Hawaii may have played its last CIT

A net loss of $43,634 from this year’s Collegeinsider.com Tournament makes it unlikely the University of Hawaii will be involved in any more bottom-tier postseason basketball events, athletic director Ben Jay said Tuesday.

“Our goal is the NCAA and the NIT,” Jay said.

Asked if the results from this year’s CIT, including a loss to the Air Force Academy, will discourage participation in future “buy-in” events in which UH must pay to play, Jay said, “Yes, it does (discourage) us.” He said, “I was hoping, with (Ahahui) Koa Anuenue’s help, to just break even.”

Jay defended this year’s gamble saying, “As I said earlier, if I’m going to make a mistake on this, I’m going to err on the side of our student athletes. I wanted to give our basketball kids an opportunity to continue to play.”

Jay said several players, including senior center Vander Joaquim, who walked out in the second half, had thanked him for providing the game. Jay said he met Monday with Joaquim but would not disclose what other topics they discussed.

UH has not been selected for the NCAA Tournament since the 2001-02 season or played in the NIT since 2003-04.

The Rainbow Warriors’ last two postseason appearances,  2010-11 and this year, were both in the CIT, where former UH coach Riley Wallace is chairman of the selection committee.

UH said it made money overall on its two games in the 2010-11 CIT, drawing 10,265 between them.

This year, Jay said, UH drew approximately 3,500 and took in about $47,000 in ticket revenue. Jay said UH paid a $35,000 CIT host fee, $39,000 in Air Force Academy expenses and approximately $4,300 in Stan Sheriff Center and box office operating costs.

In addition, coach Gib Arnold received $12,000 under terms of his contract, which provided for the bonus for an appearance in either the CIT or the College Basketball Invitational, the other “buy-in” event.

Koa Anuenue, the athletic booster club, underwrote $35,000 of the losses, leaving the athletic department with a deficit of $8,634 for the tournament.

Jay said UH paid the first $10,000 of the Rainbow Wahine’s travel to the Women’s NIT in San Diego, with the remainder picked up by the tournament. Coach Laura Beeman’s contract lists an $8,000 bonus for a WNIT appearance.