Christmas week is always full of gifts for Hawaii sports fans. This year, the stockings are overflowing with the addition of the state high school football championships.
We’ll get to that.
First, a quick story from a very cool, but now extinct annual mid-year event some of you will remember called the Aloha Classic. It was the basketball version of the Hula Bowl; college players who were very good pro prospects but many not household names displayed their skills in a four-team round-robin tournament before the NBA Draft.
During warmups for the first game of the 1987 tourney, I watched a 6-foot-8 beanpole drain eight 3-pointers in a row from the corner. In the game, he made three treys on three attempts and displayed elite-level athleticism.
This was pre-internet, so only real basketball junkies knew of this two-time NAIA All-American who started out with the University of Central Arkansas as a student manager. Heck, I didn’t even know there was a University of Central Arkansas, and I certainly hadn’t heard of Scottie Pippen.
Last summer, the UCA court was named for the most famous wingman in sports history. Pippen is an all-time great on his own merits. We’ll just never know if he could’ve won those six championships as an NBA team’s leading man rather than the co-star to Michael Jordan.
Tonight (I told you we’d get here) Pippen’s son, Scotty plays for Vanderbilt against Hawaii in a first-round game of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic. Five inches shorter than Scottie, Scotty is a guard who leads the Commodores in scoring.
Today is also the final day of the ‘Iolani Classic prep basketball tournament. Unfortunately, no spectators have been allowed. LeBron James’ son, Bronny, surely would have drawn a big crowd.
Scotty Pippen’s coach at Vandy is pretty famous, too. Jerry Stackhouse was the marquee name at the 1992 ‘Iolani Classic. Two years later, exactly 27 years ago today, he led North Carolina with 21 points in an 88-76 win over the Rainbows. Coach Dean Smith wasn’t just being nice when he said the game was closer than the score.
It was played in front of the first sellout crowd at the new Special Events Arena — now called SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center, and site of tonight’s game.
Stackhouse, a two-time NBA all-star in an 18-year career, will now see if he can beat UH as a coach. For that to happen, Pippen and his mates must cool off a Rainbow Warriors team that made a school-record 18 3-pointers in its last game.
Thursday is shared by the second round of the DHC and the state high school football championships, which were moved to this week because of the pandemic, and the reason this normally busy week is now over the top.
But there’s always time for Saint Louis vs. Kahuku. Maybe this matchup will get old someday, but it hasn’t yet.
The Tom Coughlin line about being late if you’re on time applies if you’re going to this one, scheduled to start at 7 p.m. at Farrington. The long line at Skippa Diaz Stadium for last week’s semifinal between Mililani and Saint Louis forced kickoff to be moved back a half-hour. The ‘Iolani-Lahainaluna Division I championship game starts at 3 p.m., and the stadium will be emptied and refilled.
The most intriguing matchup of the Open final is the Crusaders offense led by quarterback A.J. Bianco against a stingy Kahuku defense that has been scored upon just twice in three postseason wins (and one of those was on a short field due to a turnover).
The centerpiece of this sports week locally is usually the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve. But with UH at 6-7 and Memphis at 6-6, maybe not this year, since whoever doesn’t win ends up in that bizarre state of finishing a bowl season with a losing record. Also, three Hawaii starters including the face of the program, quarterback Chevan Cordeiro, are gone to the transfer portal, and Memphis’ star receiver, Calvin Austin, has opted out to prepare for the pros.
Since we now have the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl, bowl game over-saturation is officially a joke. Maybe instead of the EasyPost Hawaii Bowl this one should be the Mel Cabang Hawaii Bowl or the Paul Ogata Hawaii Bowl. Or, better yet, the Tumua Tuinei Hawaii Bowl, since the budding comedian is a former UH football player.
It is, though, another chance to see Calvin Turner Jr., one of the grandest players in program history. All he needs is one decent kickoff return to complete a college career grand slam of at least 1,000 passing, rushing, receiving and return yards.
And we get to see Brayden Schager, the talented true freshman quarterback who got the job done in a victory over then 18th-ranked Fresno State while Cordeiro was injured. You can bet Bianco will take note of Schager’s performance. He verbally committed to Hawaii but did not sign on the first day allowed, and continues to receive significant interest from other schools.
The four-day holiday feast of sports finishes up on Christmas Day with the final games of the Diamond Head. I’m gonna take a wild guess and say BYU beats Stanford for the championship.
If anyone figures out a way to attend all of these events I’d love to read an email about how you did it.
