Monday, March 22, 2010

Opinion: Baldwin softball lawsuit is bogus

By Fred Guzman

ESPN550.com

 

Bogus.  That's what I think about the arguments raised in a lawsuit filed by parents of three Baldwin softball players claiming gender discrimination on the part of the County of Maui and the Department of Education regarding equal access to facilities.

 

I say this as someone who has a daughter who competed in sports, as someone who has coached women, and has always supported equality in athletics based on a federal law authored by Maui's own Patsy Mink, the late, great congresswoman.

 

The lawsuit is partly aimed at a county administration led by a mayor, Charmane Tavares, who has worked as both a coach and athletic director at the high school level in addition to having previously served as the county's parks and recreation department.

 

Yes, the Baldwin boys play at Iron Maehara Stadium.  But claims that the field currently assigned to the Baldwin softball team is a mere rock-pile are patently untrue.  Distance from campus also was cited in the lawsuit. 

 

Yet both the Baldwin girls' and boy's soccer teams train on fields adjacent to – and in far worse playing condition – than the softball field.

 

I know this because many of my non-working hours are spent at the Keopuolani Park complex.

 

Ironically, none of this would have become an issue had not the state changed the softball season from winter to spring because of gender concerns.  Frankly, I think the parents and coach of the Baldwin softball are acting like a bunch of ingrates.

 

BRACKET WOES: March Madness, indeed.  My bracket is in shambles.  So what?  I'm still loving it.   Between us, I'm putting the blame for my failure on my on-air talk show partner Bill Schindler for having induced me to drink deeply from his Big East Kool Aid.

 

Where do we begin?  Let's start with Kansas.  The Jayhawks were the odds on-on choice to win this year's tournament.  Yet, the team that was the unanimous No. 1 in the final regular-season poll is back home Lawrenceville, knocked out by Northern Iowa in the second round.

 

The Big East tied its own record by having eight schools chosen to the 65-team field.  But the end of Sunday, only two of those teams – top-seeded Syracuse and No. 2 West Virginia – were still standing.

 

The Pac-10 was this winter's favorite punch-line for many hoops pundits.  Yet the maligned conference went 0-3 before Cal was soundly beaten by Duke and Washington, a No. 11 seed, has advanced.

 

Cornell, seeded 12th, became the first team from the Ivy League to reach the Sweet 16 in 31 years, joining such non-majors as Butler, Xavier, St. Mary's and, of course, Northern Iowa.

 

Most of pundits have take the elitist stance that expanding the field to 96 teams will dilute the tourney.  Put me on the other end of that argument. The more, the merrier, I say. Make it a truly democratic event and open it up for everyone.  Let them all play.  And may the best – or luckiest – team win, brackets be darned.   

Friday, March 5, 2010

Lunas, Spartans ousted from contention

 

By Fred Guzman

ESPN550.com

 

By the time the state high school basketball tournaments reached their  midway marks Thursday night, all of the MIL's three qualifiers were out of title contention. 

 

But, to be fair, both of the MIL champions – Lahainaluna in Division-I and Seabury Hall in D-II – were competitive in suffering quarterfinal losses. 

 

The fourth-seeded Lunas contributed mightily to their demise by committing 26 turnovers, in a 65-62 loss to Kahuku at Radford High.  Sam Kiek scored 24 points and the Lunas rallied to tie the score with less than a minute left before turnovers again came back to haunt them.

 

Second-seeded Seabury, meantime, squandered a seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter and a 24-point outing by Michael Palmer in a 60-57 overtime loss to Academy of the Pacific at Kalani High.

 

That means both teams were relegated to the consolation bracket, along with Kamehameha-Maui, which bounced back from an opening 59-45 loss to Punahou on Wednesday by beating Campbell 63-54 at Radford on Thursday although Kekoa Turberville scored 23 for the Warriors.

 

All three MIL teams will be in action Friday.  The games will be aired on Maui's ESPN 550 and espn550.com.  The schedule:  Kamehameha vs. Waiakea at 11 a.m., Mililani vs. the Lunas at 1 p.m. and Seabury vs. St. Joseph at 5 o'clock.

