This is the time of year when the smart alecks like to ask, "When does basketball season start?" You know, because the fans are tired of the football team’s futility. You can switch your focus to something fresh and new. Hope springs eternal when your favorite hardwood team is 0-0, regardless of how things are going on the football field.

Or, at least that’s the way it used to be.

Hoops is right around the corner. But so is the NCAA, and the impending fallout from its lengthy investigation of the Hawaii basketball program.

Remember the good old days, when UH was winning in football and basketball (and volleyball was an annual contender for the final four)? Try harder, it wasn’t that long ago.

Now, football is 2-5 heading into Saturday’s game against Nevada, and the Rainbow Warriors are home underdogs against the Wolfpack. Losses are up, attendance is down.

And basketball is still in limbo, awaiting judgment. Coach Gib Arnold’s latest comments seem to indicate a "What, Me Worry?" mode. Well, unless everybody else is wrong, there is something to be concerned about.

Theoretically, UH can soften the blow by self-imposed punishment … beat the NCAA to the punch, and hit itself just right. Not too hard, not too soft. Make sure to pick the right-sized switch. Basically the same idea as working a plea bargain.

But crazy things tend to happen when the NCAA is involved, and UH’s is one of the first investigations under its new system of various levels of infractions. So, in some ways, we’re in the land of the unprecedented … not that the NCAA has been a model of consistency in its dispensing of justice anyway.

Guarded optimism for football following a 38-28 win over Wyoming two weeks ago didn’t last long. The Fire Norm Chow Now crowd is out in full force again, just one week after UH was in first place in the West Division of the Mountain West Conference.

Nevada is favored by just three points Saturday. But since the heady days of 2010 when the eventual WAC co-champion Warriors knocked the Colin Kaepernick-led ‘Pack from the unbeaten ranks, Hawaii has lost three in a row to Nevada.

The most embarrassing was the 69-24 pounding UH absorbed at Aloha Stadium, two years ago in the first Mountain West game with Chow as coach. Hawaii is 2-16 in conference play since he took over for Greg McMackin in 2012.

Interesting stat of the week: Nick Rolovich is 3-1 as offensive coordinator when Hawaii plays Nevada; 1-1 with the Warriors, 2-0 with the Pack.

These next two games — UH has Utah State at home next week — could go a long way in determining if Chow is retained, or if the remaining two years of his contract are bought out. Of course, there’s this: Where would the money come from to pay two coaches at one time?

The loudest clamors for change are unaccompanied by promises of cash, and UH doesn’t even have enough money to operate out of the red as it is.

It’s a puzzle with too many missing pieces and a situation as daunting as the impending hammer of a seven-month NCAA investigation.

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