2018-19 hoops schedule update
We’re in the thick of the college basketball schedule waiting game. Right around July and August, 353 Division I programs steadily roll out their nonconference (and sometimes full) slates, usually announcing it on Twitter.
About 75 teams have released their out-of-conference schedules so far. Hawaii is not among them; only Long Beach State and UC Irvine have done so among Big West teams.
If we go by the first three years of the Eran Ganot era, UH will release its schedule in mid to late August. So, there’s potentially plenty of time yet to wait on that.
But heres’s what we know so far.
For stand-alone games, the Rainbow Warriors will host Northern Arizona (Nov. 18) of the Big Sky and Hawaii Hilo (Dec. 8) of the PacWest. Those games were announced by the Lumberjacks and Vulcans.
UH is participating in two three-game bracket tournaments this year, the Wooden Legacy (Nov. 22, 23, 25) in Fullerton and Diamond Head Classic (Dec. 22, 23, 25) at the Stan Sheriff Center, with respective opening-round matchups against former WAC foes Utah and UNLV.
Not including 16 Big West Conference games, this leaves roughly six games to be announced, likely including three in the round robin Rainbow Classic. That could begin as soon as Nov. 6 under the new NCAA start date.
UNLV and Nevada had been rumored as possible stand-alone home opponents — and possible highlights of the home schedule — but those games did not manifest.
More info as it becomes available.
Whys Hawaii not applying for the Maui tournament like Chaminade had played thru the years. ..Competitors always top notch..Better yard stick than playing lesser teams like Northern Arizona and Hilo. .
N. Arizona was last place in the Big Sky last season, 5-27 and 2-16.
There are ‘353’ division I teams out there and we can only schedule, so far, only 2 games. Is it really that difficult to schedule teams to come out here or we go there ?? If, we need to play some money-games, we should do it. Come on, I bet they don’t even call some schools, call dem all!!!
I think Hawai’i basketball fans are ready to see really good basketball programs including myself. …..
@roygbivs
It seems like a lot of teams don’t want to make the trip out to Hawaii to play just one game against us. The only way we are able to get home games until bigger basketball programs is if they want to stop at Oahu to play a tune up game on their way to Maui. In terms of playing a road game against a bigger basketball program, we’re already in the Wooden Legacy tournament, so if anything they’ll probably play one more road game in non-conference.
With that said, even if we don’t schedule the traditional bigger basketball programs, we tend to still schedule good mid-majors to come down and play against us. (i.e teams who made the tournament last year or finished top 3 in their conference the previous year). Non-conference is a time for this team to grow, especially given the amount of young talent (the 3 new big men), so I wouldn’t be disappointed if there’s no big-time opponent on our schedule. I’d rather see a competitive game against another mid-major than a blowout against a bigger program. Just my opinion.
Not so long ago mainland teams would play UH with a caveat that allowed those teams to schedule an extra home game to offset the expense to come here. That exemption made it attractive for teams like North Carolina, Indiana, Purdue and others of that caliber but that was taken away by the NCAA a while back. Now UH has to put up a guarantee to get teams to come here, something they can rarely afford to do.
Rainbow fan,
Maui has been Chaminade’s host event. And as its name implies, the Maui Invitational is on an invitation-only basis. You have to be among the cream of the crop — consistently — to merit an invitation, especially if you’re a member of a non-Power Five conference.
Roybgivs,
It’s not that only two games are scheduled — it’s that these are the ones that have been made public by other entities through their own schedule releases. Last I heard, UH was looking to plug two or three holes in its schedule.
Lowtone,
That Hawaii exemption actually still exists; teams that come out here get an extra home game. But just having that carrot, and a nominal guarantee fee, hasn’t been enough to bring the big boys out anymore.
Arkansas Pine Bluff
two seven footers on the team.i like it.