Blackout!
Great start to the season for Gib Arnold’s Rainbow Warriors, with wins on back-to-back nights against Montana State and Cal State Fullerton.
UH also got off to a 2-0 start last year (hard to imagine now, I know) before falling to a solid Nothern Colorado team in the finale of the Rainbow Classic played at midnight.
Well, UH is back in ESPN’s College Hoops Tip-off Marathon, with an 11 p.m. local start tomorrow vs. Central Michigan (the late start is to fit an early-morning time slot on the mainland). The promotion is a “Blackout” night, so that means wear a black shirt if you plan to attend the game. UH Manoa students get in free, and there’s a contest for the best fan sign with the ESPN acronym.
UH can win the tournament title outright with a win over the Chippewas (1-1).
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The Rainbows practiced short yet fierce today. The coaches had the players do a “Blackout” of their own, with every player wearing the black side of their reversible black-white practice jerseys.
The idea was to have the players up their communication with each other on the court; everyone wearing the same color created some confusion on substitutions and matchups.
“Chaos, it’s chaos right now,” assistant Brandyn Akana said. He was obviously enjoying it.
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Central Michigan is a larger, more physical team than the two UH has faced so far. The Chippewas of the Mid-American Conference have outrebounded those mutual opponents (MSU and CSF) by 8.5 in two games.
Look for the Rainbows to get more use out of centers Vander Joaquim and Douglas Kurtz. They’ll need to match up with those bodies crashing the boards.
This team is not last in the WAC. I may be speaking early but by looking at the intensity and the fact that we have shooters means that other teams cannot just play zone which killed us last year.
Bo Barnes is deadly. Do you think he might crack the starting line up?
I sort of like the way things are but what the line up that is intriguing is 1,2,3,4,5
Miles, Thompson, Johnson, Amis, Thomas.
BMC, we are bringing it loud. Trust me you will hear us. My friends and I are going to be obnoxious (but all in clean fun). This is the one time the arena can be full of crazed, liquored up fans. Maybe we will stand the entire game–just like the big time schools.
how is Brumfield coming along?
Gib should try to get in on both ends of ESPN’s marathon Monday next year. Play the 11 pm game on Monday and come back at 7 pm on Tuesday to finish. It would be really tough on the players but it would be something to get the exposure by being on twice.
Brian is J. Coleman redshirting this year? I haven’t seen him play yet.
Dodger,
Remains to be seen. The team isn’t overly deep, so they might need to call on him sometime if guys get into foul trouble or someone gets hurt. But it is a definite possibility.
I don’t think he’ll see court time anytime soon, as his knee is physically fine, but the muscle around it is still being built up. That, and he’s missed quite a bit of team drills and doesn’t quite have the feel for Arnold’s offense yet.
Who is the very, very tall young man wearing a jacket & sweatpants sitting on UH’s bench? He gets up and joins the timeout meetups.