Armed Forces to Stan Sheriff — What now?

Today offered a couple of Hawaii basketball updates — one expected, one not.

First, center Ido Flaisher is an official member of the Rainbow Warriors. That one was good news for UH — the NCAA got around to clearing Flaisher — but it was generally considered to be a matter of when, not if.

Then there was this head-turning item: UH is now the host of the ESPN-televised Armed Forces Classic on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

The event was moved to UH’s 10,300-seat Stan Sheriff Center to better accommodate military personnel and the community — so far, upper-level tickets have been opened up to H-Club members — than what the cramped Bloch Arena could offer at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

Great, right? Well, Nov. 11 also happens to be the date of the Rainbows’ season opener against SIU-Edwardsville and another Rainbow Classic game at the Sheriff between Texas State and Florida Atlantic, complicating matters.

This does not mean the Rainbows are suddenly in the Armed Forces event; Arizona and Michigan State play at 2 p.m. and Kansas/Indiana meet at 4:30 p.m., totally separate from UH’s annual round-robin tourney. The two Rainbow Classic games set for that day are still TBA on their tipoff times.

A UH spokesperson said the UH-SIUE game could begin sometime between 7 and 8:30 p.m., with the Texas State-Fla. Atlantic game possibly taking place before the two Armed Forces games. Or, the neutral Rainbow game could be played at an alternate site. It doesn’t seem likely that they’ll slot two games AFTER the Armed Forces. The crowd will be totally cleared out between the Armed Forces and Rainbow events.

UH is still booked for the Pearl Harbor Invitational at Bloch on Dec. 6-7, a totally separate event put on by Fox Sports.

What does UH get out of the ESPN Armed Forces swap? Some potential gate revenue, plus more “H” branding from the court/other signage during the ESPN broadcasts. UPDATE: Per UH, the court logo will be that of the Armed Forces Classic on Nov. 11. From the sound of it, it won’t be changed out to the regular “H” until the next day.

And there’s this: It’s pretty cool to be able to host four teams of that caliber in your building for an afternoon. Kansas, Indiana and Michigan State all know (especially Tom Izzo) what it’s like to lose to Hawaii in the Sheriff, while Arizona won the 2012 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in a thriller over San Diego State.

For H-Club members, you can book tickets by (UPDATE: responding to an email you were to have received) … for more information (but not to book) call 956-4482. It’s unclear when the general public can put in for tickets, but I think it’s likely at some point.

——————

Oh, and happy birthday to Eran Ganot, who turned 35 today.