HONOLULU — Hawaii has a rich history of bringing in national title contenders during its women’s basketball nonconference schedule – proud programs like Stanford, Baylor, South Carolina and Mississippi State in the last decade alone.
That is the case again for the 2022-23 season as Stanford, the 2021 national champion, will visit the Stan Sheriff Center for the Rainbow Wahine Showdown during Thanksgiving weekend.
But while teams of that caliber can basically pick and choose where they will play, not everyone has the same flexibility, especially right now.
UH coach Laura Beeman told Spectrum News that programs’ travel budgets of the pandemic era remain, in many cases, restricted, which made filling out the Rainbow Wahine’s two home nonconference tournaments a little challenging this year. Those two events (Bank of Hawaii Classic Nov. 18-20 and the aforementioned Showdown Nov. 25-27) account for five of UH’s six nonconference home games this season.
“The Power Five schools will rebound much quicker or already have,” messaged Beeman, who is entering her 11th season at UH. “It’s the mid-majors that will struggle for a bit longer. I am hoping that next year or the following year it gets back closer to normal.”
A quick look at the official schedule released this week reveals an oddity: Florida Gulf Coast, the reigning Atlantic Sun champion that went 30-3 in 2021-22, will appear in both UH tournaments, and play the Rainbow Wahine in games eight days apart.
UH, the defending Big West champion, needed to fill a hole in the second tournament after a team backed out due to COVID budget issues, Beeman said. She wasn’t entirely sure of the Eagles’ circumstances that allowed them to remain in the islands for the entirety of Thanksgiving week and fill the slot, but UH is helping with flights and hotels, she said.
UH’s nine nonconference games run the gamut from conference contenders to also-rans. The Wahine open with a challenging road trip to Oregon State (Nov. 7) of the Pac-12 and Portland (Nov. 9).
The Wahine host UNLV in a stand-alone game Dec. 11, then head to the mainland to face San Jose State on Dec. 21 before dispersing for the holiday break and reconvening for the Big West opener at UC Davis on Dec. 29.
Besides the considerable loss of Big West Player of the Year Amy Atwell, UH remains largely intact from its championship squad heading into 2022-23.
Six of UH’s nine nonconference games will be against a team that finished in the top 80 of NCAA NET rating last season. Attaining a higher NET/RPI for a better seed than the No. 15 that UH got in the Wichita region of last March’s NCAA tournament is the goal.
Beeman said that generally, her team’s projected roster strength going into a season only partially affects the teams the Wahine bring in. Under normal circumstances, she and associate head coach Alex Delanian, who heads up scheduling, try to lock in teams one or two seasons out.
“What impacts our scheduling … is the transfer portal. It always brings an element of unknown,” Beeman said. “Alex does a great job looking at our roster and of the teams considering coming over. Most of our scheduling has to do with what teams can afford to come over, however.”
Here’s the Rainbow Wahine’s upcoming nonconference opponents by NCAA NET ranking at the end of the 2021-22 season. For reference, Hawaii finished 162 of 356 Division I teams in NET after its appearance in the NCAA tournament first round against Baylor and 20-10 final record.
Nov. 7 – at Oregon State (50 NET)
Nov. 9 – at Portland (78)
Nov. 18 – Florida Gulf Coast (39)
Nov. 20 – Lipscomb (294)
Nov. 25 – Grambling State (298)
Nov. 26 – Florida Gulf Coast (39)
Nov. 27 – Stanford (3)
Dec. 11 – UNLV (75)
Dec. 21 – at San Jose State (323)
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.