Some big news has arrived for college basketball fans over in Sin City, as a fun annual tournament will be making its way to Las Vegas this fall. That’s right, it’s been announced that the CBB Maui Invitational is heading to Las Vegas in late November. There’s a loaded group of teams who will be hoping to take home the title this year in what figures to be a great season of college hoops from start to finish.
If you’re wondering why things won’t be in Maui this year like normal, it’s because pandemic concerns moved the tournament out of Hawaii this year. With cases continuing to grow a little bit and there being travel restrictions in place as well, it was decided that the best course of action would be for things to be played in Nevada instead. It wasn’t an easy decision, but one that the officials felt needed to be made.
“While we anxiously await our return to the island in 2022, we know that we were able to relocate the event safely and successfully last year in Asheville (North Carolina) while maintaining the spirit of Maui, and we expect the same result this year in Las Vegas,” executive vice president of KemperLesnik, which runs the event, Tom Valdiserri said in a recent statement.
The tournament had to be moved last year as well because of the pandemic, which means it has been a bit of a while since the locals over in Maui have been able to enjoy some outstanding hoops action. With that said, officials truly are hopeful that they’ll be able to return in 2022 so people can watch some great basketball go down. This really is a fun tournament for people to enjoy.
In the meantime, though, this just means that college basketball fans will be ready to enjoy the action in Las Vegas. It was also announced that the tournament will be held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, with the first games scheduled to be played on Nov. 22. The tournament will be a three-day event, with things wrapping up on Nov. 24 this year.
As is the case every fall, there’s a loaded field for the Maui Invitational for everyone to enjoy for the tournament. It’s been confirmed that Texas A&M, Wisconsin, Butler, Houston, Oregon, Chaminade, St. Mary’s and Notre Dame will be competing, which of course only adds to the intrigue for people who want to make their way to the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino to watch.
People of course will want to check out the college basketball odds via the Las Vegas Sportsbooks and see what kind of bets are going to be made available to them. With these eight teams hoping to try and win the Maui Invitational to kick off their seasons, two teams stand out above the rest here. We’re of course talking about the Houston Cougars and Oregon Ducks. Folks can even use sportsbooks, like Bovada, to bet on them to win it.
Both teams will be in the AP Top 25 once the year begins. For Houston, the Cougars ended their long drought and advanced to the NCAA Final Four last spring. It was a huge achievement for them, as they entered the tourney holding a No. 2 seed. Unfortunately for Houston, they ended up playing Baylor in the Final Four, and the Bears dominated play to move on to the title game. Baylor ended up winning it all.
Meanwhile, for the Ducks, the Pac-12 powerhouse is ready to make plenty of noise this year. Dana Altman has been the head coach for Oregon since the 2010-11 season and he continues to help this team play outstanding ball. Oregon is expected to compete for a Pac-12 title this year and their fans are hopeful that a deep run in the NCAA tourney will follow. Winning the Maui Invitational would be a fantastic start.
While there was disappointment in having to move locations, Maui Invitational officials are excited for how things can go in Las Vegas this season. More, it has been made clear that folks who already purchased tickets for the event to be in Maui will be receiving a full refund. With that said, tickets will be going on sale for everyone having an option to attend things in Las Vegas.
“Maui is our Tournament home, which is why we are disappointed that the current state COVID-19 restrictions will not allow us to host the Maui Jim Maui Invitational there this year,” Valdiserri said on making the move from Maui to Las Vegas for November 22-24. “We determined that if we could not travel to Maui, the next best place to go was Las Vegas, Hawaii’s Ninth Island.”
As you can see from the quote above, it didn’t take long for the Maui Invitational team to determine that due to restrictions in Hawaii, making the move to Las Vegas was a very easy decision. With it being such a big sports town, you better believe that people will be ready to pack the area from start to finish here and cheer on their favorite college basketball teams. Fans and alumni will be packing Sin City for this tournament. Folks can’t wait for it to go down.
