Ostrowski on playing for the Swish

Hawaii Swish point guard Miah Ostrowski spoke to me last night after deadline for today’s column (subscription) on the Hawaii Swish.

“It’s going great so far,” said the former University of Hawaii standout. “I didn’t expect such a great turnout (for the ABA team’s debut earlier this month). As far as the team, we’re getting better and better, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

Ostrowski said he believes the team has a chance to succeed where other attempts at pro basketball in Hawaii have failed.

“It’s definitely headed in the right direction, especially if you look at anything in the past that got attempted.Based on what we have scheduled now, six games, all in the Blaisdell, it’s realistic for now. Based on the turnout, as long as we continue to show we can actually compete, we should be OK. In the future, you never who know who might turn out (for the team).”

Team owner Geremy Robinson said Tuesday’s game against Tucson will have a Mardis Gras theme. He also said that if 4,000 fans are in attendance, $1,000 will be donated to a local charity (one from among five drawn randomly). It’s a lofty and perhaps unrealistic attendance goal for a week night game (the first game, on a Friday, drew around 1,000 at most), but Robinson’s heart is in the right place.