SPOKANE, WASH. » The Rainbow Warriors have pen and paper at the ready.

Hawaii’s storybook season is in need of a memorable final chapter. There’s only a few plot lines that could do a 27-win campaign justice — but a program-first NCAA Tournament victory would surely suffice.

UH, with its earnest first-year head coach and hardened core of veteran players, has a golden opportunity today against the fourth-seeded California Golden Bears.

This opportunity is all the Big West champions ever wanted, and not only for themselves. Manoa hasn’t been in the tournament since 2002 and is 0-4 all time.

“For us to give the fans something this year to remember for next year, since they can’t go to the tournament, it will be really special,” point guard Roderick Bobbitt said, alluding to the school’s postseason ban for 2017.

The 13th-seeded ’Bows are underdogs, but not by much, especially with the news that Cal starting point guard Tyrone Wallace will miss the game with a broken hand suffered in practice on Wednesday.

The Bears (23-10) still have plenty of talent to go around, between freshman phenoms Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb and shooters like Jabari Bird and Jordan Mathews.

Four double-digit seeds sprung upsets on Thursday, but the three other 13 seeds in the 68-team field all lost.

quote

UH’s 8 a.m., TBS-televised game is the first of four of the day at the 14,000-seat Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. The Rainbows gave a shrug about the 11 a.m. (Pacific) tipoff, their earliest of the season.

“This is an experienced team,” said Ganot, at 34 the third-youngest coach in the field. “This is a battle-tested team, tournament-tested team, been on the road in neutral sites and have performed.”

The UH-Cal winner faces either No. 5 Maryland or No. 12 South Dakota State in the second round Sunday.

UH players, on the mainland for two weeks and counting, didn’t come off as first-timers on the big stage during the NCAA’s lead-in press day. They’ve drawn upon their 10-2 mainland record, and strong outings against fellow Tournament teams Texas Tech (82-74 road loss); Northern Iowa (68-52 home win); and Oklahoma (84-81 home loss).

“We’re not really a nervous group,” wing Aaron Valdes said. “We’re excited to get out and play. And there’s just a sense of calmness about us that it’s easy and relaxing for us.”

Ganot and assistant coaches Adam Jacobsen and John Montgomery have all been to the Tournament with other teams.

Big West Player of the Year Stefan Jankovic (15.7 points, 6.6 rebounds per game) has commanded much of the national attention thrown UH’s way since it qualified by taking the Big West tournament. His strong performances have generally led to wins; when Jankovic scores 20 or more, UH is 9-0, and the ’Bows are 23-0 when they outrebound foes.

Cal’s Mathews compared Hawaii to Oregon State in Pac-12 play, while coach Cuonzo Martin noted similarities to Saint Mary’s out of conference.

“They’re unique,” Mathews said. “Throughout Pac-12 play, you get a lot of different looks, but they present some different things in terms of, they really want to drive the ball and are great at sharing the ball. They have a five man (Jankovic) who can pick and pop. We’ve seen a couple of those, but nothing like him before.”

UH is at its best when Bobbitt (13.3 ppg, 5.5 apg) and Quincy Smith find seams in defenses off the dribble. Smith (hip, ankle) isn’t 100 percent, but resolved to give his all. The opportunistic backcourt nets 3.9 steals per game.

The Bears, like UH, are an elite defensive team. They allow opponents to make just 40.9 percent of their 2-point field goals, and 39.3 percent overall. UH is in that ballpark at 39.8 percent.

Offensively, Cal isn’t too complex, but is devastating in transition. In the halfcourt, it looks to exploit 1-on-1 matchups with its usually superior talent.

Montgomery, a six-year member of Cal’s staff under his father, Mike, until 2014, personally knows many of the Bears and captained UH’s opponent scout work.

“Sometimes I think with them, they don’t have enough shots to go around, enough basketballs for all their guys on the court,” Montgomery said. “When they get out of their set, they just go 1-on-1 and play, and not always take good shots. We gotta force them into the halfcourt and taking tough shots.”

Brown (15.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg), a 6-foot-6 wing who drives hard to the right, is mired in a 9-for-42 (21.4 percent) slump from the field in the last four games. Keeping him down in the early going could be key.

“He’s going to play aggressive out there,” said UH’s Valdes (14.6 ppg, 5.5 rpg). “And I’m kind of excited to play against players like that. Kind of like Oklahoma playing Buddy Hield.”

The 6-foot-11 Rabb (12.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg) thrives on the offensive glass. He’s skilled with his hands and can go right back up with the ball while most players are still gathering themselves on a landing.

UH will probably stick Jankovic on defensive-minded 7-foot-1 center Kingsley Okoroh as often as possible, but he will have to guard Rabb at times.

“As a competitor, I love it,” Jankovic said. “This is a big stage. This is where big-time players play, and he’s obviously very talented. So just having that matchup is going to be good for me. It’s going to raise my … game level up a notch.”

Keeping Jankovic and Bobbitt out of foul trouble — a recent problem — will be essential.

“One of the things about the NCAA Tournament, in my experience, it’s a lot more physical and they don’t call as many fouls,” Montgomery said. “They want to have the best players on the floor, and I think that’s an advantage for both teams because they’re not very deep as well.”

Cal’s 4 seed is its best in program history. It is 12-6 in opening-round games, and owns a 12-1 advantage in the series against Hawaii.

With a strong 40 minutes today, UH can make all of that irrelevant.

“We didn’t come to the Tournament just to come,” Bobbitt said.