Hokies to compete in 2019 Maui Jim Maui Invitational

Elite event showcases powerhouse field

March 27, 2018

MAUI, Hawaii – The Virginia Tech Hokies will compete in the 2019 Maui Jim Maui Invitational. The tournament announced its 2019 field today, a collection of programs that boasts a combined 198 NCAA Tournament appearances, 44 Final Four berths and an incredible 16 national championships.

BYU, Dayton, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan State, UCLA and host Chaminade will join the Hokies for the 36th annual tournament, which will be contested November 25-27 at the historic Lahaina Civic Center on the island of Maui.

“The Maui Jim Maui Invitational has earned a reputation for showcasing powerhouse teams year over year, and we are thrilled to continue that tradition in 2019,” said Tournament Chairman Dave Odom. “The Lahaina Civic Center will host some of college basketball’s best programs, coaches and players when these eight teams converge in Maui.”

Prior to the 2018 season, UCLA held the record for consecutive Division I regular season conference titles (13), only to have that record broken by fellow Maui contender, Kansas, this past season. Four programs – Kansas, Michigan State, UCLA and Virginia Tech – earned NCAA Tournament berths this season. The Jayhawks will compete in their 15th Final Four in program history, fifth-most in tournament history, this weekend.

The Lahaina Civic Center will once again feature the game’s top coaches in 2019. Kansas’ Bill Self and Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, both Hall of Fame inductees, along with Georgia’s Tom Crean, UCLA’s Steve Alford, Virginia Tech’s Buzz Williams and BYU’s Dave Rose will make return trips to the island. Dayton’s Anthony Grant was an assistant coach with Florida in 1999, and will make his first head coaching appearance in the Tournament. Self, Izzo, Crean, Alford, Rose, Grant and Chaminade’s Eric Bovaird have played or coached in the national semifinals.

Three coaches from the 2019 field have taken multiple teams to the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, including Alford (Iowa, UCLA), Crean (Marquette, Indiana), and Self (Illinois, Kansas). Williams will join that list in 2019, having coached Marquette in 2012, while Crean is poised to become just the second coach in history to bring three programs to the Maui Jim Maui Invitational (Rick Barnes: Providence, Texas and Tennessee).

Since the inception of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational in 1984, 124 schools representing 26 conferences and 40 states have competed in the event. Teams that have participated in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational throughout the event's history own 68 of the 79 NCAA Division I Basketball Championships. Six schools have gone on to win the National Championship after competing in Maui earlier in the season.

The Hokies announced in November that they will compete in the 2018 Gildan Charleston Classic in November, 2018. Joining Tech in that event will be Alabama, Appalachian State, Ball State, Davidson, Northeastern, Purdue and Wichita State.

Fans can immediately begin planning to catch all the action at the 2019 Maui Jim Maui Invitational. Log on to mauiinvitational.com/2019travel for details on 2019 All-Tournament travel packages, good for access to all 12 games of the 2019 Tournament. School Booster travel packages for the 2019 Maui Jim Maui Invitational will be available at a later date. Visit mauiinvitational.com/2019info and register to receive email alerts from the Tournament.

About the Maui Jim Maui Invitational

In December 1982, then No. 1 ranked Virginia, led by National College Player of the Year Ralph Sampson, played little-known NAIA Chaminade University in Honolulu while on the way back from a trip to Tokyo. The Silverswords stunned Virginia 77-72 in one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history. Two years later, in 1984, Chaminade University hosted the first Maui Jim Maui Invitational and it has proven to be the premier early-season college basketball tournament for 34 years running. Each year, the Maui Jim Maui Invitational attracts the top programs, best-known coaches and most outstanding players to compete in an exciting atmosphere at the Lahaina Civic Center near the beautiful beaches of Maui.

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