The Big West was a two-team race all season long. It was never a question that one of those two teams would make the NCAA Tournament; the question was which one. The nation got its answer late Saturday night when the Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors finished off the UC Irvine Anteaters and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Even though the Rainbow Warriors were the 2 seed in the conference tournament, they were the best team all year long.
Eran Ganot has served as the head coach of the Rainbow Warriors since the 2015 season. Ganot and Hawai’i last made the NCAA Tournament in 2016, when they won a game. It is the 6th overall appearance for the Rainbow Warriors in the event. Hawai’i poses a very interesting matchup because of the way they play. Here are some things to look for as the Rainbow Warriors take the floor as a 13 seed.
Defense
Analysts and college basketball junkies are ecstatic about Hawai’i making the NCAA Tournament because its defense is one of the most unique in this day and age. If you have watched the Rainbow Warriors play, maybe you noticed it, maybe you didn’t. Hawai’i doesn’t ever switch on defense. That means they play their man and never help the ball handler. The other thing they do on defense is play drop coverage to protect the rim.
The style is unlike anything else in the college game right now, and it has given teams fits all year. The Rainbow Warriors currently sport the lowest assist rate in college basketball and force teams to go at them one-on-one. If the opponent can beat their man, then it may be easy baskets. The defense also puts the Rainbow Warriors in a good position for rebounds, and as a result, they are one of the best rebounding teams in the country.
The defense is extremely frustrating to play against because it seems like no one is open, because no one usually is. The straight man no-switch defense doesn’t allow threes, forces turnovers, and leads to extremely low shooting percentages. It can be vulnerable to extremely athletic guards, but Hawai’i made the NCAA Tournament on the strength of its defense, which shuts people down. Even if the Rainbow Warriors don’t win, it is going to be in every game.
Power Conference Size
There are a lot of teams from smaller conferences that have qualified for the NCAA Tournament and may be in games for a while, but then falter because they get dominated in the paint for lack of size. Hawai’i is not going to have that problem; they have the size to compete with the power-conference bigs, and many expect them to.
Big man Isaac Johnson got his start at Oregon, and at 7’0” and 225 pounds, it is no surprise he got his start at a power conference team. Johnson has found his home in Hawai’i and dominated the Big West this year. His averages of 14 points on 50% shooting (61% from two and 31% from three), 6 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block per game earned him Big West all-conference honors, and he was the most valuable player of the conference tournament. He is good enough and big enough to play with any team in the tournament.
Harry Rouhlideff and Gytis Nemeiksa are the other starters who stand at 6’9” and 6’7” respectively. Starting guard Quandre Bullock is 6’6”. The height is real, and the overall length makes the defense that much better.
Eran Ganot
Coach Ganot has had the most successful run of any Hawai’i coach since the back-to-back NCAA Tournament run in the early 2000’s. That's a good thing, but the bad thing is that no one is talking about Ganot and his prowess as a coach. It is likely because very few people stay up to watch the Rainbow Warriors, especially when they are at home because of the time of their games, but Ganot should be getting a lot more publicity than he is right now.
The Hawai’i team is consistently among the best in the Big West, and Ganot has crushed the international transfer market. He has also found cast-offs from other programs, like Bullock and Johnso,n, who didn’t do much and turned them into stars.
His defense is innovative and unique. Granted, it takes a special player to run the defense, but it is unique and makes opposing coaches sweat. I, for one, am glad that Ganot is back in the NCAA Tournament so everyone can see how great a coach he is, and maybe the Rainbow Warriors will make this a yearly occurrence.