The 2011 Maui Invitational field is released; tournament "expanded"

The 2011 field for the Maui Invitational is pretty loaded. It features five former national champions -- Duke, Georgetown, UCLA, Michigan, and Kansas -- as well as Memphis, Tennessee, and, as always, Chaminade.

With that tournament well over a year away, its tough to predict just how good it is going to be, but we'll take a shot anyway. Duke should once again be a top ten team even if Kyrie Irving and Mason Plumlee head to the league. The same can be said for Kansas and Josh Selby as well as Memphis and their crop of freshmen. Its a safe bet that Tennessee and Georgetown will be in the top 25, and no one will be surprised if Ben Howland has he UCLA team relevant nationally within a year's time. Michigan is the question mark, but remember what John Beilein did with his West Virginia team's that were full of question marks?

Steven Gray and Matt Bouldin after winning the 2009 Maui.
(photo credit: B/R)

I don't think its an exaggeration to say that the 2011 Maui Invitational will have three top ten teams, two more top 25 teams, and a sixth team that makes the tournament. That's a pretty loaded field.

As far as I can tell based on a (very) quick perusal of the past Maui fields, the group in 2005 was the best yet. UConn was a one seed and made the Elite Eight. Adam Morrison and Gonzaga earned a three seed and a trip to the Sweet 16. Kansas was a four, Michigan State a six, and Arizona and Arkansas were eight seeds. Maryland was an NIT team.

Not only is the 2011 field better, it is going to look different. Actually, no, its not. But there are going to be guaranteed games played in the continental United States. I'll let the AP explain:

Starting with 2011, the tournament will be played in three parts. The opening games will be played at the seven Maui-bound schools with three of the four mainland teams playing two games and the other playing one. The four mainland teams will play two doubleheaders at one of those schools on Nov. 19-20. The championship round will remain the same at the Lahaina Civic Center with all 12 games shown on one of the ESPN networks.

In other words, the seven "Maui-bound" teams -- aka the good teams -- will get a couple of early season tune-ups at home. The four "mainland" teams -- aka the early season tune-ups -- will then play a couple of games before the real tournament starts out in Maui.

So there really won't be a difference in the Maui Invitational itself, there are just going to be more games played under the "Maui Invitational" umbrella. Think about it like this -- Sportscenter didn't change when ESPN added ESPN 3, did it?

This year's Maui is pretty deep as well. Michigan State, Kentucky, Washington, UConn, and Wichita State all have, at the least, a realistic shot of making the NCAA Tournament, while Oklahoma, Virginia, and Chaminade round out the field.