By Peyton Wesner
Hosted annually by the University of Hawaii, the Diamond Head Classic has been played since 2009 when in the inaugural tournament the USC Trojans defeated number twenty ranked UNLV, 67-56. Every year the tournament sees at least one ranked team that decides to take their talents to Honolulu for the chance of a Christmas championship. Humorously, it was not until 2012 for a nationally ranked team to win the tournament when number three ranked Arizona defeated number seventeen ranked San Diego State on a Nick Johnson (Rookie guard for Houston Rockets) blocked layup attempt on San Diego State's Xavier Thames to bring the championship to the Wildcats. Last year, another ranked team, the fourteenth ranked Iowa State Cyclones, won the tournament by coming back from a halftime deficit of seven to stay undefeated and win 70-66 against a scrappy Boise State Broncos team.
Will this year's ranked, the number eleven ranked Wichita State Shockers, keep the streak of the past two years? Teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season like George Washington, Colorado, and Nebraska hope they can break the trend and keep the Shocker fans from singing on Christmas day.
2:30 PM EST-ESPNU
3-4 Ohio
6-3 George Washington
Year one of the No-Nick Kellogg Era has began non-ideal for the Ohio Bobcats. In case the name sounds familiar, Nick is the son of former Ohio State and Indiana Pacers basketball star, Clark Kellogg. Nick had a great career for the Bobcats and finished his Senior season with a statline of 15.5 PPG, 3.6 RPG, and 2.9 APG. Who would take over as Senior leader with him graduated? The answer is Maurice Daly Ndour and Javarez Willis. Together the two make a great guard-forward duo as both average a little over fifteen points a game. Although the record is currenty poor for Ohio, it is not because they have played poorly but has more to do with the hard opponents they have played. Their four losses coming into this afternoon's matchup have happened at Florida Gulf Coast (9-2 record today), home against Belmont (8-4 record currently), home versus St. Bonaventure (7-2 record coming into today), and at Evansville in overtime (9-2 record currenty). My point is that it is not as if the Bobcats are dropping games against poor teams. Unfortunatley for Ohio, the playing good team pattern will not cease in Hawaii as they face the George Washington Colonials from the tough Atlantic 10 conference. Last season GW made the NCAA Tournament but exited in the Round of 64 as the Memphis Tigers edged them in a close 71-66 game. The Colonials are captained by "Stud Sophomore" Kethan Savage. Savage (SO) who had a great Freshman season last year with the statistics of 12.7 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 2.6 APG, and 1.9 SPG. The 6'3" guard from Virginia is a true statsheet stuffer that has improved his game from last season. Alongside Savage in the backcourt is the Argentinian, Patricio Garino. Garino has also bettered his game since last year as he is averaging three more points per game (15.1 PPG) while shooting better from the free throw line and the field. Like Ohio, George Washington has only lost against superior teams. The three teams that have defeated the Colonials have a combined record of 30-3 (Number fove ranked Virginia, 11-0: Seton Hall, 9-2: and Penn State 10-1.) meaning that they have taken care of business against inferior teams. So which team is superior in this matchup? I would say George Washington with Savage, Garino, and Kevin Larsen (JR). My key of the game for George Washington is to turn the game into a high scoring matchup because Ohio will not be able to put up a high amount of points. For Ohio, crash the boards. If Ndour and Sophomore Antonio Campbell can grab rebounds on the offensive end and help their team get second chance points and corral defensive rebounds to take away second chance points for the Colonials, Ohio will have a chance to steal one away at the Stan Sheriff Center.
