UH hoops picked to finish near bottom of conference
STAR-ADVERTISER
UH Rainbow Warrior head coach Eran Ganot raises his hands during a March 10 quarterfinal game against the Cal State Fullerton Titans at the Big West Tournament at the Honda Center. UH won the game 75-44.
Hawaii, the defending Big West regular-season and tournament champion, was tabbed to finish eighth of nine teams in the conference’s preseason media poll announced today.
The Rainbow Warriors are heavily rebuilt, with 10 newcomers and their top active returnee the ninth-leading scorer during last season’s program-record 28-6 campaign. They did, however, receive a single first-place vote.
UH was saddled with a NCAA postseason ban in 2016-17 for infractions committed under former coach Gib Arnold. That contributed to the Rainbows preparing an entirely new starting five for the first time in 40 years.
No UH players were on the seven-player preseason all-conference team; none were nominated by second-year UH coach Eran Ganot.
“The preseason stuff and media predictions and polls and players is great for excitement, because you know the season’s around the corner,” Ganot said. “But this is my 14th year (of coaching), I don’t think there’s many teams that go back and remember a lot of that. They just remember what actually happens.”
Long Beach State, which UH beat 64-60 for the Big West tournament championship at the Honda Center in March, was picked to win the league, garnering 19 of 23 first-place votes.
UC Irvine (one first-place vote) was picked to finish second, Cal State Northridge (two first-place votes) third and UC Santa Barbara fourth. UC Davis was fifth, Cal State Fullerton sixth and UC Riverside seventh.
UH was predicted to finish ahead of only Cal Poly.
The Rainbow Warriors play an exhibition against BYU-Hawaii on Nov. 3 and open the regular season against SIU-Edwardsville on Nov. 11.
12 responses to “UH hoops picked to finish near bottom of conference”
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Does anyone care? UH is not in the sports entertainment business.
They got you though…..reading all the sports articles.
I care and I support this team.
the men’s bball team averages over 7,000 in attendance at the SSC. while that’s not power-5 conference levels, they are still a source of revenue for the program. lots of folks care … and there’s plenty of reason to.
No, we students and former students want all funds directed to the classroom, to our faculty and to fixing up the facilities. Sports entertainment is fine for those who need entertainment. Go to the pros. UH has pressing academic needs.
Why are there pom poms in your hands?
This is not really bad news. I look at it this way, if they win a few games, they’ve proven some pundits wrong. A good time for the Coach to get creative and see where the chemistry is at. Go Bows!
What’s going on with the appeal? Are they going to wait for February to rule?
Is SIU-Edwardsville a real college team? what division do they play?, that’s alright, I’ll look it up myself.
From 1st to almost worst and for this the guy gets a raise and extension. Prediction probably not far from off, recruiting near the bottom of the conference also. Get ready for the fans to disappear and everything else that comes with that.
Guess who took them to 1st(hint: it’s the same guy who got the well deserved contract extension)?
The fact that the B-ball Bows are being penalized has nothing to do with Coach Ganot. The Team has been given the backhand by the NCAA, and the self-imposed sanctions meant nothing. Never heard anything about the Appeal – is that a dead issue? However, I think that the Team will surprise, and may win a few more games than predicted. We need to give the benefit-of-the-doubt, that Coach Ganot knows how to tailor his team’s offense and defense to its personnel. If you are a Hawaii fan, you will support them even when they are down.