Hawaii finishes seventh in 2019 Big West Commissioner’s Cup

As Ferd Lewis reported in Wednesday’s newspaper, Hawaii finished seventh of nine schools in the Big West Commissioner’s Cup standings for 2018-19.

That actually represented a step up; UH was eighth in 2017-18.

UH’s 15 sports that compete in the Big West finished with a scoring average of 91.3.

You might be surprised with UH’s low standing considering its top-two finishes in women’s volleyball, women’s basketball, water polo, and softball. But low finishes in women’s cross country, women’s track, women’s golf, men’s tennis and baseball were killers for the overall average.

Here’s how the scoring works. Only regular-season results/standings are factored in for round-robin sports like baseball, basketball, soccer, softball, women’s tennis and indoor volleyball (with a 20-point bonus for winning the championship). In the case of the following sports, conference championship event results are used: cross country, golf, men’s tennis, track & field, women’s beach volleyball and women’s water polo.

Note that not participating in certain sports (like UH in men’s soccer and men’s cross country) is not a handicap. It does not affect your scoring average, and it actually reduces the point values that sport is worth for the other members who do play it.

UC Santa Barbara won with an average of 120.6 points spanning 16 sports.

Here’s Hawaii’s breakdown by fall/winter/spring seasons.

Fall
Women’s volleyball (2 of 9, 160 points)
Women’s soccer, (5 of 9, 100 points)
Women’s cross country (8 of 8, 20 points)

Winter
Women’s basketball (T2 of 9, 140 points)
Men’s basketball (4 of 9, 120 points)

Spring
Women’s water polo (1 of 6, 140 points)
Women’s softball (2 of 8, 140 points)
Women’s tennis (4 of 9, 120 points)
Beach volleyball (2 of 5, 120 points)
Men’s golf (5 of 9, 100 points)
Men’s volleyball (2 of 5, 100 points)
Men’s tennis (T5 of 6, 30 points)
Men’s baseball (T7 of 9, 40 points)
Women’s golf (8 of 8, 20 points)
Women’s track & field (9 of 9, 20 points)

That’s 1,370 points spanning 15 events, or 91.3 points per event.

Here’s how UH has finished year by year since becoming a full member in the Big West in 2012-13. After that first year, it has been nothing if not consistent.
2012-13: 3 of 10 (116.9 points)
2013-14: 7 of 9 (80.5)
2014-15: 6 of 9 (92.3)
2015-16: 7 of 9 (90.0)
2016-17: 7 of 9 (90.7)
2017-18: 8 of 9 (70.0)
2018-19: 7 of 9 (91.3)