It’s just one win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It doesn’t even mean you deserve to be a Top 25 team … like nearly all of the Associated Press voters determined during the season for Hawaii, despite its gaudy record.
Programs like Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina don’t celebrate first-round wins. They survive them and move a step closer to the Final Four … with a fanbase where nothing less than a national championship is considered acceptable.
But this was a first for UH, a victory in its fifth try at the NCAAs.
And it comes at a great time for a program, an athletic department and a university in need of good news.
Morale has been low for several years with basketball being investigated by the NCAA, and several sports — including football with five losing seasons in a row and baseball with three — on the downswing. Fan interest has dwindled also because of a sense that leaders on the academic and athletic sides have made too many big mistakes, wasting too much public money.
But now the same beleaguered basketball program that pending appeal is ineligible for postseason next year advances to the Sweet 16 with a win today. Hawaii is again the underdog (by seven points) against Maryland, but in the first round UH had an easier time against fourth-seeded Cal than the Terps did against 12th-seeded South Dakota State.
Hawaii has a legit shot to win this game, too. Coming into the tournament, Maryland had won just three of its last eight.
If it does win again, in addition to its ticket to Louisville, Ky., and the South regional semifinals (where it would really need a miracle against Kansas), Hawaii earns more TV money. For each victory in this tournament, Hawaii gets between $132,500 and $145,000 each year from 2017 through 2022 — half of the total payout to the Big West.
It’s a nice chunk of kala … but it’s only a fraction of what UH needs to balance its athletics budget. Still, athletic director David Matlin has good reason to believe that this team’s success will generate more confidence from fans. And it helps to get national exposure for something much better than the-sky-is-falling reports about the football program supposedly shutting down or the safety of the turf it plays on.
Dave’s top 10 list of the most impactful games won in UH sports history
1. Led by Heisman finalist quarterback Colt Brennan, football beats Washington to complete 12-0 regular season and attain Sugar Bowl berth (2007)
2. Wahine volleyball wins four national championships (1979, 1982, 1983, 1987)
3. Baseball advances to finals of College World Series (1980)
4. WAC-championship football team wins Holiday Bowl (1992)
5. Football beats Oregon State in Oahu Bowl, completing biggest one-season turnaround in college football history, 0-12 to 9-4, under first-year head coach June Jones (1999)
6. Men’s basketball team beats Cal in first round of NCAA Tournament (2016)
7. Sixty-point underdog football team wins at Nebraska (1955)
8. Basketball beats No. 2-ranked Kansas in championship game of Rainbow Classic (1997)
9. Men’s volleyball team wins national championship (2002*)
10. Jenna Rodriguez hits walk-off home run to get softball team to College World Series (2010)
Honorable mentions: “Fabulous Five” basketball team beats San Diego State to complete 24-3 regular season, advances to school’s first NCAA Tournament game (1972); Heavy underdog football team wins at Washington (1973); Football beats Arizona State in Hawaii Bowl, setting up preseason ranking for 2007 season (2006)
*Championship later vacated due to NCAA violation
Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.
