One of the first things the new University of Hawaii athletic director, whoever it might be, needs to do is take charge of the men’s basketball schedule.
With both hands.
Because the schedule is failing the Rainbow Warriors. Miserably.
Until this changes, UH’s situation will too often reprise what we’ve seen the last two times UH has been a 20-game winner: The ‘Bows either win the Big West Conference tournament and the automatic NCAA bid that goes with it, capture the regular-season title and the National Invitation Tournament bid that accompanies it — or they sit home in the postseason.
We all know how that has turned out so far.
And, please, don’t suggest that the pay-up-to-play College Insider.com Tournament — formerly known as the Riley Wallace Invitational — or College Basketball Invitational are alternatives.
UH finished 22-13 Saturday, its most victories in 13 seasons, but isn’t going to a brand-name postseason tournament in large part because its strength of schedule sagged to 215th among 315 Division I teams, according to the NCAA. The schedule was the millstone that dragged down UH’s Rating Percentage Index to a ranking of 152.
That’s why Richmond (19-13), Texas-El Paso (20-10) and Illinois State (21-12) were among the at-large picks for the granddaddy of them all, the 77-year-old NIT, and UH wasn’t even in the conversation. The Spiders, Miners and Redbirds had schedules ranked 47th, 108th and 75th with RPIs of 56, 78 and 62.
To be sure, the players didn’t pick the schedule. They just showed up and played what they were given, doing a commendable job under beyond-trying circumstances in the process.
The blame belongs high above, where much of this can be traced back to the root of a lot of UH’s problems these days, Gib Arnold’s notorious 2011 contract. In it are clauses that guaranteed Arnold an automatic one-year extension if he won "… at least 20 games (including conference tournament and postseason games) without regard to end-of-season Sagarin strength of schedule ranking …"
If there was ever an engraved, $344,000 a-year (plus liberal bonuses) invitation to schedule from the pastry aisle, that was it.
Small wonder the past three years UH’s NCAA strength of schedule ranked in the 200s (215, 222 and 234) and its RPI hasn’t been better than this season’s 152. Or that this season’s schedule included Arkansas Pine Bluff, Cal State Bakersfield, Prairie View A&M and Southern.
To put it in perspective, here’s a trivia question borrowed from last week’s "Hoops Talk" radio show: How many schools that ended the season with winning records did UH beat?
The answer is two: Pittsburgh (18-14) and UC Davis (23-6) twice.
Of course, the new AD need look no further than the women’s basketball program for the bottom line. More women’s teams make the WNIT (64) than the men (32), but the reason the Rainbow Wahine are in a third consecutive WNIT is that in none of those years has their strength of schedule reached 140 among 349 teams.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
