When the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team chose to open its season with a Colorado road swing in November, the schedule was viewed as challenging.

And when the Rainbow Wahine followed it up with games against three nationally ranked teams — California, Stanford and North Carolina — in a 10-day stretch at home, it looked ambitious.

But going on three months later, the schedule — and what the Rainbow Wahine (17-7, 9-2 conference) have been able to do with it — has put UH in some rarified air.

With five games left in the regular season, the Rainbow Wahine come home this week to a 1 1/2 -game lead in the Big West standings and a lot of possibilities.

Everything, from their first 20-win season in 13 years to a return to the NCAA tournament after a 16-year absence, is very much in play.

And not with a 3-point prayer shot, either.

ESPN’s "Bracketology" has upgraded UH to a "moving in" position for an NCAA tournament the program hasn’t visited since 1997-98.

And, if they don’t win the conference tournament and that doesn’t happen, there is still the likelihood of a Women’s National Invitation Tournament bid and third consecutive postseason appearance thanks to UH’s solid strength of schedule.

Currently the Rainbow Wahine have a Rating Percentage Index of No. 85 among 349 Division I teams, according to RealTimeRPI.com. That has them between UCLA (No. 84) and USC (No. 87). The RPI is one tool the NCAA and WNIT use in selecting teams for postseason.

Their strength of schedule is ranked 103.

We’ll know a lot more about their fortunes after this week, a stretch in which they take their nine-game win streak up against UC Irvine (5-20, 2-8) on Thursday and second-place UC Davis (12-10, 7-3) on Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

What has already been demonstrated is that playing a challenging schedule is paying off.

"When you compete with the Stanfords, North Carolina and Cals and you have a really big win on the road against (Mountain West leader) Colorado State, I think it gives the team some confidence to say, ‘We’ve competed against some of the best and when we play the way we’re supposed to play, it can be anyone’s night,’ " coach Laura Beeman said. "I think that gives our players a lot of confidence."

A return to the postseason this year would mean UH has accomplished the task in each of its three seasons under Beeman.

The paramount goal, of course, is to return to the NCAA tournament, a height not reached since Nani Cockett and BJ Itoman led UH to a school-record 19 consecutive wins and a Western Athletic Conference championship in 1997-98.

When the Rainbow Wahine first met in the fall and took a look at the schedule confronting them, they set down a list of graduated goals. Now, 24 games into the season, Beeman said, "a lot of those goals are still right there in front of us."

You could say they are right on schedule.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.