Next up: Tournament in Honolulu

The Cardinal heads west this week for the Jack in the Box Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu. I expect there will be time for more than basketball as was the case on the Cardinal's previous visit to Honolulu four years ago.

This is a four-team round-robin tournament, where each team plays the other three. It opens on Friday afternoon with a much-anticipated Stanford vs Baylor rematch and continues through Sunday evening. The other participants are the host University of Hawai'i and UT Martin (Tennessee-Martin).

There will be little media coverage of Stanford's games:

• KZSU will broadcast all three of Stanford's games.
• Oceanic Time Warner Cable will televise the Stanford/Hawai'i game.
• Gametracker will have live stats of the Stanford/Baylor game.

  Baylor Lady Bears

The Baylor Lady Bears still include the most dominant female college basketball player, one of the best point guards, all their 2011-12 starters and one of the most competitive coaches.

Graham Hayes (ESPN) says, "If you don't think everyone involved with the sport tried to talk their way into a trip to Hawaii for this one, you don't know sportswriters. Some of that even has to do with the potential for a great game," and adds this speculation, "Coming off its track meet against Kentucky and facing longer travel, might Baylor be vulnerable? It can't be a "break" game for Amber Orrange, but it could be a "make" game for the sophomore guard against Odyssey Sims."

Can the Cardinal defeat the Lady Bears in Honolulu? Certainly. Will they? Probably not.

Enjoy the competition.

Here are Baylor's 2012-13 statistics and roster.

  UT Martin Skyhawks

The University of Tennessee at Martin is a campus of the University of Tennessee system, 300 miles west of Knoxville.

UT Martin's statistics are astonishing. They led the nation last season in points per game (80.1) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.43), made the second-most 3-pointers per game (10.2), ranked third in 3-point percentage (38.4) and had the third-fewest turnovers per game (12.3).

But they play in a very weak conference – the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC). Collegiate Basketball News ranked it at #31 (of 33) and UT Martin's schedule strength at #298 (of 324) last season.

Nonetheless, the Skyhawks are very well-regarded in the mid-major level of competition. ESPN puts them at #10 in the mid-majors, with this commentary by Graham Hayes:

The best backcourt in Tennessee? It's a crowded competition when you look at the rosters of Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Middle Tennessee, but Tennessee-Martin isn't giving ground to any of them with Heather Butler and Jasmine Newsome . Those two combined to average 43.4 points and 9.4 assists per game last season, with Butler hitting more than three 3-pointers per game at a 42 percent clip and Newsome among national leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio.

Freshman Cortrice Golden , referred to even in official university recaps as "Big Baby," could lend some rebounding muscle to a lineup that ceded the advantage on the boards to opponents last season.

It could be a rough November — the Skyhawks face Baylor, Stanford and Louisville in succession at one point — but the team is for real.

Butler and Newsome haven't lost their touch. They scored a total of 81 points in UT Martin's first two games of this season.

Here are UT Martin's 2012-13 statistics and roster.

  University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine

Women's basketball doesn't attract many fans in Honolulu. Last season, the attendance at women's volleyball and men's basketball home games was about 6500 each, men's volleyball about 3000, women's basketball just 1500. This lack of interest is reflected in (or perhaps caused by) a program that hasn't been stable or very good for a long time.

The Rainbow Wahine have a new coach this season, the fifth in the past twelve years, Laura Beeman. She has nearly 20 years of coaching experience, most recently two years as associate coach under Michael Cooper at USC, and hopes to revitalize the Rainbow Wahine.

The University of Hawai'i has switched conferences this season. It now plays in the Big West after 34 years in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). The Rainbow Wahine have been picked to finish sixth (of ten) in the Big West.

Junior forward Kamilah (Jackson) Martin leads the team. She was on the All-WAC Conference Team last season and is on the Preseason All-Big West Conference Team this season. She averaged 13.2 points and 10.6 rebounds per game last season.

Martin and six other returning players are joined by eight newcomers this season — fifth-year senior and softball All-American Stephanie Ricketts, three transfers and four freshmen.

Here are Hawai'i's 2012-13 statistics and roster