For completely different reasons, the two UH-Hilo basketball programs had very similar trajectories a year ago that both men’s coach GE Coleman and women’s coach David Kaneshiro sincerely hope is in the past, all but forgotten.
That proximity to the playoffs will no doubt be on the minds of those returning when the two teams officially open practice Saturday night in the campus gym following the volleyball match.
Each coach will use the fact that their team came up one game short of the playoffs as a motivational tool for the new season.
“It’s not something we talk about on a daily basis,” Kaneshiro said, “but it’s been mentioned, everyone is aware of it; the bigger point that we do talk about all the time is the day-to-day stuff, the hard work, the effort; that’s what will make the difference and we sort of discovered it near the end of the season.