A few notes on the Maui Invitational, which starts Monday.
• Wichita State may be the most prepared, experienced and biggest team here in Maui ... outside of Michigan State.
The Spartans have the best team in Maui and perhaps the nation, but the Shockers can compete with any team here. They have four seniors and five juniors and a team full of men. After a huddle two years ago, coach Gregg Marshall told his assistants that if they didn't recruit players who were tall enough for Marshall to look up to, they were all fired. Now his Shockers have two 7-footers, three players 6-foot-8 or taller and a bunch of 6-5 guys.
• The only questions for Wichita State are whether the Shockers can get quality point guard play and whether they are mentally tough enough to win on the road. Right now, Toure' Murry is running the point, with JC guard Joe Ragland learning the position and all of Marshall's complicated sets and reads. Ragland is the likely solution long-term at the point, which would free up Murry to concentrate on other things.
• For the past three years, the Missouri Valley Conference has been a "one-bid" league in March. The reason is simple: The regular-season champion has also won the conference tournament in St. Louis. In 2006, the Valley had a perfect storm of good teams with experience and talent -- Wichita State, Bradley, Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois -- making the field. Before that, there was a 10-year period in which the regular-season champion lost in the conference tournament and made it easier for the league to gain multiple bids. Over the past three years, if Drake and Northern Iowa had lost in the league tournament, it was highly likely that the Valley would have had two teams in. That is just the way it is in most non-BCS conferences. And that is another reminder that this is a big week for Wichita State and the Valley.
• Marshall spent eight years as an assistant to John Kresse at the College of Charleston. During that time, the NCAA allowed in-person scouting of opponents. Marshall was on the road scouting UConn, and he was fascinated by Jim Calhoun's use of the 2-2-1 3/4-court press. Marshall consulted with Calhoun, who shared his knowledge and thoughts on the defense and provided Marshall with materials on his philosophy of the defense. Ironically, Marshall will use the 2-2-1 against UConn in Maui, and with the experience and size of the Shockers against the youth and inexperience of the Huskies, Wichita State should be favored.
• No college player worked harder over the summer than Connecticut junior guard Kemba Walker. The speedy point guard worked out at Chris Paul's camp, Deron Williams' camp, LeBron James' camp and trained with the USA men's select team in New York and Las Vegas. In addition, Walker got all of his young teammates together on campus and worked out with them, trying to get some togetherness. He worked hard on his shooting stroke and really tightened it up. He is a much better player this season and earned it with his hard work.
• Calhoun has been through a rough stretch with UConn's recent NCAA issues and the resulting criticism aimed at him. If there is any doubt in one's mind about the kind of guy Calhoun is, all you have to do is consider that George Blaney and Kevin Ollie, two of the best and most respected basketball people you will ever find, swear by Calhoun and have gone "all in" with him and the Connecticut program. To me, that speaks volumes.
• At practice, Calhoun spoke to Raftery and me about just how good the game of basketball has been to all of us. He is right. When you think about all of the experiences, lessons and the living we have made off the game, it is really humbling. Then he made his most important point: In many instances, basketball has saved lives. I think he is right.
• UConn has a really talented freshman class with Roscoe Smith, Jeremy Lamb, Shabazz Napier, Tyler Olander and Niels Giffey. It is a group of long, athletic and skilled players who have a real chance to be something special over the years. Napier, in particular, has special ability. He has terrific quickness and is an instinctive defender who can get steals in a manner that you just cannot teach. He had five steals against Vermont, including a couple right from the opposing point guard. He had a chance to be special defensively.
• Former Seton Hall coach George Blaney is a great teacher and a wonderful influence on the UConn players. He does all of the scouting and has a great effect on the players and Calhoun. Blaney is a basketball lifer and is a pleasure to watch work.
• Kentucky is not quite as talented and explosive as last season, but the Wildcats are a better shooting team. With Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb, Kentucky can knock down shots much more efficiently than they could last season. Knight is an excellent shooter, although his shot mechanics can be improved. He shoots the ball right in front of his face and has a very low release point. But it goes in at a very high rate.
• Lefty forward Terrence Jones is a great talent, and John Calipari is pushing him to do more than just play. Calipari wants Jones to dominate in practice and in games, and he wants him to do it now. Jones has all of the tools but needs to improve his motor. If he does that, he will be a truly special player.
• Kentucky is on the cutting edge of technology and does a great job using and developing tools to make film study and team breakdowns more efficient. In addition, the Wildcats staff is using the iPad to very good success in home visits. Instead of taking projectors and PowerPoint presentations into the homes of recruits, UK is showing video presentations and highlighting edits in HD to recruits and their families on an iPad.
• A visitor at Kentucky's Sunday practice at the Lahaina Civic Center was former UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian. Calipari wanted Tark to look at the Wildcats' zone defenses and to give his thoughts on Kentucky's practice. Calipari made some zone adjustments, some of which were in Tarkanian's honor.
• Calipari said that he was putting in more pick-and-roll action for freshman point guard Knight. With Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans and John Wall, Calipari shunned too much pick-and-roll action because he did not want to bring an additional defender to those breakdown players. They didn't need a ball screen to free themselves up. Knight is not as dynamic off the bounce, but he is a better shooter. Calipari will adjust to Knight's strengths and will use more ball screen action for Knight.
• In Kentucky's practice, Wildcats managers would sometimes towel off perspiring Cats when they were subbed out. That is quality service.
• Some of Michigan State's staff have referred to junior forward Draymond Green as a "once-in-a-generation player."
