It had all the makings of a script for the next "Mission: Impossible" movie. The premise: Give the University of Hawaii men’s basketball team something it’s never really had — an honest-to-goodness, raucous student section.

The very idea of it seemed laughable. Stigmatized as a commuter campus, UH Manoa has ever struggled to build any sort of homegrown hoops tradition from its student base in Section F, the Stan Sheriff Center’s designated student area behind the mauka-facing basket.

Enter the man with the plan, UH video coordinator-turned superfan Jamie Smith, a basketball coach/nut/aficionado who has experience on coaching staffs with both the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers, not to mention prominent college programs like North Carolina and Florida.

Smith’s task (and he’s chosen to accept it): Coordinate with the resurgent student fan group, the Manoa Maniacs, to cultivate a true "sixth man" in the stands for the Rainbow Warriors by making games accessible and enjoyable for the average student.

That’s meant a multi-pronged strategy, the most notable of which is a different theme for every game, from basics like "Make a Sign Night" to crowd-pleasers like "Wig Night" and "70s Disco Night."

Because of some persistent issues with his international work visa, Smith, of England, hasn’t been the team’s video coordinator since Dec. 20. But he feels obligated to see the season out as a sort of unpaid student ringleader at games.

"I came up — although Coach (Gib Arnold) likes to say he came up with it — the idea of every game is a party," said Smith, 32. "It’s a party theme. This is where the students can come and have a good time. That’s really what we’re trying to sell. I’m not really selling basketball now. I’m selling the students on having a good time."

Perhaps the crown jewel of themes is Saturday’s 5 p.m. BracketBuster game against Northern Arizona. It’s "Star Wars Night."

UH has done successful theme nights in the past, particularly of the "whiteout" and "blackout" variety.

But this was different. This targeted students specifically, and the results were undeniable.

UH has averaged 322 students in 13 standard men’s hoops home games this season (the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic was not counted). That’s up remarkably from the 186 the team averaged in 2011-12, numbers more akin to the average year. Twice this season, the students have exceeded their ticket allotment of 515.

When Smith had visa trouble with the Celtics and needed a job going into this season, Arnold, impressed with Smith’s prior work upping student support at William & Mary, was there to reel him in.

"We didn’t have much student participation there," Smith said. "Kind of like here too, was told the students just didn’t like basketball. There, we didn’t have a beach. But William & Mary, very academic school, it was tough getting them out of the library. So it’s kind of similar; here we’ve got to get them away from the beach, there I was trying to get them away from the library."

Smith did his homework and scout work in planning ways to improve the experience.

"I actually was in amongst the students a little bit the first half of the season, but kind of incognito," he said. "I would disguise myself. Just to kind of get a feel for what it was like to be in the student section."

Now, he actively campaigns on campus in the days leading up to a given game, hanging up signs he makes himself. For example, he’s helped put together teasers for Saturday’s game featuring "Darth Vander," "Hauns Solo" and "R2-Fotu."

At the games, he’s taken to leading cheers — complete with a cheer list sheet handed out — and chants from the front of the student section in Section F, including a popular "roller-coaster" wave during opponent free throws.

"Those are the type of guys you want in your program. (What he does) totally helps," Arnold said. "It helps the energy of the players, it helps the energy of the arena. Helps with recruiting. It helps on program building. You need to have an active and live student body at your games. There are no great programs without it. Not one. Every great program has a great student body. It’s a big part of what we want to do here in building this program."

Added UH forward Christian Standhardinger: "That’s big for us. It helps us bring the energy we need to win."

Regine Raras-Estrella, chair of the Manoa Maniacs, also works to drum up student attendance behind the scenes.

"We have a great team behind us. The athletes are helping us out as well as the coaches. And Jamie has been a tremendous help as well," she said.

"When I’m in the student section, I noticed usually before we’d never have to fight for seats. Now it’s like it’s so hard to find a seat, you have to get there early. … I feel like the students are way more excited, the atmosphere is really energetic and fun. You know, I think the students and also the athletes, they’re putting in the time too to know the students on a more personal level."

Smith and UH players have regularly "Trick or Treated" the UH dorms door-to-door — in full costume — to drum up support. He’s organized giveaways (for example, the popular afro wigs against Illinois) with funds Arnold granted him from the basketball team and from the coach’s own pocket.

He’s formed a team Facebook page and posts pictures of the student section on it, so that people who follow the page can tag themselves and their friends in the pictures, thereby spreading the word further.

UH junior Jash Walker, of Los Angeles, fully bought into the themes, judging by his purple disco shirt and white pants for ’70s Night. He went to games last year, too, but found the experience lacking.

"It was calm and there was no theme night," Walker said. "You’d just go, and buy a beer or something. The game was, you don’t come for the game, you come for the social experience. So basically it was kind of boring. But now, we rally fans a lot now. A lot of cheering going on that wasn’t there."

Smith will be around for the next few weeks through the Big West tournament, but there’s a question if he’ll regain a full job with the team and return next season. The visa problems have dogged him in his pursuit of becoming a full college coach, and could again.

"Just hoping something can get done to bring me back before next season," Smith said. "It could be another college team. I really want it to be the University of Hawaii."