Both the men's and women's basketball teams for UH-Manoa made it to the Big West conference championship game but lost. Neither went on the NCAA tournament, but the women's team made it to the WNIT (a tournament for those with winning records but couldn't make it in the NCAA tournament).
The women's team has now lost a few great players to graduation, but still have some strong performers on the team. The team is just hoping the coach Laura Beeman sticks around. With success comes being recruited to coach at better funded programs. Let's hope she loves Hawaii more than outside money!
The men's team, however, have a much bigger struggle. They started the season less than a month after their head coach Gib Arnold got fired over alleged NCAA violations. Then the star player from last year Issac Fotu (also under investigation over alleged NCAA violations) left the team. A benchwarmer Jammis Reyes also left.
The first game didn't even start and people were ready to give up on the team. However, assistant coach Benji Taylor became head coach and rallied the remaining players to victories all throughout the season. Unlike the teams of the Gib Arnold era, they didn't collapse during the end of the regular season. Unlike the teams of the Gib Arnold era, they didn't get eliminated in the first round of the Big West tournament. They took it all the way to the championship game where they took a heart-breaking loss.
Even with all that success under such difficult circumstances, it is still uncertain if the UH athletic department will allow Benji Taylor to continue being head coach. There's this application process that requires allowing outside applicants to apply when it comes to state jobs.
I say we keep Benji Taylor as head coach. He's a much better fit for the program than Gib Arnold was. He was able to win under less than ideal circumstances and could do even more when he gets the job, be able to recruit his own players, and be able to move beyond the NCAA violations!
