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Waianae-Mililani hoops, Duke's 'steal'
Posted at 04:02 AM
Waianae basketball. There's a phrase you don't hear much of, but with this year's team, that could change in the post-season. By Paul Honda What I saw last night was a Waianae team that is a step away from being the best in the West, the OIA Red West, that is. Never mind their league record (3-6). This team scores points, and there's enough defense (man-to-man) on the perimeter and the interior for Waianae to be a true darkhorse come playoff time. The Seariders, with Ramsey Beers, Jesse Lafua, Bryson Kekaluna and Jarrod Burns, have a core of scorers that racked up points on Mililani. True, the Trojans pulled out a 68-63 win that wasn't decided until the final seconds. However, their 1-3-1 and 2-3 zones didn't exactly stop Waianae. It was Mililani's tenacity under the boards that made a difference, as well as the Trojan bench. Scott Burns and Curtis Murakami off the bench? How often can a coach hold back two potential starters until the second quarter? Hiram Akina knows he has depth, and he is getting the most out of his quantity — abundance, really — of pieces, just as a chess master controls the board. But back to Waianae. They have plenty of offense. In fact, Lafua, an All-State volleyball player, went head-to-head with Brandon Dela Cruz (13 points, 8 boards), an All-State lineman. It was a great duel of physical brawn and finesse on the low post. Lafua stepped back and hit a clutch 3-pointer down the stretch, which shows me that if necessary, Waianae has four quality long-range shooters. What Waianae doesn't have, unfortunately, is a lot of depth. In fact, that turned out to be the difference last night. Come playoff time, though, with a slower pace, the Seariders and coach John Limbahon may find enough ways to pace their high-scoring squad and be fresh down the stretch. All they'll need is two wins in the playoffs to qualify for states, but first, they'll have to get their foot into the post-season door and claim at least sixth in the so-so West. Time will tell. Say, Jay: ESPN's Jay Billess is one of the top, if not the very best, of college basketball's TV analysts. However, whenever the topic veers to Duke, he's in a quandary. He doesn't hide his loyalty and affinity for all things Blue Devil, and in the past, he's been as fair as humanly possible. Today, however, he poo-pooed the controversy surrounding Duke's win over Clemson. Though the real time showed that officials added nearly 3 seconds — 3 unnecessary seconds — to the game clock and gave Duke 4.4 seconds to score the winning basket from its own backcourt, Billess pawned the whole thing off. He claimed that, well, both teams knew there were 4.4 seconds left, so Duke called a play that fit the situation. Yeah, well, if the clock had read 1.9 seconds (as originally indicated by the "precision" timing system, or 2.9 seconds as ESPN revealed, the odds of getting off a good shot, let alone a layup, from their own backcourt would have been astronomically improbable. Billess is good, but today's obvious homering by the former Dukie player was just laughable. Come on, Billess. Do you have to kiss up to Coach K that badly? I seriously doubt he needs that from anyone. I just hope it's not the case of Duke's slippage in the polls (can't be the best every single year) causing Blue Devil faithful to engage in preposterous rationale. Not now, and not for the rest of this season. Now I'm starting to see why so many college hoop fans can't stand Duke. I still like 'em. I just don't love 'em enough to make excuses. Previous Article: About my lists Comments © Copyright 2003 HondaReport.com/Leahi.Net
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