HONOLULU — The Hawaii men’s basketball team is something of an unknown entity after losing its nucleus from last March. That was reflected in the Big West preseason coaches poll released Tuesday.
UH was tabbed seventh, its lowest placement in 13 seasons in the BWC aside from an eighth-place prediction in 2016-17 when coach Eran Ganot had close to an entirely new team coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance while dealing with NCAA sanctions.
“Over the years I’ve never been too high or low on preseason rankings,” Ganot said Tuesday during a press conference to discuss UH’s 2026 move to the Mountain West.
UH, meanwhile, seeks its first postseason appearance since 2016 as it has two more seasons to play in the Big West.
The Rainbow Warriors went 20-14 and 11-9 in the BWC last year for fourth place and a Big West tournament semifinal appearance. They lost its top six scorers from that team — Noel Coleman, JoVon McClanahan, Juan Munoz, Justin McKoy, Bernardo da Silva and Mor Seck.
“Nobody’s more of a blueprint right now for new faces than us,” Ganot said. “Losing your top six scorers puts you in a position where on paper you’re ranked where you’re ranked in the preseason.”
The five UC schools in the Big West swept the top five in the poll. Defending regular-seaosn champ UC Irvine received eight of 11 first-place votes as the preseason favorite. UC Santa Barbara was second with two first-place votes and UC Riverside, in fourth place, garnered the last.
In two events this week, UH will endeavor to familiarize its fans with its new look. Among the team’s eight newcomers are Division I transfers Gytis Nemeiksa (Xavier), Jerome Palm (Valparaiso), Marcus Greene (Houston Christian) and Tanner Christensen (Utah Tech).
Returnees to see action on last year’s team are guards Kody Williams and Ryan Rapp and forwards Akira Jacobs and Harry Rouhliadeff.
No UH players were named to the six-person preseason all-conference team. They were UC Davis guard T.Y. Johnson, UC San Diego wing Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, UC Irvine guard Justin Hohn, UC Santa Barbara guard Stephan Swenson, UC Riverside guard Barrington Hargress and CSUN forward Keonte Jones.
Friday marks three weeks out from the Nov. 8 opener against NAIA team Life Pacific in the Outrigger Rainbow Classic.
“I feel like our returners have made a jump, I feel like our newcomers are impactful,” Ganot said.
First up is the Tipoff Event on Thursday night inside the Stan Sheriff Center. The eighth-annual meet-and-greet, emceed by Spectrum Sports’ Kanoa Leahey, has effectively replaced the old postseason banquet as the program’s primary fundraiser.
Second is the Rainbow Madness at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Sheriff, which is free for fans. The UH men’s and women’s hoops squads will do a series of competitions, including a 3-point contest, skills challenge and dunk exhibition. There will also be a keiki dunk contest, prize giveaways and an autograph session.
UH graduate manager Zoar Nedd, a former UH walk-on at forward from Kapolei, took charge of the Madness preparations.
“I’ve been sitting on this idea probably since the first year of COVID, when we got Kamaka (Hepa) back,” Nedd said. “I had to present the idea to (Ganot) and go through a lot of stages of getting the facility checked, getting the rundown of the event. I had to work with Eric (marketing director Mathews) a lot. (Ganot) understood I was passionate about it and he was behind me 100%.”
2024-25 Big West Preseason Coaches' Poll
Note: First-place votes in parentheses
1. UC Irvine - 92 (8)
2. UC Santa Barbara - 85 (2)
3. UC San Diego - 77
4. UC Riverside - 75 (1)
5. UC Davis - 67
6. CSUN - 57
7. Hawaii - 46
8. Long Beach State - 39
9. Cal State Bakersfield - 28
10. Cal State Fullerton - 22
11. Cal Poly - 11
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.