Maui Wowie! PART DEUX

By Mark Buckets

Phew. What a first day of action from Maui, eh? It was a good day for this “Drive and Dish” scribe, as my four predictions were spot-on on the first day of action. Marquette needed a late surge to stave off host Chaminade (who have a couple of quality players - told ya so about Marko Kolaric). The second game of was a game of ebb-and-flow. Oklahoma State raced out to a huge lead only to see it evaporate into a 6 point win. Keep in mind, LSU was without star Tasmin Mitchell, who was battling a foot injury.

The night session continued the trend of one-sided affairs. It didn’t take 24-point favorite Duke very long to match that mark (even though in the end, they failed to cover), they had 24 points about 3 minutes into the game. A swarming bunch of Devils applied full court pressure for most of the first half and Princeton was helpless to overcome it. On the subject of first half blowouts, Illinois put up 20 before Arizona State even scored a basket. Needless to say, the Illini rolled to an easy win.

Now, we take a look at today’s semifinals (as an aside, I have omitted the consolation bracket as Drive and D wishes not to bore you).

Marquette and Oklahoma State square off in a game that features a slew of freakish athletes. Marcus Dove’s ability is well-documented, but another highly touted McDonald’s All-American, James Anderson - doesn’t everyone seem to be a burger star (but not Arby's) these days? - has the Cowboys thinking upset. While Cowboy fans should be satisfied with an impressive opening win, the Marquette faithful are a little less jubilant. Not only did the big three of James, McNeal and Matthews have atrocious shooting nights, but their man-to-man defense was shredded (it's possible that I'm being being too harsh in that assessment, but the game was close) by a division 2 team. The good news for Marquette is that they couldn’t possibly shoot any worse than they did a day ago. My prediction: Take the GOLDen Eagles - but it's going to be closer than the experts think (thank you Lee Corso).

A game that does not lack for intrigue is the nightcap where Duke will take on Illinois. Duke is a team coming off a commanding win, which was highlighted by the play of frosh superstar Kyle Singler. Anytime a Duke player - a wing player, no less - has nine offensive boards in a game, you know that he is destined for greatness. Duke will look to attack the offensive glass once again against an Illinois team that has superior size and strength on the blocks. In spite of that, my homerism is showing through once again - Duke wins, setting up a tremendous finale (and the game that ESPN wanted) with Marquette.