Hawaii Warrior World

Formerly about Rainbow Warriors basketball, but now covering all University of Hawaii sports.

About the blog host

Brian McInnis has covered sports on Oahu full time since 2007, when he joined the Honolulu Star-Bulletin staff as a general reporter. He was the UH basketball beat writer from the 2008-09 season through 2017-18. Follow him on twitter @Brian_McInnis

Latest news

Hawaii soccer: Raisa Strom-Okimoto, Addie Steiner meet on the NWSL field

By Brian McInnis on June 29, 2019

Last weekend, former Hawaii soccer standouts Raisa Strom-Okimoto and Addie Steiner made their respective debuts in the National Women’s Soccer League. On Friday, the two former Rainbow Wahine met on the field of play as opponents, marking the first time two UH alumna played in a game in the NWSL (the women’s equivalent of MLS). Steiner’s Seattle Reign came to Salt Lake City to take on Strom-Okimoto’s Utah Royals FC. Both came on as reserves in the Reign’s 2-0 road […]

Hawaii men’s basketball: Gibson Johnson returns as graduate manager

By Brian McInnis on June 25, 2019

Former Hawaii forward Gibson Johnson is still looking to go pro in basketball — just not with a jersey on his back. He’ll be wearing aloha shirts on the sidelines instead. Johnson was made official as a graduate manager with the Rainbow Warriors for the 2019-20 season this week, with an eye toward an eventual career as a coach or perhaps more. “I’m excited to be back with the team. I have an awesome staff to learn from and a great […]

Hawaii soccer: 3 Pac-12 teams coming to Waipio in 2019

By Brian McInnis on June 25, 2019

As degree-of-difficulty points go, the just-released 2019 Hawaii soccer schedule nets close to a 10 out of 10. The Rainbow Wahine will host three Pac-12 teams at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium, matching a program high, and take a doozy of a road trip to the Dakotas for three games in five days in September. “This is among the most challenging, if not the most challenging, because of the Dakotas road trip as well,” said ninth-year UH coach Michele Nagamine of […]

Hawaii soccer: Raisa Strom-Okimoto sees first pro action with Utah Royals

By Brian McInnis on June 23, 2019

The most decorated women’s soccer player of Hawaii’s Big West era is establishing a foothold as a professional. Raisa Strom-Okimoto, UH’s first Big West offensive player of the year, saw her first official action as a pro with the Utah Royals in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) on Friday night. She’d received an invitation to train with the team beginning in late February and had lived in Utah since. Then the Royals temporarily lost three key players from their […]

Hawaii men’s volleyball: Colton Cowell emerging with U.S. Pan-Am team

By Brian McInnis on June 18, 2019

Hawaii rising senior Colton Cowell is having himself a productive summer with USA Volleyball. While the Volleyball Nations League is underway for the U.S.’s top-flight players, the 6-foot-2 Cowell — a key hitter on the UH team that finished runner-up to Long Beach State this spring — is playing on the Pan American Cup team for up-and-comers that is competing in Colima, Mexico since last weekend. The team is being coached by UH assistant Milan Zarkovic and also features former […]

Hawaii basketball alum Phil Handy exults in another NBA title

By Brian McInnis on June 14, 2019

Former Hawaii men’s basketball guard Phil Handy is an NBA champion once again. Handy, who won a title with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, can get a second finger fitted for a ring after the Toronto Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors in six games on Thursday night in Oakland for the franchise’s first championship. Handy is a first-year Raptors assistant coach. It was the fifth straight year Handy faced the Warriors in the NBA Finals. He was there four […]

Hawaii women’s volleyball: Akana, Ah Mow are old hands at skills camps

By Brian McInnis on June 11, 2019

At least one of the new Hawaii players at this summer’s Rainbow Wahine Volleyball Camps and Skill Sessions is an old hand at them. Kamehameha alumna Braelyn Akana, an incoming freshman with UH, was one of a handful of players on hand to assist the UH coaching staff in the first session of a four-day camp Monday. Returning setter Norene Iosia and Oregon transfer Jolie Rasmussen were among the others present. Akana, a Kamehameha alumna who is the daughter of […]

Hawaii men’s basketball: ‘Bows in the pros 2018-19 wrap

By Brian McInnis on June 8, 2019

We’re in the thick of summer, which means it’s time to take stock of what some former Hawaii men’s basketball players did over the past several months. Yep, it’s ‘Bows in the pros, post-2018-19 edition. Noah Allen (G League), Garrett Nevels (Spain’s Liga Endesa), Isaac Fotu (Germany’s BBL), Bill Amis (Belgium’s EuroMillions League) and Matt Lojeski (Greece’s A1 league) are among the ex-Rainbow Warriors playing some prominent ball, a step or two down from the NBA. Below you’ll find the […]

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