Maui Invitational Tournament

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2006 EA Sports Maui Invitational Tournament Logo

The EA Sports Maui Invitational is a preseason college basketball tournament that takes place in late November of each year, usually around Thanksgiving. It takes place in Lahaina, Hawaii at the Lahaina Civic Center, on the island of Maui, and is hosted by Chaminade University of Honolulu (who plays in it every year). The tournament, now broadcast by ESPN, began in 1984 and was one of the first tournaments of the kind. It is, along with the Preseason NIT, one of the most well-known preseason tournaments.

1 History
2 Past Maui Invitiation Tournament Championship Game Results
3 2006 Tournament field
4 Future tournament fields
5 Facts
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] History

Most believe that the tournament began because of what is considered the greatest upset in the history of college basketball; when Chaminade, then an NAIA school (now NCAA Division II), beat top-ranked (#1) Virginia and best player Ralph Sampson in Hawaii.

Shortly after the amazing upset, Virginia head coach Terry Holland congratulated Chaminade’s Athletic Director, Mike Vasconcellos, and suggested to him that he might consider beginning a Hawaii tournament at some point. Two years after that, the Maui Classic, today’s EA Sports Maui Invitational, had begun for the first time, with Chaminade reaching the finals and losing to Providence.

Today, each participating team is reimbursed 100 percent of their travel-related expenses, enabling small conference and mid-major schools the rare opportunity to compete on a neutral court with the top basketball programs in the country. AP college basketball editor Jim O’Connell calls the EA Sports Maui Invitational, "the best in-season tournament in the country – the standard by which all others are compared."

[edit] Past Maui Invitiation Tournament Championship Game Results

Year	Winner	Score	Opponent	Tournament MVP
1984	Providence	60-58	Chaminade	Patrick Langlois, Chaminade
1985	Michigan	80-58	Kansas State	Dell Curry, Virginia Tech
1986	Vanderbilt	87-71	New Mexico	Will Perdue, Vanderbilt
1987	Iowa	97-74	Villanova	Entire Iowa Team
1988	Michigan	91-81	Oklahoma	Glen Rice, Michigan
1989	Missouri	80-73	North Carolina	Doug Smith, Missouri
1990	Syracuse	77-74	Indiana	Billy Owens, Syracuse
1991	Michigan State	86-61	Arkansas	George Gilmore, Chaminade
1992	Duke	89-66	BYU	Bobby Hurley, Duke Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway, Memphis State
1993	Kentucky	93-92	Arizona	Travis Ford, Kentucky
1994	Arizona State	97-90	Maryland	Mario Bennett, Arizona State
1995	Villanova	77-75	North Carolina	Kerry Kittles, Villanova
1996	Kansas	80-63	Virginia	Raef LaFrentz, Kansas
1997	Duke	95-87	Arizona	Steve Wojciechowski, Duke
1998	Syracuse	76-63	Indiana	Jason Hart, Syracuse
1999	North Carolina	90-75	Purdue	Joseph Forte, North Carolina
2000	Arizona	79-76	Illinois	Michael Wright, Arizona
2001	Duke	83-71	Ball State	Mike Dunleavy, Jr., Duke
2002	Indiana	70-63	Virginia	Bracey Wright, Indiana
2003	Dayton	82-72	Hawaii	Keith Waleskowski, Dayton
2004	North Carolina	106-92	Iowa	Raymond Felton, North Carolina
2005	UConn	65-63	Gonzaga	Adam Morrison, Gonzaga
2006	UCLA	88-73	Georgia Tech	Darren Collison, UCLA

[edit] 2006 Tournament field

November 20-22: Lahaina Civic Center, Maui

Quarter-final			Semi-final			Final

5	UCLA	88
	Chaminade	63
			5	UCLA	73

			20	Kentucky	68
20	Kentucky	87

	DePaul	81
						5	UCLA	88
						19	Georgia Tech	73
12	Memphis	77
	Oklahoma	65
			12	Memphis	85

			19	Georgia Tech	92
	Purdue	61

19	Georgia Tech	79

3rd Place game

20	Kentucky	63
12	Memphis	80

Loser's Bracket			5th Place Game

	Oklahoma	71
	Purdue	74
				Purdue	81
				DePaul	73
	DePaul	93
	Chaminade	74

7th Place game

	Oklahoma	72
	Chaminade	57

[edit] Future tournament fields

2007

2008

[edit] Facts

78 schools representing 20 conferences and 34 states have competed in the tournament
The 12 officials assigned to the Maui Invitational Tournament are perennially among the best in the country, with most having officiated in the NCAA Tournament for many years.
Maui Invitational participants have won an astounding 51 of 67 NCAA championships, 51 of 67 national runner-up spots and comprise 199 of 268 Final Four teams.
Each year, more than 4,000 out-of state visitors – boosters, players, officials, team and game personnel, media representatives, sponsors, production crews and basketball fans in general – travel to the Maui Invitational and boost the local economy by more than $12 million.