No Clue At All

Ok, so after stirring up my anger on that tag board, I decided to write a whole thing on this subject. First of all, SNUBBED! You'd think an undefeated 28-0 record and a No.1 ranking at the end of the regular season might get you somewhere when it comes down to NCAA tournament time. Well, it did. It got the Rainbow Wahine all the way to Fort Collins, CO for one thing. It got Hawai`i the 3rd seed in the tournament. It also got Hawai`i a potential second round match-up with No.9 ranked Colorado State at Colorado State (really, in a 64-team tournament, would you really think that pairing the No.1 ranked team in the nation with the No.9 ranked team in the nation in the second round would be a wise decision?). All this to "save the number of flights" needed to bring three teams to Hawai`i (and don't think that Colorado and Purdue are too happy about not being shipped off to Hawai`i either), to the University of Hawai`i, the only revenue producing women's volleyball program in the nation (of course, all that money made would go directly to the NCAA).

Ok, so maybe I'm being a little irrational about all of this, being an avid Wahine fan. I mean, it could have been worse, we weren't snubbed quite SO bad as some of the other teams in the nation. For example, No.9 Colorado State gets no seed and has to play Hawai`i in the second round. Or No.4 and 4th-seeded Minnesota, who (after having already been granted regional hosting privilages) flies to Yale but gets to take on a bunch of New York no-names. Or take No.13 Florida, who gets no seed and has to play No.22 Florida A&M at Florida A&M in the first round. Or No.6 Stanford, who gets the 11th seed and has to fly off to Florida to potentially take on No.13 Florida in the second round.

But then again, take a look at those teams who have somehow fallen within the good graces of the NCAA, like No.11 Texas who jumps to the 6th seed and gets to host the first-second rounds. Or No.24 Missouri who jumps to the 16th seed and gets to host the first-second rounds. Or how about unranked Wisconsin who miraculously jumps to the 14th seed and not only gets to host the first-second rounds, but the Regionals as well. Hmm, and here I thought all that BCS conference-conspiracy talk was just for football.

The NCAA complains that they save money on flights sending three teams to Hawai`i. But you know Hawai`i can almost guarantee them a sell-out crowd of over 10,000, that's big bucks all going to the NCAA. They also say that Hawai`i has been "favored" in the past to be able to host so many first-second rounds, well there's a reason for that... WE'RE GOOD. I mean really, what's the use of an undefeated record and a consistently top 5 national ranking if you won't get rewarded with some post-season privilages? Well, I guess it doesn't matter too much, Wahine are still going all the way, it'll just have to be a very long way. We don't got no doubt about the Wahine's ability to go out, win on the road, and show the NCAA what's up, it's just too bad we won't be able to see it live and in person.

Well, at least there's television coverage this time, in 2001 I was straining my ears listening to the matches on the radio. Remember to watch, Thursday, Dec. 2nd, 2:00pm HST on K5, No.3-seed Hawai`i (28-0) vs. Colorado (14-13). Followed by Colorado St. (26-3) vs. Purdue (16-14). GO BOWS!