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Huskies Open Maui Invitational Play with
November 21 Game vs. Arkansas
bracket [.pdf]
MAUI, Hawaii, (July 13, 2005) – College basketball’s spotlight once
again turns to the island paradise of Maui as KemperSports Marketing, operator
of the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational since 1990, today announced the official
bracket for the 2005 season-opening tournament. The 22nd edition of college
roundball’s season kickoff features eight teams competing during three
action-packed days in November within the intimate confines of Maui’s 2,400-seat
Lahaina Civic Center.
Seven NCAA Division I teams, six of whom represent former NCAA champions,
will join Division II host Chaminade University November 21-23 to vie for the
venerable Maui crown – and the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of
numerous EA SPORTS Maui Invitational participants who complemented their
Thanksgiving week island experience with season-long and post-season success.
ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, the new 24-hour college sports network, will combine
to offer live coverage of all 12 contests, marking the first time every game of
the event will be televised nationally.
The opening game pairings for this year's tournament are as follows:
Game One showcases host Chaminade, under new coach Matt
Mahar, taking on 2005 Final Four contender and 1991 Maui Invitational victor,
Michigan State, a two-time national champion coached by Tom Izzo.
The winner of game one will tackle the winner of Game Two, in
which 2005 West Coast Conference champ and perennial powerhouse, Gonzaga,
coached by Mark Few, faces 2002 national champion and runner-up in Maui’s 1994
contest, Maryland, coached by Gary Williams.
Game Three features 1997 national champ and 2000 Maui
title-holder, Arizona, a Pac-10 squad that advanced to the 2005 Elite
Eight under veteran coach Lute Olson, dueling with Big 12 force and two-time
NCAA champion, Kansas, who topped the Maui Invitational field in 1996.
The winner of game three will tip off against the winner of Game Four,
where Stan Heath’s Arkansas Razorbacks, 1994 national champion and 1991
Maui runner-up, battle Jim Calhoun’s two-time national champion Connecticut
Huskies, who return to Maui this November with major plans to improve on 2000’s
fifth-place finish.
At a glance, the 2005 EA SPORTS Maui Invitational features six former
national champions (Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Kansas, Maryland and
Michigan State); five 2005 NCAA Tournament participants (Arizona, Connecticut,
Gonzaga, Kansas, Michigan State); and 2005 Final Four and Elite Eight
contenders, Michigan State and Arizona, respectively.
“For more than two decades, this tournament has set the tone for the NCAA
basketball season, and this year fuels the fire with an assembly of teams
largely considered one of the best-ever in an early-season event,” said
Tournament Chairman Dave Gavitt, who last year was handed the reigns by fellow
sports icon Wayne Duke. “Maui is a breeding ground for the spirited competition
that carries teams to the Big Dance in March.”
Remaining school Booster Tickets will go on sale to the general public on
Tuesday, August 16, 2005, at 8 a.m. Hawaii time (2 p.m. Eastern time) via the
official tournament Web site at http://www.mauiinvitational.com, and through
Oahu Travel, the official tournament travel agency, which can be reached at
800.826.3822. Kansas Booster Tickets are sold out.
EA SPORTS, the world’s leading interactive entertainment software maker,
enters its fifth year as title sponsor of the Maui Invitational.
Other tournament sponsors include the Maui Visitors Bureau, County of Maui
Department of Parks and Recreation and Hawaii Tourism Authority. The Westin Maui
Resort and Spa, Sheraton Maui Resort and Kapalua Bay Hotel & Ocean Villas serve
as host hotels for the thousands of boosters who accompany their teams to Maui
each year.
For up-to-the-minute tournament schedule, ticket and general information,
visit the official tournament Web site at http://www.mauiinvitational.com. |
