CIT and APR. One three-letter acronym is already a source of some acrimony for the University of Hawaii basketball program. The second could be much more troubling.

UH athletic director Ben Jay said Saturday he doesn’t regret accepting an invitation for the Rainbow Warriors to host a game in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament last week, although attendance was around 3,000 short of the 6,500 needed to break even financially.

Jay still maintains "it was the right decision" because the primary goal was to provide a postseason experience for the team.

Junior forward Christian Standhardinger was upbeat after the 69-65 loss to Air Force. He even thanked the AD during a press conference for the opportunity to extend the season.

But senior center Vander Joaquim apparently didn’t share the sentiment. He left the arena with 15 minutes left in the game.

Just more proof you can’t please everyone. Especially if you’re an athletic director.

The $35,000 buy-in for the CIT game was covered by Koa Anuenue, Jay said. He added that "we budgeted $25,000" for the Falcons’ expenses.

Why did Hawaii pay to FLY Air Force here? Repeat: AIR FORCE. Maybe it’s a sequestration thing.

While that part is hard to accept, those who say this is an error on the scale of last summer’s Wonder Blunder under the previous administration are misguided, to put it mildly. That was irresponsibility by a public institution leading to a scandal. In the big picture, the CIT was a minor misstep; at least the game was actually played.

There’s still reason for confidence in Jay’s ability to work toward "cleaning up a financial mess," as he told the Honolulu Quarterback Club.

"I was brought in because of this internal controls mess," he added.

That includes the student side of student-athlete. Academic Progress Rate is the scale the NCAA uses to track whether enough athletes are graduating.

Jay confirmed that UH fears it could be facing suspension from postseason play in men’s basketball, including the conference tournament, when the new APR numbers come out this spring.

"That is a possible situation," Jay said. "I’m waiting for (an academic) report from our people, on all of our sports, not just basketball."

This is no surprise considering the mass exodus of hoops players in recent years. If too many leave when not on solid academic ground, it will catch up to you. It has at UH in various sports in the past, including basketball, in the form of forfeited scholarships.

I’ve advocated a one-year contract extension for basketball coach Gib Arnold (his deal runs out after next season), based on his overall winning record and no losing seasons in three years — plus the potential to build around forward Isaac Fotu, who just completed a tremendous freshman season.

But Jay has a serious issue to consider if there’s been indifference to academics on Arnold’s watch.

"Obviously it weighs in," he said. "It will be just one of many, many factors.

"The coaches have a responsibility for their teams to meet athletic and academic expectations. Those expectations go hand-in-hand."

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783 or on Twitter as @dave_reardon.