HONOLULU — A longstanding piece of Hawaii men’s basketball lore, the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic, will not be included in the still-to-be-released 2023-24 nonconference schedule, Spectrum News has learned.

What You Need To Know

  • Difficulties getting three visiting teams to all agree to play each other in the four-team round-robin event were behind its scuttling this year, sources said

  • It’s believed the event known as “The Rainbow” has been the holdup with UH’s nonconference schedule

  • Since the introduction of the nationally televised Diamond Head Classic in 2009, the Rainbow Classic has been set annually at the start of UH seasons in November

  • UH could make up the loss of the Rainbow with two or three stand-alone games, possibly near the start of the season. The national start of the college basketball season is Nov. 6 and indications were UH could open on Nov. 7 or 8 against a to-be-announced opponent

Difficulties getting three visiting teams to all agree to play each other in the four-team round-robin event were behind its scuttling this year, sources said.

UH coach Eran Ganot declined comment on the matter Thursday after the Rainbow Warriors held their first full schedule of the preseason.

It’s believed the event known as “The Rainbow” has been the holdup with UH’s nonconference schedule — a problem that got harder to solve by the day. As the calendar approached October, it became increasingly difficult to find suitable teams, which have typically been of comparable mid-major caliber; as of Thursday, all but about 34 of the 362 Division I men’s basketball programs in the country had put out their full slates.

For its nonconference schedule, UH has posted the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, Dec. 21, 22 and 24, starting with Portland, and the four-team Acrisure Invitational, Nov. 24 and 25 in Palm Springs, Calif., starting with Texas-Rio Grande Valley. Other confirmed games are home dates against Northern Arizona (Nov. 21), Central Arkansas (Dec. 3) and Nevada (Dec. 17) from those teams’ posted schedules.

The ‘Bows are also hosting West Coast power Saint Mary’s in a preseason game Oct. 20 to fundraise for Maui wildfire relief efforts. Tickets went on sale Thursday.

UH could make up the loss of the Rainbow with two or three stand-alone games, possibly near the start of the season. The national start of the college basketball season is Nov. 6 and indications were UH could open on Nov. 7 or 8 against a to-be-announced opponent.

Since the introduction of the nationally televised Diamond Head Classic in 2009, the Rainbow Classic has been set annually at the start of UH seasons in November. However, it was, in its heyday, one of the premier in-season multi-team events in the country as an eight-team holiday tournament through 2008.

In 2009 Ganot, then an assistant coach under Bob Nash who had a hand in scheduling, played a role in the tournament’s new life with the concept of shifting it to the start of the season. Now a ninth-year head coach, Ganot frequently cites program history, among it the Rainbow Classic and its place in college basketball lore.

Started in 1964 by radio broadcaster Chuck Leahey and then-head coach Red Rocha, the Rainbow Classic grew in prominence as a proving ground for some of the best teams and players in the college game. Its participants included blue blood programs like Kansas, North Carolina and Duke and the court at the Blaisdell Arena was graced with the likes of Elvin Hayes, Pete Maravich, Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan and Christian Laettner.

Outrigger Resorts and Hotels has been the longtime title sponsor of the tournament.

The upcoming season will be the third time since the Rainbow was converted into the four-team format that it will not be held. Former coach Gib Arnold and his staff had difficulties filling out the 2011 edition and punted until the next year. And the entire 2020 nonconference season was limited to a pair of games against local Division II teams due to the COVID-19 pandemic threat.

The Rainbow Classic fields in recent years have been a far cry from decades past, with the best competition now coming for the ESPN-televised Diamond Head Classic.

The 2022 Rainbow field was Yale, Mississippi Valley State and Eastern Washington. It is expected to return for the 2024-25 season.

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.