Eight college men's basketball teams, including Honolulu's Chaminade University, are competing in the Maui Invitational tournament at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
The tournament is usually played at the Lahaina Civic Center on Maui, but the center is being used as a recovery hub following the August wildfires.
Games will be played at the Stan Sheriff Center from Monday through Wednesday, event organizers announced in September.
This year's teams are No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Purdue, No. 4 Marquette, No. 7 Tennessee, No. 11 Gonzaga, Syracuse, UCLA and Chaminade — rankings according to the latest poll from The Associated Press.
UH Mānoa said there will be no on-site parking for fans attending the Maui Invitational. The parking structure is reserved for university students and faculty.
Shuttles will bring fans from several host hotels for a fee. Free shuttles are available from the Hawaiʻi Convention Center.
This is the third time in four years the tournament has had to be played somewhere other than Maui. Restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic forced tournament officials to move the event to Asheville, North Carolina, in 2020 and to Las Vegas in 2021.
The tournament actually began in Honolulu in 1982 when Chaminade, then an NAIA school, beat top-ranked Virginia in what is still considered one of the sport's greatest upsets.
The Maui Invitational, one of college basketball's premier events, has long been a source of pride in Lahaina, also a major tourist destination. This year's tournament field is impressive even by the event's high standards with the teams having combined for 17 national championships.
“The Maui Invitational is a great event that celebrates all of Hawaiʻi,” Gov. Josh Green said in a previous statement. “We look forward to welcoming players, staff and fans to Oʻahu and using the tournament and its international TV audience as a way to bring attention to and raise funds for Maui recovery efforts.”
