Rarely is it true that whining works with basketball officials. It’s OK to ask them in a respectful manner about what you did that got you tagged for a foul, so you can try not to commit the same offense again.

But that’s not what’s happening lately with the youthful University of Hawaii basketball team.

I see a lot of those palms-up, eye-rolling, mouth-agape looks of amazement when the calls don’t go their way, accompanied by jawing at the men in stripes. I don’t remember that in Dale Carnegie’s book, "How to Win Friends and Influence People."

In recent games, it’s as if some of the ‘Bows believe they are incapable of ever committing a foul.

That’s too bad, because these guys weren’t like that until just a few games ago. They played hard, aggressively on defense. When they fouled, they took it like grown men. They seemed to understand that their style was going to get them whistled often, but overall it was worth it; they’d come out ahead, high-risk, high-reward.

In Hawaii’s 78-72 loss to UC Irvine on Saturday, UH had two big problems in the first half that eventually cost the game: missing chip shots and committing stupid fouls.

Coach Benjy Taylor is right that at this level it’s hard to teach college basketball players how to make layups and 5-footers — you figure they have that mastered by JV.

But fouls and referee relations? Yes, that’s something Taylor can improve.

Early foul trouble Saturday forced UH to go passive on defense.

"The foul count was six to one," guard Roderick Bobbitt said. "We couldn’t play how we wanted."

Taylor said that was UH’s own fault.

"When we had six fouls, four of them were not smart fouls," the coach said.

And, especially when you make a dumb foul, you have no right to protest it.

Taylor said after Saturday’s game the refs didn’t mention any difficulties with his players and he didn’t have a problem with the way they interacted. But he might after watching the game tape.

It’s one thing for fans to get on the refs. But even that can get to the point of idiocy like throwing stuff onto the court, and costing your team points.

Unfortunately for UH, that’s exactly what happened Thursday, when a fool (and, for extra embarrassment, a student-athlete) threw a stress ball onto the court, contributing to six free throws for the visitors with two seconds left. Fortunately for Hawaii, it had an eight-point lead.

The same officiating crew handled Saturday’s game, so maybe there was a hangover effect. Aaron Valdes was called for a technical late in those last two seconds Thursday, and UH’s leading scorer got tagged with three quick fouls Saturday.

UH was called for 19 personal fouls Saturday. UC Irvine was whistled for 15. Each team shot 15 free throws. So, on paper, it looks normal. But, in reality, the Rainbows looked like whiners who let the refs get into their heads.

They need to remember the men in stripes have the final say and adapt accordingly. And let the coach and the team captain deal with the refs — especially now, as they hit the road. Get a bad rep for this kind of stuff, and the whistles come quicker.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.