The games are played in a little 2,500-seat matchbox that isn't as nice as half of the high school gyms in Utah. The host team is a small Division II school that few folks have heard of. Yet of the 60 annual in-season tournaments in college basketball, none may be more coveted than the Maui Invitational, where the Utah basketball team will play this week.
Every year, several of the best teams in the country flock to Maui - Duke, Kentucky and Arizona played last year - and return as often as possible, which is only once every four years, according to NCAA rules.This year it's Utah's turn and three other top 25 teams - Indiana, Syracuse and Clemson - are competing along with Kansas State, Michigan, Arizona State and host Chaminade. Utah has gotten into the regular rotation, playing in 1994 and this year, with a return trip already scheduled for 2002.
What makes Maui so magnificent? Mostly it's the beautiful surroundings, with the secluded sandy beaches and lush green golf courses everywhere you look. Sure, the University of Hawaii hosts four or five tournaments every season in Honolulu, as does BYU-Hawaii in Laie and Hawaii-Hilo over on the Big Island. But Maui is the wowee of Hawaiian tournaments.
Chaminade, still known for its
huge upset of Ralph Sampson's Virginia team in 1982, has played host to the tournament since 1984 when it began as a four-team tournament. Chaminade is a private, 1,000-student Division II school located across the water in Honolulu.
Games are played at the Lahaina Civic Center, a municipal recreation center located up on a hill just a couple of hundred yards from the ocean. Fans from the different schools cram into the bleachers, then give way to the next bunch of fans who take their place for the next game.
In Monday's games, host Chaminade and Syracuse started things off, followed by Clemson and Michigan. Then Indiana and Kansas State play at 7 p.m., followed by the Utes and Sun Devils at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
Here's a look at the eight teams in this year's tournament and their chances:
UTAH (1-1) - Until the loss to Utah State five nights ago, the Utes may have been the favorite in this year's tournament.
Andre Miller, Hanno Mottola and Alex Jensen will carry the Utes a long way by themselves, but they need a lot more help from Jeremy Killion and Adam Sharp outside and Nate Althoff and Phil Cullen inside. And everyone needs to play much better defense, says coach Rick Majerus.
Look for two wins, most likely in the opener and on the final day.
ARIZONA STATE (1-1) - When Majerus turned down this job, Mississippi's Rob Evans was quickly hired to take Bill Frieder's place.
He inherited a young team with three returning starters, but one of them is ineligible until next month. After opening with a win over San Jose State to open the season, the Sun Devils fell to Northern Arizona at home by 16 last week.
Arizona State won this tournament four years ago but may be happy to go home with a victory in the consolation bracket this time.
INDIANA (4-0) - When you say Indiana basketball, the first thing you think of is Bobby Knight.
Knight and his red sweater have been roaming the sidelines for nearly three decades now, but the Hoosiers haven't had much success in recent years, losing to lower-seeded teams in the NCAA tournament four years in a row.
The Hoosiers have some experience back from last year's 20-12 squad that lost in the NCAA second round. A.J. Guyton, a 6-1 guard, is the leading returning scorer and will be joined in the starting lineup by 6-6 Luke Recker and 6-8 William Gladness.
With four starters back from last year, the Hoosiers may be the team to beat at Maui and could advance to the finals and even win it.
KANSAS STATE (3-0) - The Wildcats were happy to make it to the NIT last year, but they were blown away in an ugly 59-39 loss to North Carolina State.
Coach Tom Asbury welcomes back three starters and 10 lettermen and is loking to make it back to the NCAA tournament. Fourth-year seniors Manny Dies, Shawn Rhodes and Paco May will start inside for the Wildcats.
If the Wildcats don't get by Indiana, they could win their next two games.
CLEMSON (3-0) - When Rick Barnes accepted the job at Texas, former Clemson assistant Larry Shyatt took the job after a year at Wyoming.
Shyatt, the guy who nearly got in a fight with Majerus last year in the game at Utah, has some solid returning starters in 6-8 Harold Jamison, 6-6 Tony Christie and 6-10 Tom Wideman, who is starting for the fourth season.
Clemson should get by Michigan and face tough games in the second and third rounds.
MICHIGAN (1-2) - The Wolverines are picked near the bottom of the Big Ten after losing Robert Traylor and most of their inside players. Back are Louis Bullock and Utah native Robbie Reid, but the two guards won't take the Wolverines too far.
Bullock is an outstanding outside shooter, who averaged 17.1 points last year, while Reid averaged 8.2 ppg as a part-time starter.
Michigan will hope to come away with more than one win, but they'll likely come in the consolation braket.
SYRACUSE (2-0) - The Orangemen are picked right behind second-ranked Connecticut in most preseason polls in the Big East and could be the team to beat this week.
Three starters return from a Sweet 16 team, including Jason Hart (10.2 ppg), one of the top point guards in the Big East, and 6-8 Ryan Blackwell, who led the team in rebounding (8.6) and scored 12.6 points a game.
Coach Jim Boeheim's squad has the only gimme of the first round and could very well be taking home the gold trophy this week.
CHAMINADE - Third-year coach Al Walker returns just four players from last year, but one of them is Pacific West Conference New-com-er of the Year Stanley Martin, a 6-5 forward who averaged 17 points and eight rebounds last year.
In 11 of the 14 previous tournaments, the Silverswords have finished in last place and don't expect anything different, although they could pull an upset in the 7th-place game on Wednesday.