The Western Athletic Conference’s short-lived experiment on its postseason basketball tournament is over.
Hawaii coach Gib Arnold’s response? A shrug.
The WAC’s about-face on the format of its March event — reverting from a double bye for the league’s top two teams to a standard eight-team bracket this season — came as a result of flagging attendance at the 2011 tournament in Las Vegas.
The double-bye model, patterned after the West Coast Conference tournament, turned out to be only a one-year trial at the Orleans Arena.
"I think last year was set up to help the first and second seeds, and obviously Utah State won it and they deserved it," Arnold said. "(It was) something that we kind of threw out there to see if it works. It wasn’t bad, but I’m fine with either one. As long as we’re playing good ball at the end of the year, that’s what counts."
No team will receive a bye at the Orleans this season. The top seed will play the eighth seed in the first round once again.
Attendance was a concern in Vegas last season, when there was no home crowd and the tournament’s biggest draw, Utah State, only played twice, thanks to the double bye it received as the top seed. As a result, revenue was down.
"(The change) was not driven by the coaches. This was a staff and athletic directors decision," WAC commissioner Karl Benson said. "In hindsight, the format that we adopted a year ago was not necessarily the best business model."
UH wasn’t helped by the double-bye format after receiving the fifth seed. The Rainbow Warriors (8-8 in the regular season) would have had to win four games in four days to take the tourney and receive the WAC’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
Eighth-seeded San Jose State stunned UH in the first round 75-74 on a game-winner by Adrian Oliver with 5 seconds left.
Benson said the WAC tournament would ideally remain in Las Vegas, and that negotiations were happening to keep it there beyond this season. UH won’t be part of it as it heads to the Big West Conference next year.
Ops job to be filled soon
Tuesday was the final posting day for the UH men’s basketball director of operations job. Arnold said he concluded interviews this week and expects to announce his selection soon.
The front-runner for the position is believed to be former Louisiana Tech head coach Kerry Rupp, who went 57-73 in four years for the Bulldogs.
Louisiana Tech went 24-11 in 2009-10 and made the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament, but Rupp’s team went 12-20 last year (2-14 WAC) and he was fired at the end of the season.
