LAHAINA » These guys don’t take kindly to losing.
The coaches of the seven Division I teams in the 2014 EA Sports Maui Invitational field have averaged better than 20 wins per season over the course of their careers. But only one will score three wins over the next three days to claim the prestigious Maui title — unless upstart Division II host Chaminade has anything to say about it.
"All eyeballs in America will be on this tournament," said Steve Fisher of San Diego State, the elder statesman among the coaches. "You know that, we know that, and our players know that."
No. 2 Arizona, led by coach Sean Miller, is the highest-ranked team to enter the tournament since Michigan State in 2010. The Wildcats are the prohibitive favorite in the field, but each team arrived on the Valley Isle above .500. Purdue (Matt Painter), Kansas State (Bruce Weber), Pittsburgh (Jamie Dixon), BYU (Dave Rose), Missouri (Kim Anderson) or San Diego State (Fisher) could potentially string together some wins at the Lahaina Civic Center. Chaminade and coach Eric Bovaird knocked off Texas in the first round back in 2012 and are always hungry for an upset or two.
Arizona and Mizzou are the only past champions in the field, having won the Wayne Duke trophy once apiece, and meet in the quarterfinals.
Subplots abound.
Pitt of the ACC is smarting from a 74-70 loss to Hawaii on Friday at Wailuku’s War Memorial Gym. The Panthers open with Chaminade here and have to be on upset alert again with a largely unproven roster.
EA SPORTS MAUI INVITATIONAL DAY 1
Monday at Lahaina Civic Center
» Purdue (3-0) vs. Kansas State (2-1), 9:30 a.m., ESPN2
» Missouri (2-1) vs. No. 2 Arizona (3-0), noon, ESPN2
» Pittsburgh (2-1) vs. Chaminade (2-0), 4 p.m., ESPNU
» BYU (3-0) vs. No. 16 San Diego State (3-0), 6:30 p.m., ESPN2 |
"We gotta figure it out," said Dixon, a former UH assistant whose wife hails from Oahu. "Obviously we’re not the team we thought we were gonna be without our two most experienced players (Cameron Wright, injured, and Durand Johnson, suspended). We gotta figure it out, and we gotta do it on the run here."
Dixon felt he could still make the trip a positive one for his young team.
"How you do in your last game is oftentimes how you feel (coming back)," he said. "Everything (else) is forgotten, I’ve seen over the years."
Bovaird, the Silverswords’ fourth-year coach, was in the War Memorial stands watching the UH upset.
"I was there firsthand. You know, Pittsburgh just had an off night and UH played inspired basketball," Bovaird said. "It was like a championship for them, a chance to play against an ACC team is few and far between for teams like us. They came out with a chip on their shoulder and wanted to show that they’d compete. (Pitt) came out a little sluggish and UH took advantage of it. As far as us, we know they’re going to come out ready to play against us coming off of a loss. It’s going to be a tough challenge for us, but I think our guys are up for it."
Chaminade will turn to four-year starting guard Lee Bailey in attempting to improve on its 7-81 all-time record in its signature event.
"This team has as high a potential (of any) in my four years," said Bovaird, who guided the Silverswords to the 2014 PacWest tournament title in the spring.
Meanwhile, Arizona and San Diego State, two of the best programs in the West, can’t seem to stop bumping into each other. The Wildcats prevailed over the Aztecs in the NCAA Sweet 16 last spring and also defeated them early in the nonconference portion of that season. The year before, Arizona edged SDSU by a point for the 2012 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic championship at the Stan Sheriff Center. The only way they would meet here is on Day 3 — possibly for the title.
"It did (help)," Miller said of the DHC title two years ago. "That was different in that it was over Christmas, so that really ended our nonconference season. Here in Maui it almost begins it. But that experience, we have several players on this team who were freshmen on that team. I think anytime you travel like that and you win a championship it’s something that has carryover."
The Wildcats of the Pac-12 are led by the core of Brandon Ashley, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Stanley Johnson and point guard T.J. McConnell. Missouri of the SEC could have its hands full.
Mizzou’s new coach, Anderson, built up his successful resume at the Division II level. His starting point guard? None other than Keith Shamburger, the former Hawaii ballhandler who departed as a graduate student in the offseason to play immediately elsewhere.
"He’s really been good," Anderson said. "It’s hard to expect him to come in and be a rah-rah leader, but he’s certainly been a guy who has led our team. He’s got maturity, he’s been solid with the basketball. Doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. So I’ve been really pleased, he’s been a great addition for us."
BYU and 16th-ranked SDSU meet up in the first round in a battle of former Mountain West Conference foes; BYU jumped to the West Coast Conference in 2011. The Cougars feature an accomplished scorer in senior Tyler Haws.
It is the fifth Maui for SDSU’s Fisher, 69, who was an assistant on the 1988 Michigan squad that won the Maui championship a few months prior to his taking over of the Wolverines’ head job and winning a national title in 1989.
