Diamond Head Classic (Day 2)

By Peyton Wesner

HONOLULU-Well Wichita State blew out another team, that wasn't a shocker, but congratulations to the University of Hawaii for being in the winner's bracket of the Diamond Head Classic for the first time since the inaugural in 2009. The Colorado Buffalos survived the matchup of Power Conference teams behind a career high twenty-seven points from Senior Askia Booker while George Washington slayed the Bobcats from Ohio. What should we expect today?

2:30 PM EST-ESPNU

3-5 Ohio

6-5 DePaul

Consolation Semi-Final

Before anyone assumes the Big East team will prevail against a mid-major, let's think about the matchup in itself. Ohio hung around with George Washington in the first half yesterday but it was the second twenty minutes that pushed the Colonials past the Bobcats as they outscored Ohio 34-15. Ohio's best players, Maurice Daly Ndour (SR) and Javarez Willis (SR), both shot poorly from the field as they shot a combined 7 for 22 and scored 17 points (8 points for Daly Ndour and 9 points for Willis). Most of the time, including yesterday, Ohio will not win when those two players are shooting low percentages for the game. DePaul experienced a different kind of defeat fewer than 24 hours ago as one man, Colorado's Askia Booker was on a mission to score and had a game high and career high 27 points to lead the Buffalos to the second round of the Diamond Head Classic and send DePaul to the loser's bracket. DePaul was hanging around in the first half and kept the deficit to three but in the second half "those Buffalos from Boulder" stampeded ahead in route to an 82-68 victory. The Blue Demons' shooting percentages told the whole story as they shot 33.3% from the field and 22.2% (6-27) from three point land. That kind of shooting performance will never get the job done especially for a team that struggles at the defensive side of the floor. So will the Bobcats be able to claw out a win at the expense of DePaul? The showing Ohio had yesterday really concerns me not just because of the loss since I expected that but because they only scored 49 points in 40 minutes of basketball. To win this afternoon, Ohio cannot only score 49 points against a team full of playmakers. My key of the game for the Ohio Bobcats, is to play solid defense. DePaul struggled yesterday because they shot poorly from everywhere, if Ohio can replicate the efficiency of Colorado's defense then they will have a chance to avoid playing in the seventh place game on Christmas. For DePaul, the key is to get the four man wrecking crew of Myke Henry (JR, 15.6 PPG), Tommy Hamilton IV (SO, 13.2 PPG), Billy Garrett Jr. (SO, 12.5 PPG), and Jamee Crockett (SR, 12.5 PPG) going because when these four players are putting the ball in the whole the Blue Demons cannot be stopped. Really, all DePaul has to do to win is outscore Ohio because the Bobcats do not have enough scoring power to win if it becomes a high scoring affair.

---DePaul 70, Ohio 58

4:30 PM EST-ESPNU

7-3 George Washington

7-3 Colorado

Winner Bracket Semi-Final

This is by far the best matchup of Day 2 in the Diamond Head Classic and it is the game I am looking forward to watch the most. Both schools have very well-rounded teams that play offense as well as defense efficiently. On Day 1, George Washington was paired up with the Ohio Bobcats. The game was competitve in the first half but in the second half, the Colonials started dominating at both ends of the floor behind Junior Kevin Larsen. Larsen helped lead GW to a 34-15 second half by scoring nine of his game high nineteen points in the twenty minute period. In addition to his points, the big man from Denmark, pulled down fifteen reboounds to help George Washington march to a 77-49 drumming of the Bobcats. For Colorado, Askia Booker (SR) took over his team's game and led them to a 82-68 victory over DePaul. The Buffalos commanded the matchup from the get-go and only allowed the Blue Demons to lead for a short spurt of 22 seconds the entire game. Booker ended up scoring a career high 27 points while dishing a game high 6 assists in addition to his 6 rebounds. The key to Colorado's success yesterday was their defense against an offensively-sound DePaul team. The Buffalos held the Blue Demons to 33.3% shooting from the field and 22.2% from downtown ultimately keeping them from scoring a high quantity of points. So which team will have a better overall game this afternoon? Truly this game is a hard one to pick as both teams are so evenly matched. What I feel could be the difference is which trio scores the most: Colorado's Askia Booker (SR), Josh Scott (JR), and Xavier Johnson (JR) or GW's Patricio Garino (JR), Kethan Savage (SO), and Kevin Larsen (JR)?  Personally, I am going to go with Colorado with the hope that Booker will play with the same anger he had yesterday. My key of the game for George Washington is to contest every shot and keep an eye on Askia Booker at all times. Booker is the leader of the offense and if he can be contained then the Colonials would increase their chance of moving to the championship. For Colorado, my key of the game is to not turnover the ball. In the first half against DePaul, the Buffalos had nine turnovers. They must protect the ball better because if not George Washington will take the extra possessions and cash them in for points.

---Colorado 64, George Washington 63

9:00 PM EST-ESPN2

9-1 11. Wichita State

9-3 Hawaii

Winner Bracket Semi-Final

Wichita State sung into the Semi-Finals of the Diamond Head Classic Monday and now have a matchup with the host team, the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. Hawaii pulled off an "upset" in my opinion early this morning on the East Coast by defeating 

PW's Prediction Record for DHC going into today: 3-1