jose State today.

"I think it works in our favor — we get some R and R, we get the opportunity to work on a lot of new things," Takahara-Dias said of the unusually long lull since the team’s last game. "It gets (our players) hungry, it gets them excited to get back on the court again."

The Wahine last played Dec. 30 against North Carolina State in the finale of the Pepsi Rainbow Wahine Invitational, an 84-54 loss.

The time since was spent in two-a-day sessions as UH aimed to correct, well, aim … and its surprisingly sluggish 58.8 points-per-game offense; the team was expected to get up and down more this season. There was plenty of running to be had to that end, as Takahara-Dias pledged to make the past two weeks like "a cross-country meet."

"The past couple weeks have been brutal," sophomore forward Vicky Tagalicod said. "Practices were intense, but the good thing is everybody came out working hard. Came out fighting, even though it was the last week of break and everybody wanted to be at the beach. We were in here working hard, getting things done that we need to get done before the WAC starts."

That time is now. UH, picked fifth in both preseason polls, opens up a 14-game league schedule with a stand-alone road game.

Perennial WAC powerhouse Fresno State (12-4) is the clear-cut favorite this year, with Utah State (10-5, 1-0 WAC) a secondary contender.

Several factors may go in UH’s favor as the Wahine shoot to better last year’s sixth-place finish (5-11 WAC) before leaving for the Big West Conference.

» UH’s record could be partially misleading because of the slate of top-tier nonconference competition it faced. It included blowout losses against DePaul, Texas, California and N.C. State.

» The Wahine got a late boost with the midseason additions of Tagalicod (11.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg) and freshman center Kalei Adolpho (7.7 ppg, 9.0 rpg), helping make up for the loss of sophomore wing Shawna Kuehu for the season due to personal reasons.

» Associate head coach Gavin Petersen returned to UH directly from Idaho and has spent the past few seasons scouting WAC opponents.

» UH has one of the WAC’s top players in sophomore forward Kamilah Jackson. She is the league’s top rebounder at 10.1 per game and is fifth in scoring at 14.5 ppg.

No league games figure to come easy, especially on the road. The Spartans, behind new coach Tim La Kose, have two of the top six scorers in the WAC, with senior forward Brittany Johnson leading the league at 19.3 points per game.

The Spartans won four of their past six heading into WAC and are the league’s top rebounding team at 42.1 per game. UH lost three of four going into league play.