---George Washington 73, Ohio 57
4:30 PM EST-ESPNU
6-4 DePaul
6-3 Colorado
I love Power 6 matchups in early season tournaments since it has the possibility of happening again in th NCAA tournament. Both teams have been up and down to start their 2014-2015 seasons. DePaul started the season 2-0 with a one point win against the University of Illinois-Chicago in their opener and a double-digit win versus Drake. Then they let their guard down and were badly beaten by the Lehigh Mountain Hawks, who had not won a game going into the matchup. The reason for the loss can be shown in the boxscore as DePaul allowed Lehigh to shoot 56.9% from the field and hit nine three pointers while only shooting a pitiful 36.7% from the field. After the loss to Lehigh, DePaul got their act together and won against Stanford and Senior scorer, Chasson Randle. The Stanford win started a four game winning streak that ended to a possible semi-final opponent in the Diamond Head Classic for DePaul, the George Washington Colonials. The loss to GW started a tailspin for the Blue Demons as they come into today's game on a three game losing streak. Meeting DePaul in Honolulu is the Colorado Buffalos. At the head of the herd is Askia Booker (SR), who has taken over the duty of the team's scorer from Spencer Dinwiddie who is now on the Detroit Pistons. Like DePaul, Colorado has had their highs and lows. The Buffalos started out the season 2-0 but then dropped their third game to the Wyoming Cowboys as they were held to the low total of 33 points...not in one half, but the whole game. After the loss, Colorado was back to their winning ways by winning three straight at home. Then the losses came back in a loss at Georgia as a part of the SEC/Big 12 Showcase and a close two point defeat to Colorado's main rival the Colorado State Rams in Boulder, Colorado. Before coming into today's game, Colorado won a tune-up game against the University of Northern Colorado by the score of 82-68. This matchup would have been better last season since both teams have lost their best player from last year to graduation or the NBA (Depaul, Cleveland Melvin: Colorado, Spencer Dinwiddie). I believe the factor that will decide the game is Colorado's ability to play defense against DePaul's scorers. Colorado's defense is led by Josh Scott who now leads the team in both points (15.4) and rebounds (8.4) per game. The key for the Buffalos has to be to hold Myke Henry (JR), James Crockett (SR), Tommy Hamilton IV (SO), and Billy Garrett Jr (SO) to around 40 points because the higher those four score combined, the higher the chance of them winning. For DePaul, the key is for their offense to be efficient and shoot a good percent from the field. In the majority of their losses, the Blue Demons have shot terribly from the field so putting the ball in the hole on wide open, easy shots is essential for a victory.
---Colorado 67, DePaul 63
11:00 PM EST-ESPNU
3-6 Loyola Marymount
8-1 11. Wichita State
"Loyola Marymount don't want to go to war...with the Shockers!" No seriously just forfeit Loyola. Loyola Marymount gets the opportunity to play the Wichita State Shockers tonight in the quarterfinals of the Diamond Head Classic. The Lions have had a pretty tough season so far as their best win is against UC Riverside. An amusing stat for me is that half of Loyola Marymount's losses have came against Pac-12 schools (Arizona State, USC, and Stanford). Although many dull areas, a bright spot in the Lions season is definately the next level play of Evan Payne. Last season, Payne had a great year as a Freshman by averaging 15.5 PPG, 2.7 RPG, and 1.4 APG. How could his stats get any better? This season as a "Stud Sophomore", Payne is averaging 21.5 PPG and 3.0 RPG. He is the offense of Loyola Marymount but you know the problem about one-man offenses...normally they fail due to shut-down defenders. Wichita State has a few shut-down defenders. The Wichita State Shockers have really prospered these last few years starting in 2011. In 2011, Wichita State was upset in the semi-final of their conference tournament; ultimately, sending them to the NIT. Unlike most teams who would rather have thir season be over than play in the NIT, Wichita State was excited for the opportunity and won the 2011 NIT. The next season the Shockers made the NCAA Tournament and recieved a good seed (#5) but were upset by twelfth seed, VCU. The loss made them hungry to succeed the next season and make the NCAA Tournament again. In 2013, the year the Wichita State Shockers became a household name, Wichita State received the ninth seed in the Midwest region. Their first matchup of the tournament was against the Pittsburgh Panthers. The result of the game was a blowout win. The Pittsburgh victory started a run through the tournament for Wichita State that featured the Shockers defeating the number one seed (Gonzaga) and number two seed (Ohio State) in their region to march into the Final Four. In the Final Four they were matched up to play another number two seed, the Louisville Cardinals. Wichita State dominated the first twenty-eight minutes of the game and possessed a twelve point lead over one of the top teams in the country. The problem was that Louisville made a run behind sharp-shooter Luke Hancock and won the game 72-68. Wichita State was shocked. Last season, the Shockers were back though and took a record of 34-0 going into the NCAA Tournament. Everything was looking as if Wichita State could make another long tournament run. They breezed by their first opponent (Cal Poly) as the one seed but what awaited them in the round of 32 was a new animal, a Wildcat. The Kentucky Wildcats (eighth seed) gave Wichita State their stiffest test and had a two point lead with three seconds left in the game. Star player Cleanthony Early should have been the man Coach Marshall drew the play for but instead the ball found itself in Larry Bird Trophy winner Fred Van Fleet (JR). Unfortunately for Van Fleet and the Shockers the game ended the same way it began...clank from beyond the arc. Kentucky pulled off the upset. What now for WSU? Well, Cleanthony Early graduated and is now playing for the New York Knicks but besides the loss of him, the core group of Ron Baker (JR), Tekele Cotton (SR), and Fred Van Vleet (JR) are still around. This season Wichita State has already lost a game in overtime to number twenty-five ranked Utah in Salt Lake City which ended their streak of 35 consecutive regular season victories. In my opinion the loss should have been avoided as Fred Van Vleet missed the front end of a one & one that could have gave Wichita State the lead. Besides the loss to the Utes, Wichita State has been spotless including a comeback victory to keep their home winning streak alive last Tuesday against Alabama. The Crimson Tide had an eleven point lead on Wichita Stats with 5:50 left in the game but the Shockers clawed their way back and pulled out a one point victory. So will the Shockers be upset like previous ranked teams in the Diamond Head Classic? I am 100% sure that the Shockers will not be defeated tonight. My key of the game for Wichita State is to shut down Evan Payne (SO) because that is really all a team has to do to defeat Loyola Marymount. I am positive Coach Marshall will stick either Tekele Cotton or Ron Baker on Payne and just let them stay on him the whole game. That is what I would do anyway. For Loyola Marymount, the key is to make Van Vleet shoot outside. The All-American Point Guard has had some really poor shooting performances this season so but Ron Baker has not. Baker has actually emerged as the Shockers best player this season as he is averaging 18 PPG and 4.4 RPG. Van Vleet is the weakness for WSU in my opinion as he is shooting 39.6% percent from the field. That is not an All-American Point Guard in my opinion. Either way, Loyola Marymount will need a huge performance from other members of the team to go along with Payne if they want to keep Wichita State from staying in contention for their third straight early season championship.
