Over the last few weeks, I think I've started, stopped, and started again, five separate articles about this year's (now Big West Championship-winning) University of Hawaii's Men's Basketball team. In any year, with any other team, I'd probably favor consistency and frequency of content over quality. As has become obvious over the last few months, however, this isn't just your ordinary bunch.
At the outset, it's easy enough to view the last month as the most successful in the history of the program. Hawaii, (1) clinched a share of the Big West regular season title, (2) swept the major conference awards (congrats, Janks and Coach!), (3) won the Big West Conference Tournament, and (4) WE GOIN DANNNCINGGGGGGGG. And, to be completely frank, if it all ended here before Hawaii got to play even a single second in the NCAA tournament, I could honestly say that this might be my favorite team, ever (not just favorite UH team, favorite team, in any sport, period.)
It's common knowledge by now that, notwithstanding its 27-5 record, this season has not been without its struggles. The lingering stench of violations incurred during Gib Arnold's moderately successful, but ultimately fruitless tenure at the school cast a wide shadow over the program, which racked up regular season wins while waiting on baited breath to see if their self-imposed punishments would be enough to avoid further penalties from the NCAA. After recovering from a disappointing result (additional NCAA penalties included a 2016-2017 postseason ban), the team was hit yet again with adversity when one of its brightest stars, Isaac Fleming, announced that (for reasons which remain unknown) he was leaving the team.
UH teams of the past, lesser teams, might have wilted under the crushing weight of disappointment and/or internal roster turmoil. But for whatever reason, whether it be Aaron Valdes, or Coach Ganot, or Jankovic, or Roderick Bobbit, or Mike Thomas, or Quincy Smith (you get it), the team never folded, despite having plenty of rational reasons to call it quits. There is perhaps, no better evidence of this resilience than the last 7 minutes of the first half of the Big West championship game against Long Beach State. With Janks and Rod sitting on the bench, having collectively accrued more fouls (4) than points (2), Hawaii fans found themselves rooting for a lineup of Aaron, (the other) Stefan, Big Mike, Niko Filipovich (LOVE YOU NIKO) and Sheriff Drammeh to get us into the half with a lead (or, at the very least, not too big of a deficit).
Normally, having two of your three best players sitting on the bench for any extended period of time means either that you are up (or down) big or, if it's the championship game of the Big West Tournament, deliberately trying to give all the aunties and uncles (and the unhealthily involved fans) watching the game a heart attack. What manifested instead, however, was pure magic. When Bobbitt went out with 12:34 left in the half, Hawaii was down 13-9. When Janks went out with 7:12 left, Hawaii was leading 17-15. In the last 7:12, Hawaii didn't just maintain its lead without those two, it tripled it, ending the half leading 31-25. This was capped off by an....inexplicable (sorry Niko), slash by Filipovich for a layup with two seconds left, setting off a celebration on the bench like he'd just won the game (which, in effect, he had). I remain convinced (and you'll never persuade me otherwise) that these last 7 minutes were the most important in the program's history. While teams will most often win with their best players, they can transcend (as UH did) with those that no one was counting on to begin with.
I remember very little of what transpired in the immediate aftermath of the win. There was a lot of texting, some intelligible, most of it not. There was vodka and wine and a LOT of twitter refreshing to get real-time reactions from people who lucky enough to be there. Mostly though, there was a palatable sense of relief. Finally. Right? Finally, we made it too the dance. I didn't much care who we were going to play. The feeling (and euphoria) was enough in that moment. I was vaguely aware that Joe Lunardi's Bracketology had us playing Utah in Denver in the first round and that was fine by me.
Then came Sunday and the announcement that instead of Denver to play Utah, Hawaii would be going to Spokane to play California (tipoff set for Friday, March 18, 2016 on TBS at 8:00 am HST, 11:00 am PST and 2 pm EST). More specifically, Hawaii would be going to Spokane to play California and their pair of likely Top-10 2016 NBA draft picks, Ivan Rabb and Jaylen Brown. I was crestfallen. California is basically the Fast 7 version of Long Beach State, a team that gave us trouble all year (notwithstanding our win against them on Saturday) and batch of raw talent waiting to explode at any moment. I expected that in the coming days, the bracket "experts" would pass Hawaii by as fodder for an inevitable California - Maryland second round matchup, with the winner crowned the most likely team to challenge Kansas in the South Region of the bracket.
What I did NOT expect, was that the exact opposite would happen. Almost immediately (with the exclusion of Charles Barkley, who is, I think, still at CBS' studio's trying to figure out how to work the touch screen), Hawaii became a "sexy" Cinderella pick. Michael Wilbon had them advancing on PTI. SB Nation had them advancing. Multiple ESPN "insiders" had them advancing. Tate Frazier and Mallory "Mother of Dragons" Rubin of the Channel 33 Basketball Podcast had them (potentially) advancing. I was perplexed. What did I miss? When did Hawaii become a known basketball quantity outside the four walls of the Pacific Ocean? Was even I, a fan of the team basically my entire life, overlooking and/or impulsively dismissing their potential for an upset? Then came the news on March 14, that Cal was dismissing one of its assistant coaches ahead of Friday's game, amid claims of sexual harassment. Is that a glimmer of hope, I see? Could we actually be what everyone thinks we are? Is it possible that this team, this amazing, odds-beating team could get the first tournament win in UH's history? I guess we'll find out on Friday. And hey, as they say, if the slipper fits, right?