Diamond Head field offers measuring stick for ’Bows

This is where it finally starts to get interesting for the University of Hawaii men’s basketball team.

After whipping up on the folks from the Big Sky, Pac-West, Southland and Ohio Valley conferences (average margin of victory 24.2 points), the Rainbow Warriors (7-2) wade into the promise of some stiffer competition in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.

Beginning with Boise State tonight, there are actually some teams you might have heard of. There are opponents that, under the TV lights at the Stan Sheriff Center, figure to give the ‘Bows — and us — more of a yardstick of where UH is entering the second third of the regular season.

So far, the NCAA tells us, the ‘Bows’ schedule has required very little heavy lifting, ranking 241st among 351 Division I members for strength of opposition.

With the exception of Missouri (10-0) and New Mexico State (9-5), the only Division I teams with winning records entering this weekend that the ‘Bows have played, there really hasn’t been that much competition. Not by coincidence, perhaps, those are the two teams the ‘Bows have lost to.

The last of them, Missouri, in a respectable 92-80 performance in Kansas City, was five weeks ago. Since then, the ‘Bows have gone on a five-game winning streak. But yet to be discerned is whether this stretch is a result of what they have learned from playing the Aggies and Tigers and how they have applied it or whether the subsequent competition was just lacking.

This is where Boise State (8-2), and possibly Saint Mary’s (9-0) after that, come in. Three times in four days the ‘Bows will be tested.

And, not a moment too soon, either.

Big West Conference play starts in 18 days and the ‘Bows are going to need to be ready to jump right in since four of their first five games will be on the road. With their likely Ratings Percentage Index numbers, the only way the ‘Bows make the decade-long breakthrough and get past the buy-in tournaments to a place in the National Invitation or NCAA tournament is by winning the conference regular season or tournament.

So it behooves them to start fast.

To date, UH has the best nonconference record among Big West teams, but most of them have played more demanding schedules in preparation for the opening of the conference next month.

UC Santa Barbara (7-4) and Long Beach State (3-9), for example, ranked in the top 10 for strength of opposition.

What having Tennessee State (1-11), New Orleans

(3-4) and others of that ilk early on their schedule has allowed the ‘Bows to do is build some confidence and, hopefully, a measure of chemistry. Especially as they integrate new players, notably in the backcourt.

What playing Division II UH Hilo has done is permit coach Gib Arnold to take a long look down his bench under game conditions.

Those games have served their purpose and, now, it is time to see where the ‘Bows are before they head into conference play.

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Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.