Tell us, please, that the University of Hawaii men’s basketball team isn’t really going to play two Division II opponents again this year.
Assure us that the pledge made four months ago to upgrade the home schedule still means something.
Because, based upon details emerging lately, it sure looks like some of the same old scheduling dodges could be revisited in the 2018-19 season.
Doubling up on D-II foes for a fifth time in six years would be compounding the disappointment.
There were reasons that Rainbow Warriors ticket revenue hit a six-year low last season despite a winning (17-13) record. And one of the most glaring was the watered-down home schedule that included two D-II opponents.
Early Monday, both the Humboldt State and UH Hilo websites were listing the Rainbow Warriors on their schedules, though UHH pulled the game from its post later in the day. The Lumberjacks show the ’Bows as their Nov. 9 opponent in the Rainbow Classic, while the Vulcans initially listed Manoa as their Dec. 8 foe at the Stan Sheriff Center.
There is no argument with playing one Division II opponent, especially if it is in the UH system family. It would give the Vulcans a much-valued payday with minimal travel and some exposure in Honolulu.
Meanwhile, it provides the Rainbow Warriors with an opponent that is willing to try to fit into whatever scheduling puka might arise.
But bringing in a D-II opponent from the continent makes decidedly less sense. Especially when it would be the second consecutive season. Last season, in addition to Hilo, UH played Adams State of Colorado, drawing a meager 2,378, less than even perennial pushover Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
For several years across the Riley Wallace and Bob Nash regimes, UH managed to get by without playing any D-II opponents whatsoever.
The backlash at the box office no doubt prompted athletic director David Matlin to promulgate in April a policy outlining several key areas where the ’Bows would improve scheduling. Among them were a “limit of one Division II opponent per season, at least one road guarantee game and/or exempt tournament in nonconference and all games to be contracted by July 15.”
In a texted response to questions about doubling up on D-II opponents, Matlin said Monday the contract with Hilo was “not finalized. Or, confirmed.” Later, the game disappeared from the Internet.
While the ’Bows, going on a month past their self-described deadline for closing contracts, have yet to announce any of the 2018-19 schedule, much of the rest of the hoops world is releasing its schedule.
More troubling is Humboldt’s confirmed appearance, first reported by KKEA’s Josh Pacheco. The Lumberjacks of the California Collegiate Athletic Association are listed for the Rainbow Classic. They were 12th in a 13-member league (6-16) and 9-19 overall.
That’s hardly what we’ve come to think of as a Rainbow Classic-worthy team, even for a once-grand tournament in its presently reduced circumstances. The University of Portland, which also lists the Rainbow Classic on its schedule, said it was told of a D-II team in the tournament. North Texas of Division I Conference USA is listed as another likely Rainbow Classic entry.
The ’Bows playing in the ESPN-owned Wooden Legacy event in Fullerton, Calif., a departure from their stay-at-home nonconference schedule, is a definite step forward this year. But a refusal to ween itself from a double dose of D-II opponents would be two steps backward.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
