When the calendar turns to March, new hope arrives for college basketball fans around the country.
Teams will typically compete in their respective conference tournaments with an opportunity to clinch a spot in the 68-team NCAA Tournament, branded as March Madness and known as the big dance to others.
Depending on how the regular season ends for the University of Hawai‘i men's basketball team, the Rainbow Warriors may not even have a chance to try.
At 15-14 overall and 7-11 in Big West Conference play, the 'Bows are currently battling for a spot in the eight-team conference tournament, set to take place from March 12-15 in Henderson, Nevada.
The Rainbow Warriors enter the week in seventh place and will take on eighth place Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. HST. The Roadrunners are 7-12 in Big West play and conclude their regular season slate against UH. Were the 'Bows to lose on Thursday, CSUB would leapfrog them in the standings.
Hawai‘i then concludes regular season play on Saturday at third-place Cal State Northridge (21-8, 13-5 Big West), a team that routed the Rainbow Warriors 83-60 at the Stan Sheriff Center on Jan. 16. Cal Poly (12-18, 6-12), the other team within striking distance of the last spot, will play Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton this week, the two teams at the bottom of the standings.
The must-win scenario has ratcheted up the intensity in practices for the Rainbow Warriors, who departed for the Mainland on Tuesday.
"Especially March and college basketball, you don't know what's going to happen," sophomore guard Tom Beattie said. "Just embracing that challenge, embracing where we're at, and doing whatever we can to get out of this and get into the (conference) tournament."
Head coach Eran Ganot is currently in his 10th season as UH's head coach. After leading the Rainbow Warriors to the NCAA Tournament's Round of 32 in 2016, the 'Bows have not returned to the tournament since.
The 2024-2025 season is the first in which the Rainbow Warriors went under .500 in conference play under Ganot. Hawai‘i has not missed a conference tournament since finishing 3-13 in WAC play in the 2009-2010 season, which eventually led to the firing of Bob Nash.
Ganot will have one season remaining on his contract following the season. Although UH will not have a permanent athletics director in place to make a long-term decision on his future, the Rainbow Warriors have endured a challenging season. After beginning the season 4-0, the Rainbow Warriors are 3-8 in their last 11 games, but defeated UC Davis 78-70 in its most recent game on Saturday.
"It's been obviously one of the more challenging years, I would say," Ganot said earlier in the week. "But my No. 1 job is to lead. ... There's teams who have some of these struggles, and they fragment on and off the court. We've never fragmented off the court.
"The ups and downs will come during the course of the year and certainly will come during a game. What I liked the last week, and it was our focus going into the week, was challenging our guys to keep that swagger and a little chip on your shoulder with respect and great belief and great joy and great smiles."
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
