There are a few folks out there who remain unconvinced about Eran Ganot.

They claim he had little to do with the unprecedented success of last season’s University of Hawaii men’s basketball team because he didn’t win those 28 games, including the program’s first NCAA Tournament triumph, with “his own players.” Indeed, only one of the regular rotation players was recruited to Manoa by the first-year head coach and his staff.

Funny, isn’t it? They said the same thing about June Jones 17 years ago when the UH football team went 9-4 in his first season. Then, after a sophomore slump, the Warriors under Jones finished with a winning record six of the next seven years, culminating with the 12-0 regular season of 2007 and ensuing Sugar Bowl appearance. He remains the winningest football coach in UH history.

Ganot, who is expected to sign a two-year contract extension with UH next week, is a much different personality than Jones. But one thing they have in common is an affinity for Hawaii; it’s the real reason they keep coming back.

And they share that label of the logical fallacy about winning with someone else’s players being easy.

Jones — who inherited a winless squad — made a very bad team good. Ganot — who got most of the key players back from a group that nearly won its conference — made a good team better. Neither task is simple.

Jones gave his team hope. Ganot gave his discipline.

Ganot’s predecessors, Gib Arnold and Benjy Taylor, deserve credit for recruiting a special group of players and, in Taylor’s case, keeping them together as an effective unit in 2014-15 despite the NCAA investigation.

But Ganot elevated them another notch, emphasizing improved shot selection and self-control in dealing with officials. Technical fouls, which reached a ridiculous level the previous year, were way down.

Now, what happens if the new batch of Rainbows — Ganot’s recruits — don’t win and win big right away?

“Look, at the end of the day there will always be detractors,” Ganot said in a text Tuesday. “We do our best to control what we can. I will always deflect praise and embrace criticism. It’s part of the deal. Credit should always be given to the players first and foremost.”

Stefan Jankovic, Aaron Valdes, Roderick Bobbitt, Quincy Smith and Stefan Jovanovic are impossible to replace as a group. But senior Mike Thomas gives Ganot a veteran to build around. Thomas has experienced all the highs and lows at Manoa of the past three years, and chose to return despite the likelihood of no postseason due to NCAA sanctions.

Still, those expecting a simple reloading rather than a sometimes-painful rebuilding could be disappointed.

The other side of that is with Ganot in for the long haul, eventually most of the drama will be limited to on the court.

“We put our focus on simply getting our guys better (and) improving the program,” he said. “We stay away from the nonsense — keep our focus on what matters. We have challenges ahead, we had challenges this past year — our approach remains the same and we look at challenges as great opportunities.”

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

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