The postseason for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team met a swift and self-inflicted end Tuesday. The Rainbow Wahine were expeditiously shown the door Wednesday.

Both gone in such a blur that February blandness never had a chance to be replaced by the uplifting of March Madness.

So, take it away Brigham Young University-Hawai'i, the 50th state hoops stage is all yours in the opening round of the NCAA Division II West sub-regionals tonight in La'ie.

Truth be told, en route to 25-1 record, the spotlight probably should have been the Seasiders' a lot earlier. Say, December.

But when you are not only a couple thousand miles off the beaten basketball path nationally, but perched out on the North Shore locally, just about the most far flung of the 277 men's teams playing NCAA D-II basketball, recognition can be a while in coming, however much it is merited.

Now, a state hungry to have a rooting interest in March Madness at any level turns its eyes toward the Seasiders. It awaits the not only still-standing but rampaging Seasiders, who have the potential to turn into a feel-good story of the small college season, if they can win out at the Cannon Activities Center.

Beginning with tonight's game against Humboldt State, the Seasiders' labors have set them up to keep playing at home, provided they continue to win. Do that and they don't take their show on the road until March 25.

And what a road trip it would be down the highway of hoops history in New England. The Elite Eight will be held in Springfield, Mass., which is appropriate since it is the "home" of basketball, the place where, in 1891, James Naismith affixed peach baskets to railings and, with a soccer ball, "inventing" the game.

It is in the MassMutual Center in Springfield, a somewhat newer arena, that the winner of the West regional is ticketed in two weeks. A short dribble away is the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, last having enshrined and displayed a piece of Hawai'i hoops memorabilia when Hawai'i Pacific University won the 1993 NAIA title.

BYUH has national titles, too, 11 in all. Just not in basketball. Yet.

The No. 3-ranked Seasiders have won 22 games in a row, 12 of them in an unbeaten run through the PacWest. Through dint of their considerable accomplishments they finally have the opportunity and the floor to show us what we've been missing this season.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.