Marquette vs. UCLA: A Thrilling Late-Night Battle at Maui
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Taking a look at Marquette last night
00:04 and UCLA out in the Maui Invitational.
00:06 You don't really get moral victories,
00:08 but you do get measuring stick games here.
00:09 Marquette wins by two points here,
00:11 but I know you're pretty high on UCLA.
00:13 Talking about the future of the Bruins
00:15 and what they mean out in the Pac-12 this year.
00:17 - Yeah, I am cautiously optimistic
00:19 'cause UCLA did not play well in its first three games.
00:22 However, I knew from watching the FIBA U-19 World Cup
00:26 over the summer and studying at Closet
00:28 that Berkay Bayaktansal would be a major factor for UCLA
00:33 who has been trying to obviously find somebody
00:36 who could fill the role that Jaime Haque has left behind
00:39 as that skilled power forward.
00:41 Now, Berkay is not that player,
00:43 but guys watching him and studying him multiple times
00:46 over the summer, I felt that Berkay could be
00:49 a college level Tony Coup coach.
00:51 Now, he didn't score last night,
00:53 but simply his presence on the floor allowed Mick Cronin
00:57 to not start a Di Mara next to a Dembona.
01:00 A Di Mara, as we know, is a projected lottery pick
01:03 down the road because of the confidence he had
01:06 in Berkay Bayaktansal.
01:07 Now, I'll also say this.
01:09 UCLA, and Ben, we talked about this a lot last year,
01:12 was a Final Four caliber team
01:14 and could have won the National Championship
01:16 had it not lost a Dembona and not lost Jalen Clark,
01:19 who was the National Defensive Player of the Year last year
01:22 prior to the NCAA Tournament.
01:24 If you didn't think a Dembona would have had a major impact
01:28 last year for UCLA in the tournament
01:30 after watching last night's game, you have no idea.
01:32 I mean, this guy is a walking highlight reel
01:37 and is totally refined his offensive game,
01:40 made a big post move late in the game to give UCLA a lead.
01:44 I think UCLA, if it had a Dembona,
01:46 I have no doubts would have been in the Elite Eight
01:48 that would have beaten Gonzaga
01:49 and obviously would have given UConn a tough game
01:51 in the Elite Eight.
01:52 But moving forward now, it's interesting to see him
01:55 in more of a featured role.
01:56 This UCLA team's gonna have its lumps, guys.
01:58 I talked earlier about the inexperience,
02:00 but for Mick Cronin to get this team
02:04 with all these new pieces, to have a 12 point lead
02:06 on Marquette, I know that they didn't win the game,
02:09 but I fully expect this,
02:10 and I wanna set the table for this.
02:13 If UCLA can beat Chaminade today,
02:16 which I think we all expect they will,
02:18 and Gonzaga defeats the alma mater of Ben Stevens
02:23 coming up to 30 Eastern in Olamo,
02:25 we will have phase five, okay, excuse me,
02:30 phase four of UCLA-Gonzaga.
02:33 Jalen Suggs made the shot in the bubble.
02:36 Gonzaga beat UCLA in Vegas the next year.
02:39 And then last year, Julian Strother makes the shot in Vegas.
02:43 Phase four is coming to Hawaii
02:46 if UCLA and Gonzaga win today.
02:48 And I don't wanna hear about
02:50 that it's the consolation bracket.
02:52 If you give me UCLA-Gonzaga Thanksgiving Eve,
02:57 in addition to what we're going to have
02:59 in the other situations of the Maui Invitational,
03:02 because the semifinals tonight,
03:04 Kansas, Marquette, Tennessee, Purdue,
03:06 if we get that in Glendale at the final four,
03:09 that's a win.
03:10 You could have three games right now
03:12 that I think you could say are all regional final type games.
03:17 But remember guys, and it's really important,
03:20 there's only four words that matter,
03:21 this is only November.
03:23 (upbeat music)
03:26 [Music]