Marquette's Niche in the NBA Playoffs

Assuming you will all be tired after a hard day of volunteer work for National Marquette Service Day, (you all signed up, right...right?) it will be nice to come home and relax with former Marquette stars in the NBA.

All three of our fellas play tomorrow, here's a quick look:

3 PM (EST) Miami Heat at the Chicago Bulls: This is a quandary for all the Windy City grads, or is it? Wade hasn't looked too healthy since returning and the Heat have lost to the dregs of the NBA lately, including Charlotte, twice. Shaq and Wade are still potentially the best tandem and theoretically unstoppable, but that's too many adverbs to say the Heat are conclusively going to take this series. The Bulls have a lot of young legs and both Luol Deng and Tyrus Thomas are coming into their own. I think the Heat will put it together, but not for long. Heat in 7.

7 PM (EST) Orlando Magic at the Detroit Pistons: For all the hoopla surrounding Dwight Howard, he still has more of a transition, dunk, put-back, ferocious-rebounder type of game. Solid for sure, but few inside moves and nothing to get Rasheed Wallace in a tizzy...well, almost. Our man Travis only played in 26 games and even then only averaged 11 minutes. Apparently, Diener is ready to flee the Magic Kingdom anyway, but at least Deeee-troit basketball should lead to a couple of blowouts and get him some well-deserved playing time as he finishes up his Orlando career. Pistons in 4.

9:30 PM (EST) Utah Jazz at Houston Rockets: This is an intriguing series with two rock solid coaches, Jerry Sloan and Jeff Van Gundy, matching wits. Tracy McGrady quietly carried the Rockets and put together an MVP-caliber season and Yao has become Ming the Merciless with his drop-step hooks and money jumper. Still, the Jazz are not to be taken lightly with the non-spotlight worthy triumvirate of Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur and Deron Williams. As for the MU alum...Van Gundy rarely plays rookies, especially those with defensive liabilities, so sweet-shooting Steve Novak averaged a mere 1.5 points a game. Yet if it all comes down to a 3-pointer to win a Game Seven, who would the Rockets call upon? McGrady, of course. Rockets in 7.

As for the rest of the NBA playoffs: the Spurs-Nuggets should be a whale of a series and Kobe vs. the Suns will see a lot of balls going through the net.

I like the Suns to win it all, but what I like and what will happen rarely coincide (e.g. Marquette v. Michigan State, 4/15/07.) Watching Mark Cuban make love to the Larry O'Brien trophy would be unsightly.

That's why I say, Suns over Pistons in 7.

And Jesuit-educated Canadians around the world rejoice. If you can't trust Charles Barkley, then the terrorists truly have won.

Enjoy the playoffs.