It is not just that Green is versatile, talented and had more assists than any frontcourt player at MSU, but he is also a great teammate who has extraordinary empathy for every member of his team, whether it is a player, coach, manager or other staff member. When assistant coach Dwayne Stephens was working the floor in a tough drill, Green noticed that Stephens was not getting a break and was working harder than any of the players. Green changed his jersey and subbed out Stephens so that he could get a break.
He is the best passing big man in the country, and it isn't close. He is also an outstanding rebounder who goes after the ball with both hands.
Green was not even Tom Izzo's first choice in the recruiting process. Izzo had Ohio State's William Buford as a primary target over Green, and even though his aunt played at Michigan State and he had attending games since he was three years old (when he was afraid of the Sparty mascot), Green was enamored with Tubby Smith when he was at Kentucky. When Smith went to Minnesota and Buford went to Ohio State, it opened things up for Green to go to Michigan State. Now he is thriving as a Spartan, and there may not be a player whom Izzo relates better to than Green. Funny how things work out in recruiting.
• The Spartans have two special athletes in freshmen Keith Appling and Adreian Payne. Appling is explosive off the floor, fast and can finish at the rim. Payne is a freak athlete, and when he learns how to play, look out.
• Michigan State assistant coach Mark Montgomery is an outstanding X's and O's coach and a fine recruiter. He has done a great job for Izzo and should be the next Izzo assistant to be hired as a head coach.
• Michigan State is an outstanding offensive team, and few programs take better advantage of the short, mid-range jump shot. It is not an easy shot, but it is easier to get than an open 3 or a layup.
• Very few teams run as hard in transition as the Spartans. It is in their DNA. So is winning.
• The Spartans took an 8:45 a.m. snorkeling trip, which included some of the players and managers jumping off of a 60-foot cliff into the Pacific Ocean below. Good thing Izzo was at a press conference.
• When Washington plays Virginia in the first round, it will match up two great friends, UVa's Assane Sene and UW's Aziz N'Diaye, who are products of a program called SEEDS. The program was started by former Dallas Mavericks scout Amadou Gallo Fall and is a nonprofit organization that helps provide opportunities to young African kids to use their physical talents to further their educations and to return to their native Africa. Sene and N'Diaye are close friends and the two Skype with each other often and communicate online almost every day. Sene and N'Diaye are two of the players featured in an upcoming documentary, "ELEVATE." The film is being considered for the Sundance Film Festival.
• The best drill I have seen here in Maui is a free throw-shooting drill implemented by UConn. It is a drill that Glen Miller, former Brown and Penn coach, learned from Phoenix star Steve Nash. Each player shoots free throws for one minute, with passes coming at an accelerated speed. In a minute, a player should be able to get up 20 or more free throws. The players end up shooting over and over in rhythm without thinking about the mechanics of shooting.
• Chaminade is very well-coached by Matt Maher. This season, the Silverswords not only run good offense and can spread the floor; they have some size, too. Chaminade has 7-foot center Mamadou Diarra, a transfer from USC via Bamako, Mali. Diarra was not eligible last season because USC would not give him his release upon his transfer. He is currently averaging 16 points, 12.2 rebounds and 5 blocks per game, and very few teams can match up with him on the Division II level.
• Washington has good depth and good size, and one of the most improved big men in the country in Matthew Bryan-Amaning. Slimmer and in better overall condition, Amaning finished last season by averaging 12 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.8 blocks over his last 14 games. This season, Bryan-Amaning picked up where he left off last year. Through two games, he is averaging 21 points and 11.5 rebounds and shooting 61 percent from the floor.
• One of the most underappreciated players in the country is Husky guard Isaiah Thomas. The 5-foot-9 junior and leading scorer has scored more points in his first two seasons than any other U-Dub player, including Brandon Roy, Chris Welp or Jon Brockman. Thomas may be small, but he plays big and he can score almost at will.
• Former Wake Forest and South Carolina coach Dave Odom is the Maui Invitational Tournament director, and he is one of the most knowledgeable basketball people I know. I sat for hours watching practices with Odom and Bill Raftery, and picked Odom's brain the whole time. When Odom talks about basketball, I always listen. And I always learn something.
• Odom was reunited with Virginia AD Craig Littlepage, who were both Cavaliers assistant coaches to Terry Holland. Littlepage goaded Odom to tell an old recruiting story from when UVa was wooing Rochester forward Tom Sheehey. Odom and assistant Jim Larranaga flew to New York to pick up Sheehey, Kenny Smith, Bruce Dalrymple and Olden Polynice for official visits, and Odom had to take a cab to pick up Sheehey at his home at 6 a.m. When Odom and Sheehey got into the cab and backed out of the driveway, the cabbie ran over the Sheehey family dog. When Sheehey got out of the car, the injured dog bit the star forward, putting the visit and the recruitment of Sheehey in jeopardy. Odom, showing extraordinary recruiting ability, got Sheehey on the plane and to commit to the Wahoos. And the dog survived the incident. It was a great story and had us on the floor with the way Odom told it.
• This week, Maui Invitational Tournament director Wayne Duke will be inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor. I had the great honor of serving with Duke on the NCAA Long-Range Planning Committee in 1985 and 1986, and I learned a great deal from him. Duke, the former commissioner of the Big Ten, has had a profound effect on college basketball and on the NCAA tournament. His induction into the Hall of Fame is well-deserved. Duke has made the game better, and he has made the experiences of countless athletes better because of his dedication to the game. Congratulations to Wayne Duke. Simply put, he is the very best.