Details are gradually forthcoming for the Hawaii men’s basketball team’s upcoming foreign tour to Australia.
The Rainbow Warriors will visit Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane/Gold Coast and Canberra in August, and play four exhibitions against a combination of Aussie pros, semi-pros and amateurs over a 10-day span, coach Eran Ganot said Monday in his first interview since returning from the Final Four in San Antonio.
“(We’re) talking about final details right now,” said Ganot, who initially announced the trip at a 2017-18 preseason tip-off fundraiser. “We’re just getting (the) approval process right now.”
Teams are allowed by the NCAA to take offseason foreign tours and play against pros on their home soil once every four years. The program last took a foreign tour in the summer of 2011, to China and Japan.
“It’s really exciting. It’s one of those things we want to check off the box, in terms of things that will make us a power,” Ganot said. “And I don’t know if two tours in 30 years is the way we want to do it. Hopefully this is the start of taking a tour every four years.”
UH is targeting Aug. 8 to 18 for the trip. Fans will be able to travel alongside the team to each stop, at a cost to be announced.
“We’re trying to be interactive,” Ganot said. “This will be very inviting to fans. (They) can come to practices, come to the games, sightsee with us, have meals with us. (We don’t have) as much prep as we do here (during the season). (This will have) a lot more personal touch and bonding between players and fans, things like that.”
Ganot is expecting his full 2018-19 roster of players to make the trip. As part of the tour, the team is allowed 10 practices in advance it wouldn’t otherwise get at that time of the year.
The third-year coach has made recruiting Australia a priority. UH will have three Aussies rostered during the trip: big men Jack Purchase, Mate Colina and Owen Hulland.
“It’s an area we’ve made a lot of inroads in,” Ganot said. “There’s a fit.”
UH is expected to play three games against a combination of NBL and SEABL teams using FIBA rules. The National Basketball League is the top pro league in Australia and New Zealand, while the South East Australian Basketball League is a semi-pro league. UH is working on a fourth game against the Centre of Excellence in Canberra, an academy UH recruited Colina and Hulland from.
Final trip and fundraising details could be announced by the end of the month, UH hopes.
The UH women’s basketball team is also taking a four-game, 10-day foreign tour in August, announced back in October. Laura Beeman’s Rainbow Wahine will visit Auckland and Christchurch in New Zealand and Melbourne and Sydney in Australia.
The spring signing period begins Wednesday for both programs. The UH men have a verbal commitment from Eddie Stansberry, a 6-foot-3 sophomore guard at City College of San Francisco.
San Diego hires Scholl
The University of San Diego announced the hiring of Sam Scholl as its full-time basketball coach last week.
A report by Hoopdirt.com last month, and an additional source to the Star-Advertiser, mentioned Ganot among a list of possible candidates for the USD post, speculation that Ganot downplayed. He later told the Star-Advertiser he did not apply for the West Coast Conference job.
Scholl was the Toreros’ acting coach once Lamont Smith resigned late in the 2017-18 season, and helped guide USD to 20 wins and an appearance in the CIT.
Banquet seats still available
Fans interested in attending the team postseason banquets for the Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine have a little more time to make arrangements.
The UH men are still accepting walk-ups for their ceremony Wednesday night at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom. Tickets are $150 each. Contact Todd Okeson at okeson@hawaii.edu or call Victoria Moore at the basketball office at 956-6501.
The signup deadline for Sunday’s Wahine banquet is noon on Wednesday. Seats at the Ala Moana Hotel Hibiscus Ballroom are $60 for the public, $50 for Wahine boosters. Contact Teneshia Ruff at truff@hawaii.edu.