---Wichita State 84, Loyola Marymount 55
1:00 AM (Dec 23) EST-ESPNU
6-3 Nebraska
8-3 Hawaii
I have still yet to decide how good the Nebraska Cornhuskers are this deason. I have decided to allow the Rhode Island loss on the road when ranked be forgivable since the Rams are an up and coming basketball team led by E.C. Matthews (SO) but the losses at home against a Doug McDermott-less Creighton team and Incarnate Word cannot be overlooked. To start, the Creighton game (which I watched) featured a bad shooting performance overall from Nebraska. The Cornhuskers shot 37.7% from the field, 26.1% from beyond the arc, and went 3 of 8 from the chairty stripe. A team that shoots that bad deserves to lose and they did. Also, how does a Big-10 team allow a 6 foot guard dictate the result of a basketball game. That guard was Creighton's Austin Chatman and he is a very good player but to allow him to have 19 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists is inexcusable, especially the rebound stat because he was the shortest player on the court. The last thing I saw from Nebraska loss against Creighton was the disappearance of Shavon Shields (JR). Shields shot 3-10 from the field and had 7 points which was ten less than his average for the season. How many did the Blue Jays win by...10. Hmm, maybe if he would have shown up and provided the "right hand man option" to Terran Pettyway (JR), the Cornhuskers would have broke the streak of three years that Creighton has defeated them. Next up, Nebraska's loss to Incarnate Word. Now for you college basketball fans that were scratching your heads and thinking, "Who is Incarnate Word?", Incarnate Word just turned Division One last season and played in the Southland conference. Heading into Lincoln for the game, Incarnate Word had played four non-Division One schools and Nebraska was the third on their schedule so do not let the record trick you to think they are a great team. They have two 20+ PPG scorers in Denzel Livingston (SR, 22.2 PPG) and Jontrel Walker (FR, 20.4 PPG) but in that game the two stars for Incarnate Word scored 31 points combined while Nebraska's stars, Pettaway and Shields scored 37 points. There is no excuse for the loss when that happens! Nebraska then bounced back by edging Cincinnati in overtime 56-55 before coming to Honolulu for tonight's game. Which Cornhusker team will show up tonight against the home team of the tournament Hawaii? The Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii have struggled in their tournament since its creation as they have only been in the winner's bracket once in the tournament's existence (2009). This season Hawaii is off to another great start in non-conference play as they have defeated the Pittsburgh Panthers in Pittsburgh and won the Consolation Championship at the Gulf Coast Showcase by winning two games (Marist and East Carolina) after a loss to San Francisco in the quarterfinals. The other two losses the Rainbow Warriors have on their record have came against the good competiton of Big South opponent, High Point, and perennial tournament team, BYU. Will they be able to stay away from the Consolation Championship this time? If Hawaii wants to win this game and sneak around playing for the fifth place game, the Rainbow Warriors will have to get big-time production from "Stud Sophomore" Aaron Valdes (16.7 PPG, 7.4 RPG) and Senior Garrett Nevels (12.4 PPG, 5.0 RPG). These two players perform at both ends of the floor and are good enough to counter Nebraska's duo of Pettaway and Shields. For the Cornhuskers, do not look ahead to the possible matchup with number eleven ranked Wichita State. I would think they have learned their lesson but I have been wrong before. Also Nebraska must play solid defense against Hawaii because the Rainbow Warriors have a good offense led by the two players I previously mentioned. If the Cornhuskers fail to show up, the Rainbow Warriors will prevail on their home court.
---Nebraska 65, Hawaii 63
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