With the ancient Great Alaska Shootout at its end with its 40th and final edition later this week, the Maui Invitational soon will move to a role in college basketball as not just the sport’s best in-season tournament, but also its oldest among eight-team tourneys.
Only Texas-El Paso’s four-team Sun Bowl Invitational-coming up on its 56th year in December-has been around longer than the grand events in Alaska and Maui, long two of the highlights of the early college basketball season. In the 35th year of its run, Maui has become one of the sport’s most venerable events, and thank heaven for it.
Seemingly without fail, the Maui Invitational delivers every single year. It annually has rock-solid and balanced fields, and the atmosphere inside the Lahaina Civic Center is palpable right through the television, so obvious it is that the small arena is a superb host for this event. The event has character, like the Great Alaska Shootout always has and unlike so many of the recent flood of events conceived by promoters or television networks.
The first day of Maui this year once again brought what we’ve come to expect: at least 3 1/2 terrific games. NCAA Division II host Chaminade usually seems to hang around for a half before fading late, and it happened again as Notre Dame pulled away to defeat the Silverswords 83-56. The other three contests, though, were top-notch.
Marquette and VCU went up and down the court in the opener, as expected, but the Golden Eagles held a comfortable margin most of the final 20 minutes and won 94-83. The tourney then was nearly flipped on its lid with its second game, as California built an 18-point lead early in the second half over heavily favored Wichita State, behind an incredible 26 first-half points by Don Coleman. The Shockers battled back, though, putting on full-court pressure that the Golden Bears did not handle well, and WSU came all the way back and won 92-82 to move to a semifinal matchup with Marquette.
The fourth quarterfinal proved to be the best yet, and provided a sign that LSU is a team to be watched already in Will Wade’s first year as coach. The Tigers rallied late for a 77-75 win over Michigan, coming back from nine points down with just over five minutes left for a big win that likely will carry weight throughout the season for LSU and the SEC.
Freshman Tremont Waters scored 21 points and also simply received a little more help as Michigan received 64 of its 75 points from three players-Charles Matthews (28), Moritz Wagner (24) and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman (12). The Tigers pulled out a real gut-check win in a game that was close throughout, and now get a shot at Notre Dame in the semifinals.
Side Dishes:
- The College Basketball Experience Hall of Fame Classic came up with an excellent four-team field this year, and it furnished two fascinating, contrasting games. Creighton outran UCLA 100-89 in the first game, giving the Bluejays consecutive wins over then-ranked top 25 teams after beating Northwestern last week. The Jays will face Baylor in the tourney final Tuesday after the Bears held off Wisconsin 70-65, their rangy zone defense and Manu Lecomte (24 points, five assists) carrying the day.
- The new Cayman Islands Classic opened with a bang, as Louisiana-Lafayette (which wants to be called ‘Louisiana’, even though state legislature does not allow it and its school name is ‘Louisiana-Lafayette’ at this time…wasn’t it easier when the school was just ‘Southwestern Louisiana’?) handled Iowa 80-71. The Ragin’ Cajuns owned the inside against a taller team (48-26 advantage in points in the paint), continually ran out on the break and built a 24-point lead, never letting the Hawkeyes get closer than the final margin in the entire second half. It can’t be talked about enough how good the top of the Sun Belt Conference has looked early on. ULL (or Louisiana) now takes on Wyoming in the semifinals after the Cowboys topped South Dakota State 77-65. Also, Richmond-horrendous in home losses to Delaware and Jacksonville State to open the season-revived with a stunning 63-50 win over UAB. The Spiders now get Cincinnati, which got a battle before finally putting away Buffalo 73-67.
- Duke and Kentucky seem to have worked out non-conference schedules so they play at the same time. Both were in action again Monday-at home, as usual-with the Blue Devils hammering Furman 92-63 and the Wildcats getting a challenge from Troy, eventually winning 70-62.
- The Gulf Coast Showcase opened with quarterfinal games. Missouri-Kansas City surprised Manhattan 74-63-the Jaspers were coming off a win over Harvard-and the Sun Belt’s Georgia Southern nipped Missouri State 74-73 to move to 4-0. Those two meet in one semifinal; the other will have Pennsylvania-a 93-80 winner over Northern Illinois-against Towson, now quite possibly the tourney favorite after a 76-52 roll past Florida Atlantic.
