Aloha! Jayhawks headed back to Maui Invitation in 2019

By Matt Tait     Mar 27, 2018

article image Journal-World file photo
Kansas head coach Bill Self, third from the right, is pictured with the other 2015 Maui Invitational coaches as they gather for a photograph following a press conference on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015 outside the Sheraton Maui. At left is Kevin Stallings, Vanderbilt, Chris Mullin, St. John's, Tom Crean, Indiana, Danny Manning, Wake Forest, Eric Bovaird, Chaminade. Right of Self are Dave Rice, UNLV and Steve Alford, UCLA.

It has become like clock work, but the Kansas men’s basketball team is headed back to paradise for the 2019 Maui Invitational, tournament officials announced Tuesday.

The Jayhawks, who will be making their seventh appearance all-time in the early-season tournament in Hawaii, will be joined by a group of teams who have combined for 198 NCAA Tournament appearances, 44 Final Four berths and 16 national championships.

Michigan State and UCLA join the Jayhawks as headliners in the 2019 field, with BYU, Dayton, Georgia, Virginia Tech and host school Chaminade rounding out the field for the 36th annual tournament that will take place Nov. 25-27, 2019 at Lahaina Civic Center in Maui

That venue will once again be the host environment for some of the game’s top coaches, with Hall of Famers Bill Self and Tom Izzo being joined by new Georgia coach Tom Crean, UCLA’s Steve Alford, Virginia Tech’s Buzz Williams and BYU’s Dave Rose. All of those coaches will be making return trips to the event.

In addition, Dayton’s Anthony Grant was on the Florida staff when the Gators played in Maui in 1999.

Crean, then with Indiana and UCLA’s Alford both were in the event when Self’s Jayhawks won it in 2015.

Fans interested in attending can immediately begin planning to catch all the action at the 2019 Maui Jim Maui Invitational. Log on to mauiinvitational.com/2019travel for details on 2019 All-Tournament travel packages, good for access to all 12 games of the 2019 Tournament.

School Booster travel packages for the 2019 Maui Jim Maui Invitational will be available at a later date. Visit mauiinvitational.com/2019info and register to receive email alerts from the Tournament.

KU, which has played in the event just about every four years — according to NCAA rules, schools can only participate in the event once every four seasons — won the Maui Invitational in both 1996, under Roy Williams, and 2015, under Self.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.