Due to recent NCAA rule changes, University of Hawai‘i men's basketball coach Eran Ganot thought now was as good a time as any to take his team out of the country.
From Aug. 6-13, the Rainbow Warriors will head to Sydney, Australia for a foreign tour, the team's first since taking a trip to Japan in 2023. Former NCAA rules stated that a team could only do so once every four years, but that policy was stripped in April.
Heading into the 2026-2027 season, the 'Bows will start almost entirely from scratch, returning only Isaiah Kerr from their 2025-2026 NCAA Tournament team. Point guard Tanner Cuff was on the roster but sidelined due to an ACL tear. With foreign tours permitting a team 10 extra practices, Ganot also sees an opportunity for his team's 12 newcomers to gel faster.
"When I started coaching, there were very subtle rule changes," said Ganot on Thursday, who is entering his 12th year at the helm. "The last five years or so, they've been very violent and significant. And so, when it happens, we got to stay on the cusp of it. And then we sit there and say, 'Hey, here's a new rule. What can we do?' There are a lot of layers here.
"There's a lot of work behind the scenes to make something like this happen. I'm very appreciative of our administration. I'm very appreciative of our sponsors, our supporters, our boosters, and certainly at the forefront HTA (Hawai‘i Tourism Authority), understanding the value of this global brand that is Hawai‘i and that is UH."
Leading the 'Bows on the court both in Australia and throughout the season will be Kerr, who turned down the transfer portal in March to return for his senior year.
"I think it's going to be an awesome experience for the team. A lot of bonding," Kerr said. "You get to go to a place where a lot of guys have never been before, so that'll be cool. Not only just to be there and experiencing the place, but also the culture of the team. I'm the only returner that played last year, so just kind of instilling the same championship DNA that we had last year coming into this year's team."
While the Rainbow Warriors will have time to explore a new country, they'll also play a pair of exhibition games against the Illawarra Hawks on Aug. 10, followed by the Sydney Kings on Aug. 12. Both are franchises in the National Basketball League, Australia's premier professional basketball league.
"The NBL is one of the best professional leagues in the world, and we have great respect for the talent, the coaching, for obvious reasons," Ganot said. "The goal is to come back here a little further along, a little closer together, a better understanding of who we are. ... Throw them in the fire a little bit, so you can see where their talents are at, how quickly they pick things up, and then adjust as we go. But to their credit, last year's group maximized the little time we had."
With Hawai‘i's regular season set to begin in early November, Ganot says the team will be "smart" about handling Cuff's injury, and he is not expected to play on the trip. Cuff had knee surgery approximately eight and a half months ago, and Ganot says Cuff has "done everything right and is progressing well."
Next week's trip will also serve as a homecoming for a pair of players from Australia in newcomers Bol Dengdit and Lueth Awan.
"They were all excited," Dengdit said of the reaction of his family and friends back home. "This is actually the first time they get to see me play in a while, so I'm excited."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
