Raimo joins elite company
Hawaii basketball forward Zigmars Raimo joined some exclusive company when he was named to the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic all-tournament team on Christmas.
He was joined by tournament MVP Alex Robinson and Jaylen Fisher of tourney champion TCU, Jordan Barnes of runner-up Indiana State and Nate Sestina of third-place Bucknell.
In the DHC’s 10 years, only six Rainbow Warriors have been named to the all-tourney team. The junior from Latvia had seven points and seven rebounds against UNLV, 14 points and a DHC-record-tying 17 rebounds against Colorado, and a career-high 19 points and six rebounds against Rhode Island. He averaged 13.3 points and 10 boards for the tournament.
When UH has finished 2-1 in the eight-team tournament (six times), it’s gotten a player on the all-tournament team all but one time. When it’s gone 1-2 (four times), it’s gotten a player to the tourney team just once — the inaugural DHC of 2009.
Here’s the year, UH all-tournament teamers and team placement in the 10 DHCs.
2009: Dwain Williams (4th)
2010: None (5th)
2011: Zane Johnson (5th)
2012: None (6th)
2013: Brandon Spearman (5th)
2014: Isaac Fleming (3rd)
2015: Roderick Bobbitt (3rd)
2016: None (7th)
2017: None (6th)
2018: Zigmars Raimo (5th)
I have almost no memory of Dwain Williams.
But then I checked his career stats.
No wonder. The Providence transfer only played in 14 games.
It is all coming back to me.
This is the guy, I think, who asked for funeral leave, a cousin had passed, and then never returned.
If by some miracle Hawaii runs the table and find themselves in the conversation as a potential bubble team, they can boast of having a 2-1 record against the Pac-12.
Hawaii hasn’t lost to anybody worse than them.
The future looks a little brighter.
I hope they get out to a fast start against Alabama A & M so the whole roster can get into the game.