Not that you'd want to make a habit of it, but this would be a good week to wish Fresno State some luck.

Just a modicum, the absolute minimum that would allow the currently at-risk Bulldog baseball team to qualify for next week's WAC Baseball Tournament at Les Murakami Stadium.

Now that the host Rainbows (exhale humongous sigh of relief) are in, having climbed over the stunned Bulldogs with a potentially season-saving doubleheader sweep to qualify, FSU is the team that would do the most to enhance the field of the May 21-24 event.

Never mind that the preseason conference favorite Bulldogs are just 24-27 (8-12 WAC) and have been headlined as "wonder" to "blunder" in their hometown press. They are still the defending College World Series champions and there is some lingering cachet in that.

The kind that suggests, if you are the 29-22 'Bows (11-12 WAC) and the WAC, you should want the Bulldogs in Manoa. The kind that, bless them and their "associate member" status, the Sacramento State Hornets (27-22, 8-10) just wouldn't provide.

For UH there are still — but just barely — two ways of reaching the avowed goal of the NCAA Tournament. There is winning the WAC tournament and the automatic bid that goes with it. There is also the possibility, thanks to a Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) hovering at about No. 33, of going as an at-large selection should the 'Bows finish second in the WAC tournament.

That would likely require that UH sweeps the four games from nonconference opponent Utah Valley State this week and reaches the WAC title game. Then it would be cross-your-fingers time with the NCAA selection committee. If UH has to go the second route, it would look more impressive to do it beating the Bulldogs than, say, Sacramento State.

But what the Bulldogs offer most is an arch rival. Not what Jim Dietz and San Diego State once provided, perhaps, but the best one going for UH in baseball these days. UH vs. Fresno State in football, basketball — almost anything — is good theater. And tournament week, with all that is riding on it, is a great time to have folks pumped up.

Six of the seven teams qualify for the tournament and, right now, the last-place Bulldogs would be the odd team out, a bigger embarrassment than 1999 when they were nonparticipating hosts.

To get here, the Bulldogs need to either: (a) win at least three of four games at Sacramento State; or (b) split, have New Mexico State get swept by Louisiana Tech and have San Jose State win the regular season title.

The Bulldogs could use your good thoughts — this week only, of course.