They are not healthy or wealthy in terms of talent. But up in Mänoa, Rainbow Wahine basketball sounds happy again and if ever there was a Hawai'i team that deserved some joy it is this one.

Last season was a trifecta of frustration: The Rainbows went 8-23 in a season where coach Jim Bolla was placed on leave in February amid allegations of kicking a player, then fired in April for "a pattern of verbal abuse."

Through it all, the players were pretty much left to fend for themselves. They dealt with turmoil they had not caused and could not control. They were miserable.

"It was very hard," says junior Allie Patterson. "It hit me really hard. I felt anger and that anger showed on the floor and that anger built up and would come off there was so much negativity. I questioned staying here and I questioned even playing basketball and that's something you should never question."

The Rainbows needed an intervention, divine or otherwise. They hope to heal under new coach Dana Takahara-Dias, a UH walk-on in 1984 who was hired in May despite no previous collegiate coaching experience.

This might be the right time to roll the inexperienced dice. The players crave direction and discipline, nurturing and stability now. And someone who can teach them skills and strategy.

"We needed someone to come in and show us what Division I basketball was like," says junior guard Keisha Kanekoa. "It didn't feel like that before. We just needed someone to make us feel like Division I players.

"It felt like we weren't treated right. Everybody did what they wanted to do. You felt like I don't know how to say it it wasn't challenging. College is about being responsible for your own actions, but at the same time there wasn't anyone there to help guide you."

One of the first things Takahara-Dias did was tell her returning players to pack a bathing suit, sunscreen, mosquito repellant "and, by the way, bring a sleeping bag."

She and her "new" staff — she rehired Serenda Valdez and Da Houl who worked under former UH coach Vince Goo (Patrick Knapp has since been added) — took the players on a three-day retreat.

"We set the tone there that, first and foremost, we're not a basketball team, we're a family ," Takahara-Dias said. "We went up the mountain as individuals and came down the mountain as a unit.

"We wanted to bring back fun, bring back the focus and intensity. And we wanted to ensure they had a great experience by the time they left here. That incorporated so many factors of just being a family."

The players sound as if they have bought in. The "family" atmosphere will get its first test tonight in an exhibition against Hawai'i Pacific. The Rainbows will start the all-Big Island backcourt of Leilani Galdones and Kanekoa, with Patterson and Breanna Arbuckle at forward and Rebecca Dew, from New Zealand, at center.

Dita Liepkalne, who started every game last year, had knee surgery a month ago and is out. So is Briauna Linton, after a minor injury in practice.

Shawna Kuehu, two-time All-State Player of the Year for Punahou, also had surgery and was cleared to practice last Monday. Thursday she suffered a concussion, but she is cleared to play — for the first time in 18 months. So is Canadian Katie Wilson, also coming back from a concussion.

Julita Bungaite, a 6-foot-2 junior transfer from Lithuania, will also make an appearance tonight since it is an exhibition. She will miss the first five games because of an NCAA violation two years ago that was self-reported by UH. Bungaite, who averaged 13 points and nine rebounds for Weatherford College last season, played five games in a professional league at home while she was in high school.

The final three on the roster are guards — Kalani graduate Courtney Gaddis, who transferred home last year, sophomore Jennifer Hamilton and Mai Ayabe, a walk-on from Fukuoka whom coaches say can play "at warp speed."

The Rainbow Wahine "family" will be tested more thoroughly when it opens in Southern California Nov. 17. Liepkalne, who played in pain all last year, should make the trip.

Its first home games are in the Jack in the Box Rainbow Wahine Classic Nov. 27 and 29. Four days later, Hawai'i gets its first official look at Bungaite.

The players are realistic — "We have a lot of challenges," Kanekoa admits — but elated at the drastic change in a team that somehow retained its dignity last year despite all the indignities suffered.

"We needed a fresh start," Patterson said. "After everything that happened we needed to have somebody come in and be completely positive with us. We've had so much negativity I just feel it was breaking the team apart. We needed somebody to come in who was like a firecracker, who could excite everybody about basketball again.

"When we found out how lively and passionate she (Takahara-Dias) is she started the fire. We loved it. It's been positive so far. I can speak for myself, I have a passion for basketball again. I want to work hard for her, something I never felt before.

"It's like we woke up."

Takahara-Dias has had that effect on teams before, though at a high school level.

"She is very caring. She does things with a passion," Kanekoa says. "She doesn't go about doing things because she has to. It's because she cares about people and wants to help people. She makes everybody feel like part of a family."

Takahara-Dias calls the team she basically inherited "a joy to coach and be with," but knows they all have a long way to go.

"I really think the healing process takes a while, but from all indications they have responded," she said. "They have done everything we've asked of them and more and they have done it willingly. They are so coachable."

NOTES

Former players interested in participating in the Jan. 16 alumnae game should call Da Houl (956-4507).

Former Rainbow Wahine volleyball/basketball player Tara Hittle is basketball's manager this semester while she finishes her student teaching. Hittle will graduate next month.