Don't expect Glenn Flores to question the almighty gods of TV.

He knows that his Campbell Sabers worked hard to earn the No. 1 seed in the Red West of the Oahu Interscholastic Association. In fact, his team swept preseason favorite Mililani, and that factor weighed into the league's tiebreaker formula -- the very one that hoisted Campbell up as the Red West's best.

However, all the regular-season battles, home and away, near and far, amount to nothing. In fact, those big victories are a minus more than anything.

Campbell's homecourt advantage as the top seed has been washed away in the name of TV. The Red West's third seed, Mililani, will host West No. 1 seed Campbell in the OIA semifinals.

Figure that: A 3 seed hosts a 1 seed.

How does that happen? Apparently, because Mililani's gym is "wired" for broadcast on OC 16, the Trojans will always have a homecourt edge come playoff time. The same goes for Mililani's football facility.

"They have the fiber optics there," OIA boys basketball coordinator Hugh Taufaasau said. "It was already pre-selected. Everybody knew that the sites were 'TBA' (to be announced). It's no guarantee you'll be the home team."

But how does Flores explain all this to his team? Does day-to-day commitment and consistency matter when the league basically dismantles seedings in favor of TV? From OC-16's perspective, there's no harm meant, not after 18 years of promoting OIA athletics. The league, through executive director Dwight Toyama and its sport coordinators, has a "working relationship" with the cable station.

"What goes into consideration, what Dwight has told me is that the OIA (bylaws) doesn't guarantee the home field or homecourt advantage," OC-16 sports director Dave Vinton said. "I understand the (school) may feel it's a raw deal."

Coming off the recent throttling administered to Kahuku, it's not really a surprise. Kahuku lost its regular-season homecourt edge against Kalaheo when the OIA/OC 16 moved the game to Mililani. Then, Red East 2 seed Kahuku was forced to play against lower-seeded Mililani in Mililani's gym last week.

The 25-mile distance may have played a key factor. Mililani rallied late against a fatigued Red Raiders squad for a narrow win.

"It's never a case of, 'We have to have Kahuku and we have to move them.' My interaction with the league is they want a game that's competitive. It's never a case that we have to have this team or that team," Vinton said. "As far as Kahuku and Mililani, we empathize with Kahuku losing their senior night. I know Dwight talks to all his ADs and they sit as a council and vote. They get their input."

The games, particularly in the playoffs, are viewed with a "regional" concept in mind.
"It's like the NCAA's March Madness, it's about regional sites," Vinton said. "They could ask for a different site, but that's a lot of 'what ifs?' We go for the most competitive game. The OIA selects the game and that's what we're going with. I don't know if there's any perfect solution, but we never pressure them for any game."

Switching sites means rewiring a facility from scratch — an added cost.

As of yesterday afternoon, Toyama was unavailable for comment. For now, nobody from the schools are willing to talk on the record much, though Flores did make a brief, terse statement.

"I am unhappy with the No. 1 seed having to play at the No. 3 seed's home court," he said, noting that his role as an assistant athletic director limits the extent of his public comment.

Coaches, in particular, want their players to focus on the next game and nothing else. But the scenarios that Kahuku (among many other programs) has faced over the years -- losing home playoff games in volleyball, football and basketball -- in the name of holy television are quite puzzling. Sure, Kahuku hosted its game last night in the OIA's "backdoor" bracket for the fifth and final state berth.

So why bother with the regular season? It's a question that can have only one possible answer: cash flow from OC 16 to the OIA.

Taufaasau, who is also Nanakuli's athletic director and a former longtime coach, empathizes with the teams and fans.

"I got all kinds of calls myself. It's just one of those things. It hurts some people and it helps some people. You can't make everybody happy," he said.

At the athletic directors' meeting yesterday, the possibility of moving host-site teams like Mililani and McKinley out of their own gyms -- switching the Campbell-Mililani game to McKinley, for example -- wasn't discussed.

"If we can do anything better (next time), we'll try and do it. We'll talk it over at the end of the year."

The league has to be fiscally responsible, but the other bottom line is this: student-athletes are learning that consistency and commitment mean less and the almighty dollar means more.

Squeaky wheel gets the grease. Just a little.

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