The Bald-Headed Truth

Very disturbing trend at UH

Three teams — and the most important three teams at that — lost scholarships at the University of Hawaii in the NCAA annual academic report that was released Tuesday.

Football will lose one scholly for the second year in a row, baseball will lose about a half of an award off of the already tight NCAA limit of 11.7, and basketball will lose two of its 13 full rides for next year.

For football, on the surface, one scholarship out of 85 is not that big of a deal and the Warriors are making progress in the last couple years based on the NCAA numbers.

In baseball, and especially basketball, the numbers are much more disturbing.

Baseball usually carries about 32 guys, and some of those are obvioulsy walk-ons, but to lose the equivalent of a half ride is two guys who can’t receive the minimum of a quarter ride. With the tight NCAA limit, nearly all Division I baseball teams split their rides as much as they can.

In basketball, losing two rides is 15.4 percent of what they have to offer. And with seven scholarships available for next year and six players signed, either one of those new players or a returnee will be without a scholarship they thought was coming. That will not play well in the recruiting wars, believe me.

New athletic director Jim Donovan now has this to add to his gargantuan list of things that must improve, very soon, on the lower campus in Manoa.

Read the link for the story that ran in Wednesday’s print edition.