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Hawkins sets ball-hawking tone

KU to enter Maui tourney as underdog

By Kevin Haskin
The Capital-Journal

Of all the illustrious basketball powers headed later this month to the EA Sports Maui Invitational, Kansas is the one program that may carry the lowest expectations.

Unranked in the preseason Associated Press poll for the first time since 1990-91, the Jayhawks must contend with a Maui field that includes four teams in the top 10 -- No. 3 Connecticut, No. 4 Michigan State, No. 8 Gonzaga and No. 10 Arizona. A fifth entrant, Maryland, is ranked No. 24.

The tournament is scheduled for Nov. 21-23 at the Lahaina Civic Center. On Thursday, each coach in the eight-team draw took turns marveling at the bracket, which includes a first-round matchup between KU and Arizona.

"This, in my opinion, is the best preseason matchups in a tournament situation I've seen, and that includes the NIT preseason or any you want to mention," Arizona coach Lute Olson said. "When you've got six teams that have won national championships and the seventh team that's been invited is Gonzaga ... it is loaded.

"There's going to be some great basketball games, and I feel strongly that every team is going to come out of that tournament with some positives to build upon and will know more about their teams. This is how they have to go into it, saying, 'Hey, this is the best of the best -- let's learn from it whether it's a win or a loss.' "

The coaching matchup between Olson and Self is a rematch of the 2000 final in Maui. Self was in his first season at Illinois and guided the Illini to the finals, where they lost 79-76 to Olson's Wildcats.

Self drew similarities to that Illinois team, except that this year's Jayhawks, who beat Fort Hays State 96-62 in an exhibition opener on Wednesday, possess less experience.

"We're going to make a lot of mistakes early. We're going to be up and down, but I think it'll be a team that will continually get better," Self said. "I think this tournament will do wonders for us because it'll certainly let us know where we stand on a national level."

The potential trouble that lurks is teams could go 1-2 in the tournament, or even 0-3 with a loss to host Chaminade. Suddenly, a potentially strong team could be hamstrung by a poor start.

"This is a great opportunity hypothetically. ... All the (team) names are great, and all of them will play great competition during the season," said UConn coach Jim Calhoun, who was inducted this past summer to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

"These are going to be games that are going to be highlighted by the (NCAA Tournament) committee," Calhoun said. "It's awfully early to be doing it, but we'll all come out of there with a heckuva lot better feel for who we are and what we are."

The other first-round matchup on KU's side of the bracket pits UConn and Arkansas. On the other side, Gonzaga meets Maryland and Michigan State faces Chaminade.

"You kinda have to tip your hat to all the coaches that have brought their teams over there," said Gonzaga coach Mark Few. "In this day and age there's a lot of guys playing relatively soft schedules and buying the games and staying at home. Yet you have all these nationally ranked teams showing up in basically a high school-sized gym over there and going to battle it out."