St. Joe’s to play in Maui Posted on August 6th
LAHAINA, Hawaii - North Carolina, which returns the national player of the year in Tyler Hansbrough and its top five other scorers from last season’s Final Four team, will open the 25th annual Maui Invitational against the host team, Chaminade.
The pairings for the tournament, to be held Nov. 24 to 26 at the Lahaina Civic Center, were announced yesterday.
The other first-round games will have Texas, a regional finalist in the NCAA tournament last season, against St. Joseph’s; Indiana meeting Notre Dame in an all-Hoosier-state matchup; and Oregon facing Alabama.
North Carolina, expected to be the runaway preseason No. 1 in almost every poll, has, among others, Ty Lawson, Danny Green and Episcopal Academy graduate Wayne Ellington - who all withdrew their names from the NBA draft - returning from a team that was 36-3.
In addition, coach Roy Williams has one of the nation’s top recruiting classes.
St. Joseph’s, Oregon and Alabama will be making their first appearances on Maui. Phil Martelli’s Hawks squad is expected to be led by Ahmad Nivins and Tasheed Carr.