Hawaii Warrior World

Star-Advertiser special projects reporter Dave Reardon discusses any and all athletics issues, with a special focus on Hawaii’s athletes and teams.

About the blog host

Dave Reardon is a sports projects reporter for the Star-Advertiser. The Honolulu native and alumnus of Pearl City High, Northwestern University and the University of Hawaii started as a copyboy and prep football stringer at the Star-Bulletin in 1981 and has covered the island sports scene uninterrupted since, except for college and two years at the Gainesville (Fla.) Sun. Dave has also launched a side career in teaching. Follow him on Twitter @dave_reardon

Latest news

Hawaii football: quarterback Cole McDonald plans to ‘come back next year’

By Dave Reardon on October 29, 2019

Cole McDonald went a long way on that 76-yard touchdown run in Saturday’s 45-31 victory at New Mexico. But Hawaii’s fourth-year junior quarterback said after practice Tuesday he has no plan — at least at this point — of going any distance from the UH roster before his senior season. “I intend to stay in school and come back next year,” McDonald said. Of course a lot can change between now and next spring and the NFL Draft. And at […]

AP College Football Poll: Most No. 1 votes doesn’t always make you No. 1

By Dave Reardon on October 27, 2019

More of the 62 voters in the AP Top 25 college football poll picked Alabama as the best team in the country after Saturday’s games. But LSU is ranked No. 1. How can that be? Two reasons: Ohio State and Clemson. Alabama got 21 first-place votes. LSU received 17 (including mine). Ohio State got 17, too, and Clemson, the preseason No. 1, garnered the remaining seven. Without having seen the other ballots yet, we can infer Alabama is a couple […]

Hawaii men’s basketball: Tip-Off fills the house again

By Dave Reardon on October 25, 2019

Former head coaches Riley Wallace and Bob Nash were among the more than 500 people who attended the University of Hawaii men’s basketball Tip-Off fundraiser at the Stan Sheriff Center on Thursday. The event also celebrated the program’s upcoming 100th season. It starts Nov. 8 against Florida A&M. Before that, UH has an exhibition against Chaminade next Wednesday. UH, which went 18-13 last season, has a nonconference schedule including road games at Oregon and Illinois and possible Diamond Head Classic […]

Hawaii football: Jared Smart, UH look to make heady plays

By Dave Reardon on October 23, 2019

If he could, Jared Smart would trade every one of those 11 catches and 140 yards receiving Saturday for a win against Air Force. “No doubt, definitely,” said Smart, a 6-foot, 190-pound junior who posted career highs in the University of Hawaii’s 56-26 loss to the Falcons. The junior college transfer has 43 receptions for 417 yards and one touchdown in his first year at Manoa. But the Warriors might need similar production again from Smart if they are to […]

AP College Football Poll: Badgers and Broncos beaten for first time, drop in rankings

By Dave Reardon on October 20, 2019

Another week, and another top-10 unbeaten falls. This time it’s Wisconsin. After losing to 30-point-underdog Illinois, 24-23, the Badgers dropped from No. 6 to 13th overall and from third to 12th on my ballot in the Associated Press College Football Poll. Wisconsin lacked a knockout punch after never trailing and going ahead 20-7 early in the third quarter. If anything, it punched itself out. On its last four possessions, the Badgers missed a field goal, settled for a field goal […]

Stan Sheriff Center: Hawaii basketball beating No. 2 Kansas is No. 1 in our poll, but you probably knew that

By Dave Reardon on October 19, 2019

If you know much about Hawaii sports of the past quarter century, you probably figured out before today that the University of Hawaii men’s basketball team upset of No. 2 Kansas on Dec. 30, 1997 would be No. 1 in our voting of the most memorable athletic events at the Stan Sheriff Center since its opening on Oct. 21, 1994. We recount that game in today’s Star-Advertiser, and there’s a complete list of the top 10 and games that also […]

Stan Sheriff Center: Whitlock’s BYU beater at the buzzer stands alone for Hawaii basketball

By Dave Reardon on October 18, 2019

When Tes Whitlock hit a shot beyond 20 feet as time expired to beat BYU in 1995, it was not the first or last decisive buzzer bomb in University of Hawaii basketball history. Trevor Ruffin, Bobby Nash, Petras Balocka, Hauns Brereton (and Joston Thomas), Garrett Jefferson, Keith Shamburger, Roderick Bobbitt, Noah Allen and Leland Green are among those who also made big shots to win games or extend them as the clock ran out. But Whitlock’s stands out alone to […]

Stan Sheriff Center: Hawaii basketball started 2005 cramping Michigan State’s style

By Dave Reardon on October 14, 2019

Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo tried to compliment the University of Hawaii team that had just romped over his squad, 84-62, in the 2005 season-opener for both. But he did not have kind words for the fans at the Stan Sheriff Center. “That’s the maddest I’ve ever been as a coach in college,” Izzo said. The source of his displeasure was some fans booing when MSU player Shannon Brown — one of four Spartans reported to have left the […]

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