 

UH ROUNDUP: Hawaii could have extended an imminently forgettable season by winning at Boise State on Thursday.  Instead, the basketball Bows were soundly beaten, 82-63, suffering their eighth loss in as many road games and dropping below the Broncos into last place in the WAC.

 

That means UH not only has to win its regular-season finale at Idaho on Saturday, but also needs San Jose State to beat Boise State and Nevada to defeat LaTech to earn a berth in the WAC tournament in Reno.

 

The eighth-ranked UH men's volleyball team opens a tough four-match road trip by challenging No. 3 Cal State Northridge tonight and Saturday followed by matches at USC on Monday and Tuesday.  The
Trojans finished second in last year's NCAA tourney.

 

The UH baseball team opened a four-game series against The Citadel on a losing note last night, squandering leads of 6-1 and 6-4 lead to suffer a 12-8 setback on a rainy, gusty night at Les Murakami Stadium. The loss dropped Hawaii's early-season mark to 4-5.  The series continues with a double-header on Friday, starting at 3:05, and concludes on Sunday.

 

The Rainbow Wahine basketball team, which clinched a berth in the WAC tournament earlier in the week, close out the regular season at New Mexico State.

 

The UH softball team brings a 9-6 record into Friday's opening round of the Bank of Hawaii Invitational.  Also entered are Washington, East Carolina and Seattle.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Punahou’s size overwhelms Warriors

By Fred Guzman

ESPN550.com 

 

Kamehameha-Maui hung in there for a while.   In fact, the Warriors trailed by only four points, at 24-20, following Blake Lau's 3-pointer a minute into the second half.

 

But the outside shots stopped dropping for the Warriors after that and Punahou's superior size became an insurmountable factor as DeForest Buckner took control of the paint with 12 points, 17 rebounds and five blocks      .

 

As a result, the Buffanblu steadily pulled away, opening up a 52-30 lead en route to a 59-45 victory in Wednesday night's opening round of the state high school Division-I boy's basketball tournament.

 

Kekoa Turberville had a big game for Kamehameha-Maui, registering 19 points, seven rebounds and four assistrs in the loss, which relegated   to the consolation bracket and a 3 p.m. game today at McKinley High against Campbell, which lost 67-53 to Kamehameha-Kapalama.

 

The two MIL champions open their bids Thursday, each playing at 5 p.m.

 

In a D-I game at Radford High, fourth-seeded Lahainaluna faces a Kahuku team that advanced with a 61-56 win over Waiakea.  The quarterfinal showdown will be carried live on Maui's ESPN 550 and espn550.com.

 

In a D-II contest at Kalani High, second-seeded Seabury Hall, which went unbeaten during its MIL campaign, tangles with Academy of the Pacific.

 

In Wednesday's other D-I matchup:  Mililani defeated Farrington 63-51.

 

UH ROUNDUP:    After closing out an extended homestand with a pair of impressive victories against BYU, the eighth-ranked University of Hawaii men's volleyball team has embarked on a key road trip.

 

The Rainbows play third-ranked  Cal State Northridge Friday and Saturday and follow that up with matches at USC on Monday and Tuesday.  The Trojans were runners-up in last year's NCAA tournament.

 

The Rainbow Wahine basketball team is in the midst of an nine-day layoff before closing out the regular season at New Mexico State on Friday night.

 

But UH managed to extend its season Wednesday night despite not playing a game.  Thanks to Fresno State's 83-47 rout of San Jose State, the Rainbow Wahine were assured of a berth in next week's WAC tournament in Reno.

 

UH takes marks of 10-18 overall and 4-11 in the conference into its game against the Aggies, with the winner earning the seventh seed and the loser the eighth, and having to play against regular-season champion Fresno State, which closed out the WAC campaign with a 16-0 mark and is 25-5 overall.

