It’s no secret that the best way to do college basketball is through bracket play. The “winner advances” format makes every game matter and leads to some of the best and most memorable moments in college basketball.
Surely, in March, the conferences tournaments and NCAA Tournament is what you think of most, but even the holiday tournaments during the preseason are worth paying attention to. At Bet For The Win, we preview them all.
Today, we take a look at the Maui Invitational, a tournament that’ll feature five teams in the AP Top 25, and determine which team could win it all.
The Field
Tournament Format
Your official 2022 Maui Jim Maui Invitational bracket! We can’t wait to see you this November! 😎 pic.twitter.com/9lh4GPQRvB
— Maui Invitational (@MauiInv) August 1, 2022
The scheduling for this season’s Maui Invitational follows the same format of years past. Each of the eight participating schools will play on Day 1 of the tournament (November 21st) with the four winners heading to the championship bracket and the four losers moving over to the consolation bracket.
Schedule
Nov. 21, 2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2 – Texas Tech Red Raiders vs. Creighton Bluejays
Nov. 21, 5:00 p.m. ET, ESPN2 – Louisville Cardinals vs. Arkansas Razorbacks
Nov. 21, 9:00 p.m. ET, ESPN2 – Ohio State Buckeyes vs. San Diego State Aztecs
Nov. 21, 11:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2 – Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Arizona Wildcats
Texas Tech vs. Creighton
Of the opening-day games, this is probably the one that plays out best on paper. Two incredibly deep teams with a proven ability to lock opponents down on defense and a nice mixture of offense that can come from any number of players on a nightly basis. The difference in this game might come down to if the Raiders can contain Creighton’s 3-point shooting or limit it in a way that doesn’t put their own offense in too much of a hole to dig out of.
Louisville vs. Arkansas
If Creighton-Texas Tech is the most competitive game on paper, this Lousiville-Arkansas one is easily the most lopsided matchup of Day 1. The Cardinals, at 0-3, have lost each of their games by one point, but we shouldn’t expect them to be in the game with a chance to win it against Eric Mussellmen’s undefeated Razorbacks.
Ohio State vs. San Diego State
San Diego State and Ohio State make up two of the tournament’s six undefeated teams entering Maui. In typical Aztec basketball fashion, they hang their hat on the defensive end. But it’s the Buckeyes’ defense that is holding opponents to only 50.7 points per game (fourth-lowest in the nation). So, on a neutral court and in an unfamiliar time zone, the bettors out there might want to take a look at the projected points total closely and consider betting on the under.
Cincinnati vs. Arizona
Even with a lot of star talent from last season’s team leaving the desert for the NBA, Arizona doesn’t appear to have missed a beat. The Wildcats are averaging an NCAA-best 105.3 points per game and have four players pouring in over 15.0 points per game. And while the Bearcats are off to a solid start, it will be an incredibly tall task for them to put up with Zona.
Prediction
Arkansas is the highest-ranked team in the bracket, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the favorite to win the invitational — Arizona’s odds are slightly better. But neither of those two teams is my pick to win it all.
How about the Creighton Bluejays? They returned several starters (Ryan Nembhard, Trey Alexander, Ryan Kalkbrenner, Arthur Kaluma) from a team that made it to the NCAA Tournament a year ago and beat San Diego State in Round 1 before losing to the eventual national champion Kansas Jayhawks in Round 2. The Bluejays are off to an impressive start and have already shown the rare combination of size, athleticism and floor spacing to be a threat to anyone they play.
Creighton could potentially have to face Arkansas in the tournament’s semifinal, but if the Jays could take care of business in that hypothetical matchup, they probably won’t face anyone the rest of the way that should stop them from winning the championship.