- It might be said the Legends Classic got what it deserved for its predetermined semifinals format. Pittsburgh-losers to Montana in a game that is theoretically part of the tournament-was drubbed by Penn State by 31 points, 85-54. Given that Montana also nearly won at Penn State last week, we’re pretty sure this tourney-granted an NCAA exemption because it stages plenty non-conference matchups between a number of participants before its actual semifinals-could’ve had a more competitive semifinal game if it just were an actual tournament, and didn’t pre-select teams for semifinals based solely on name or conference affiliation. The Nittany Lions are now 5-0, and they meet Texas A&M in the event’s final after the Aggies dropped Oklahoma State 72-55 in a game that also was not close after the first 12 minutes or so.
- Bucknell got its first win, outrunning Siena 115-92 as Zach Thomas set school records for free throw makes (19) and attempts (22) on the way to 25 points. The Bison shot 61.1% and had five players in double figures on the way to reaching the 100-point mark with more than seven minutes left in the game.
- Missouri once again played without Michael Porter, who continues to be sidelined by a mysterious injury. Without him the Tigers struggled to beat…Emporia State? The NCAA Division II Hornets led by seven in the second half and were still down just two with 1:30 left before Mizzou pulled it out 67-62. The Tigers were 2-for-20 from three-point range. Yeeeesh.
Rider won at George Washington 67-65. Nice win for the Broncs. Meanwhile, the Atlantic 10’s woes continue. - Two days after a big-time win over Florida Gulf Coast at the buzzer, Bowling Green very nearly flopped. The Falcons needed overtime to defeat Lake Erie (Ohio) College 109-106 in a game that doesn’t even count as a regular season game for Lake Erie under the NCAA’s weird discretionary exhibition rule that allows teams to agree before a game that a contest may be a counting regular season game for one and an exhibition for the other.
- Among the teams moving to 4-0: Syracuse (74-50 over depleted Oakland), TCU (99-66 blowout victors over Nebraska-Omaha), Kansas State (80-58 over Northern Arizona), San Diego (66-52 winners over Arkansas-Little Rock), UNLV (95-68 over Rice) and Grand Canyon, which drilled Norfolk State 85-60. Also: add surprising Portland State to the list after the Vikings took down Utah State 83-79.
- Off the court, news from Detroit Mercy where coach Bacari Alexander has been suspended by the school for reasons unspecified. Alexander has not coached the Titans in a game yet this season, though his absence had not and still has not been explained by the university.
Today’s Menu:
- Semifinal play highlights the second day of the Maui Invitational, Cayman Islands Classic and Gulf Coast Showcase. The Maui semis have some silly, TV-influenced scheduling with Marquette against Wichita State an early tip (1:30 p.m. Eastern time on ESPN) and Notre Dame vs. LSU late tip (10:30 p.m., ESPN). The Cayman Islands semis-Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Wyoming and Cincinnati against Richmond-could be intriguing. Among most interesting consolation bracket games there is Iowa against South Dakota State and UAB vs. Buffalo in the Cayman Islands, plus Manhattan against Missouri State in the Gulf Coast Showcase.
- Championship games in the Legends Classic and CBE Hall of Fame Classic. Penn State takes on Texas A&M (6 p.m., ESPN2) in the former, while its Creighton against Baylor in Kansas City. Also, the third-place game in the Hall of Fame Classic is a good one with Wisconsin against UCLA.
- The Cancun Challenge semifinals have Louisiana Tech against George Mason (6 p.m., CBSSN) followed by Fresno State taking on Evansville (8:30 p.m., CBSSN).
- Outside tournament play, an excellent game in the South as Texas-Arlington goes to now-ranked Alabama, looking for another scalp on the road (9 p.m., SEC Network).
- Louisville has another game it should win, but could get a test against Southern Illinois.
- After playing well against Minnesota, Niagara could be capable of an upset at BYU (9 p.m., BYUTV)
- A good one in the West has Davidson at Nevada. Win this one and the Wildcats will start receiving attention for a lot more than just draining a ton of 3’s early this season against lesser squads.
Have a super Tuesday.