 

The UH men, meantime, can clinch at WAC tournament berth by winning at Boise State Thursday.  But that could be easier said than done.  The Bows are 0-7 on the road this season.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Volleyball on Maui: Wait ‘til next year

By Fred Guzman

ESPN550.com

 

An apologetic University of Hawaii athletic director Jim Donovan joined us on-air Monday to explain the many reasons why the plug was pulled on the sold-out volleyball match scheduled for Saturday at Maui's War Memorial Gym.

 

His timeline of events, and the many hurdles they created, seemed valid.  And Donovan promised to bring future UH athletic events to the Valley Isle – including a volleyball match next season.

 

Although it's impossible to predict what the outcome of the match would have had it been played here, the crowd at the Stan Sheriff Center last night represented a fraction of the 2,500 tickets sold for the scheduled match on Maui.

 

But enough sour grapes.  UH followed up Friday's dramatic five-game victory over BYU on by sweeping the Cougars 30-27, 30-26, 30-25.  

 

The victories improved Hawaii's records to 10-5 overall and 6-4 in the MPSF, the nation's most competitive men's volleyball conference.

 

Leading the way for UH, who remained eighth in the national rankings released Monday, was the front line of Joshua Walker and Jonas Umlauft, each with 15 kills, and Steven Hunt, who had 12.

 

Another key factor for UH was exceptional serving accuracy.  In Friday's match, the Bows did not commit a service error.  Last night, they had just one in 64 serves.

 

Hawaii now hits the road this week for matches at Cal State Northridge and USC.

 

UH HOOPS: This is all you need to know about how far expectations have fallen for the floundering University of Hawaii basketball program.  Sadly, the current goal is to finish eighth in a nine-team league in order to qualify for the WAC tournament.

 

On a positive note, UH put together its most complete game against a worth opponent on Saturday night by snapping a nine-game losing streak with a 74-63 win over Nevada in a contest initially postponed because of concerns about an impending tsunami. 

 

With 10 family members making the tip from Texas for Senior Night, Rod Flemings treated them and the crowd at the Stan Sheriff Center with a 20-point, 12-rebound performance.

 

Junior point guard Hiram Thompson added a career-high 19 points and six assists, and Adher Mayen scored a career-high 17 for Hawai'i.

 

The win improved UH's marks to 10-18 overall and 3-11 in the WAC.  Next for the Bows is a visit to Boise State on Thursday, and a win would assure them of a berth in the WAC tourney.

 

On the diamond, the baseball Bows evened their record at 4-4 by taking three of four games against visiting 25th-ranked Oregon, splitting a series-ending twinbill on Sunday. 

 

Greg Garcia had three hits and drove in the go-ahead run for a 5-2 win in the opener.  Oregon avoided being swept by blanking UH 3-0 in the nightcap as Zack Thornton and Drew Gagnier combine on a two-hitter.

 

PREP HOOPS:  Getting there is never easy.  But for the MIL's two qualifiers for the state high school Division-I basketball tournament, sticking around for a while will be an even taller task.  Literally.

 

Both teams, overall champion Lahainaluna and runner-up Kamehameha-Maui, will be decided underdogs in their opening games.

 

Kamehameha-Maui, for example, will open tonight against a much taller Punahou team in a 5 p.m. game at McKinley High that will be aired live on ESPN 550 and espn550.com. 

 

Punahou was one of three teams to finish in a tie for first place in the ILH regular-season, requiring a playoff won by Iolani.  The third team in the mix, Kamehameha-Kapalama, also eventually qualified for the 12-team state field by winning a play-in game.

 

The winner of tonight's game will face third-seeded Hilo in Thursday's quarterfinals.

 

MIL champ Lahainaluna was seeded fourth and drew a bye into the quarters, facing the winner tonight's the Kahuku-Waiakea game at 5 p.m. Thursday at Radford High. 

 

The other D-I seeds are No. 1 Iolani and No. 2 Moanalua.

 

The best bet among MIL teams to enjoy success in this year's state tournament is Seabury Hall, seeded second behind Roosevelt in the eight-team D-II field. The Spartans open on Thursday in a 5 p.m. contest at Kalani High against Academy of the Pacific.