With a 24-5 record, including 13-3 in the Big West Conference, Hawaii could be on the doorstep of a bid to the NCAA tournament. ADVERTISING With a 24-5 record, including 13-3 in the Big West Conference, Hawaii could be on
With a 24-5 record, including 13-3 in the Big West Conference, Hawaii could be on the doorstep of a bid to the NCAA tournament.
However, it would only help the No. 1 seed Rainbow Warriors to go deep in the Big West Tournament, which starts Thursday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
UH plays Cal State Fullerton (10-19, 3-13) at 12:30 p.m. HST in the first round. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Prime Ticket and broadcast on KHLO AM 850.
The Rainbow Warriors have won the last seven meetings against the Titans, including an 86-79 overtime win Jan. 16 in Fullerton, Calif., and 76-59 on Feb. 13 in Honolulu.
UH is 2-3 all-time in the Big West Tournament games, losing in the quarterfinals in 2013 and reaching the finals in 2015.
Hawaii is one win from tying the 1989-90 team for the second-highest, single-season win total in school history
UH is 20-0 when outrebounding its opponents this season and is led by junior forward Stefan Jankovic, the Big West player of the year, the second in school history to be named conference player of the year.
Jankovic (15.7 ppg, 6.8 rpg) and Roderick Bobbitt (14.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg) landed on the All-Big West first team, and Bobbitt is one steal away from equaling Tom Henderson for the most career steals in program history (160).
The Rainbow Warriors’ No. 1 seed guarantees them an automatic bid to the NIT. The last time they went to the NIT was in 2004.
The last time UH appeared at the NCAA tournament was in 2002, losing to Xavier 70-58 in the first round.
UH coach Eran Ganot joins Jerry Tarkanian and Lute Olson with the most wins by a rookie head coach and is the fourth head coach to earn Big West Coach of the Year honors in his rookie season.
Bobbitt, a senior guard, is vying to become the first Big West player to lead the conference in steals (2.1) and assists (5.7) for two consecutive seasons.
If the Rainbow Warriors were to win the Big West Tournament, they would hold a 27-5 record and tie the 2002 squad (27-6) for most single-season wins, while earning an automatic NCAA Tournament berth.
That’s the best-case scenario. The flip side of the coin is that UH is banned from postseason play for the 2016-17 season due to NCAA sanctions from former coach Gib Arnold’s reign.
UH players who are juniors would be free to transfer to another Division I school without sitting out a year.
The starting juniors are Jankovic, guard Aaron Valdes, and forward Mike Thomas. They all be could be gone by next season. They’ve got, at least, two games left — on Thursday and in the NIT.
And maybe if the Rainbow Warriors string together a few wins, there will be an NCAA Tournament appearance waiting as well.
