Next week the commissioner of the Big West Conference, Dennis Farrell, will confer with some key members of the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Committee and Hawaii will be in the forefront.

He will painstakingly lay out the merits of the case for the University of Hawaii’s inclusion as an at-large team, should it come to that. Or, its case for a representative seeding, if UH wins the conference’s automatic bid.

“This is not your typical Hawaii team,” Farrell said he plans to assure them. “I’ve been impressed. This isn’t just a team that is (impossible) to beat at home but has an Achilles’ heel on the road.”

But as well-grounded as the argument might be for a team that is 22-3 — and counting — Farrell is also fond of offering coaches in the conference a piece of advice: “Don’t leave something this important in the hands of 10 people who you may not know.”

Which means it behooves UH to win the conference tournament (March 10-12) in Anaheim, Calif., and the automatic bid that goes with it rather than leave its shot at its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 14 years to the vagaries of the at-large selection process.

For UH, which began Wednesday at No. 74 in the Rating Percentage Index that NCAA committees hold holy, this is advice to be taken both to the heart and to the arena on a nightly basis. The RPI ranks teams based upon victories, losses and strength of schedule.

History tells us teams at No. 70 and above do not get at-large invitations. Only a handful at 64 or above have and they weren’t from mid-major conferences. And one look at UH’s remaining schedule, beginning with tonight’s game against UC Riverside, says it will be exceedingly difficult for UH.

It will be hard to make headway when the RPI of the next three UH opponents, UC Riverside (289), Cal State Northridge (262) and UC Davis (283), is in the lower depths of the 351-member Division I. Only Long Beach State, which went into Wednesday at No. 90, affords much potential help.

“The RPI isn’t everything, but it is used to weed out teams in the pool,” said a former committee member from the South.

To its credit, UH does not have any “bad” losses on its resume. But it also lacks what the committee would circle as marquee nonconference victories.

“When I was on the committee the two things I most looked for were: Who did you play outside of conference and who did you beat?” said the former member from the South. “Those were key for me.”

The former West committee member said, “It is a lot to ask, I know, but if they had only been able to pull off the Oklahoma game it would be a different story.”

UH is 0-2 against Top 50 teams (Oklahoma and Texas Tech) and, so far, 4-1 against teams ranked Nos. 72-95 (UC Irvine, Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara).

On UH’s chances as an at-large pick, a former NCAA selection member from the West said, “Not to sound like there is no friggin’ way, but … let’s put it this way: They need to win the tournament.”

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