Bruce Pearl and the Auburn basketball team have been invited to participate in the prestigious Maui Jim Maui Invitational Nov. 19-21, 2018, at the Lahaina Civic Center, Maui Jim Maui Invitational Tournament Chairman Dave Odom announced Wednesday. This marks the first time in history that the Tigers have been invited to the tournament.
America’s premier early season basketball tournament will feature eight Div. I teams for the first time in its 35-year history as the Tigers will be joined by Arizona, Duke, Xavier, Gonzaga, Illinois, Iowa State and San Diego State. ESPN will cover all 12 games of the invitational.
“The Maui Invitational in the last 25 years has been college basketball’s most prestigious tournament in the country,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. “It is reserved for the elite. I want to thank Dave Odom and the committee for taking my word on the fact that we would have our program ready and as important, fill up half the gym.
“That is the requirement to be invited to Maui, you have to fill up half the gym. That’s where we are headed. The field is one of the best they have ever had along with all of the Hall of Fame coaches, every NBA scout and NBA general managers who will be there. It is quite a festival.”
This will not be the first time Pearl has been a part of the tournament. Pearl was an assistant for Dr. Tom Davis at Iowa when the 11th-ranked Hawkeyes won the 1987 Maui Invitational with wins over Stanford (78-75), eventual National Champion No. 7 Kansas (100-81) and Villanova (97-74) in the championship game.
“I coached in the Maui Invitational as an assistant at Iowa,” Pearl said. “We beat Larry Brown and Danny Manning the year they won the National Championship. Then, we beat Rollie Massimino and Villanova in the championship game. It was really special. Iowa has a banner hanging in Lahaina Civic Center. Back when I coached there, it wasn’t air-conditioned. It is air-conditioned now.
“Our fields always showcase the best in college basketball, and 2018 will be as strong as we’ve ever had,” said Odom, a former Coach of the Year in both the SEC and ACC.
Over the last five seasons, 44 participating players have been drafted by the NBA, and 13 teams that started their season in Maui advanced to the Sweet 16 or further in the NCAA Tournament during the same year.
The 2018 event represents the first time in tournament history that eight Div. I teams take the floor on Maui.
Since the beginning of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational in 1984, 114 schools representing 26 conferences and 40 states have competed in the event. Teams that have participated in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational throughout the events history own 67 of the 78 NCAA Division I Basketball Championships. Six schools have gone on to win the National Championship after competing in Maui earlier in the season.
“We have to be ready,” Pearl said. “It is two years out. I promised them we would be ready. It is a step in the direction to try to be relevant.”
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