It turns out there is something more difficult than guarding Derrick Low on a basketball court.

Bringing him home to play a game.

Who would have imagined the split-the-atom complexity the task has taken on? I mean, when Low left 'Iolani for Washington State after helping the Raiders to three consecutive state championships it seemed as if it was only a matter of time until we'd see him playing a college game here ... somewhere.

But as it turns out that time is almost up and an immense opportunity to the benefit of all probably won't be realized. Four years are flashing by at a furious, fastbreak pace and now it appears, without some 11th-hour awakening, that Low will not play a game in his home state before his eligibility expires.

And that's too bad because he is a rare talent as his showing for Team USA in the recent Pan American Games underlines. Some would say he's the best the state has produced. Certainly he has the resume and clippings but, except for Fox Sports and ESPN telecasts of Pac-10 games, that can be hard to gauge here.

When WSU recruited Low the idea was that once in his career he'd get a chance to play at home. Indeed, WSU has talked, from time to time, to a bunch of schools here, not just the University of Hawai'i.

Ideally, of course, the hope among many of us was that Low would have stayed and played at UH. Instead, he followed his dreams to the Palouse and you had to wish him the best and share in the pride with how he has subsequently represented Hawai'i.

When Low departed so deep was the disappointment that then-UH coach Riley Wallace stubbornly vowed not to schedule WSU. But after a clear-the-air-session with the Lows a couple years back, Wallace softened and sought a match. His successor, Bob Nash, has done more, aggressively pursuing the Cougars, offering them a place in the Rainbow Classic. A single game. A home-and-home. Both Wallace and Nash saw the attraction of a Low homecoming and the potential of a full house.

"That would be awesome to come home," Low said. "But if it doesn't work, well, I know they all tried hard."

Now, with his schedule on the verge of completion, Nash said he put in one last call to WSU on Friday. "To see if there was any way to pick up a game before we close out our schedule," he said. "They have not responded, which is a sign they are probably not interested in doing it." An operations assistant at WSU said the Cougars schedule is also near completion and a game against UH is unlikely.

All of it — the hoping, wishing and negotiating — is about to amount to an airball.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.