Maui Invitational 2026

Aloha to the good people   I’ll be in Ka’anapali for the big show, and looking forward to again providing what I can regarding the Tournament… I will say what this field lacks in talent has opened up the door for a wide open tournament. And with that brings excitement and effort.  As always we know Lahaina gym rims are paticularly soft  really, really soft. lol 

Let’s get started with the squads… im a step behind and cramming for next week. Any thoughts or opinions on the Teams? 

NC State      
Texas    
Seton Hall    
USC
Arizona St     
Boise st     
Wash st  
Chaminade 

Aloha and god bless Lahaina town 

Pomeroy non paid for ranks, kenpom:  

NC ST #22, USC #32, Texas #40, Boise #55, ASU #86, Seton Hall #92, Wazoo #162 , Chaminade division 2 doesn’t have a ranking. 
cuff of my sleeve, I like ASU’s value if they can get by the Horns. Also way too early to confirm, but I like USC’s chances  musselman and baker mazerra will make for a fiery and intense performance all 3 days. 

Fire it up fellas…. What say you? 

Schedule with my way too early lines lol, hoping for some help here 

Seton Hall vs NC St -6’    
Boise vs USC -5’   
Chaminade vs Wazzu -6’    
ASU V Texas -2’ 

Winners move on… 

Woods early upset special… 

Chaminade ML vs Wash St   

Bruh, the Silverswords are overdue, and just the team to pull a first day upset over a Div 1 Squad.   

Hang with me here….taking a glance at the swords and their history at the Invitational vs Div 1, you’ll see:

1982…Chaminade upsets the #1 team in the country Virginia 77-72 !!  The most highly recruited player of his generation 7’4” Ralph Sampson and Rick Carlisle!  Newspapers doubted the news..Chaminade’s enrollment was 800 students and they had just beaten the mighty Cavaliers. One of the largest upsets of all time. 
    

2003…Villanova loses to the Silverswords 52-49   
2010..Oklahoma Sooners fall to Chaminade 68-64   
2012…Texas Longhorns the mighty horns of Texas lose 86-73 to the D2 guys   
2017…CAL Bears get their ass kicked by the Silverswords 96-72 
So now we have our guys looking at a down WSU Cougars team first day  Awaiting numbers, but I’ll certainly play the ML and most likely spread.   Stay tuned 

JJ woods 

JJ,   I would guess Tex/AZ St  winner and maybe Wolfpack would be favorites.  Interesting to see how Boise handles Wich tonight. S.Hall might be a factor with their slower pace,allowing 57ppg. Wash St nothing special as of now so far,I don't know anything on Cham,but there's always a chance for them in the Maui. Az St  offense looks good but competition hasn't been top notch so far and Tex looked pretty good,lost by 15 at Duke earlier but then a lot of teams are going to lose at Duke. USC could be tough,hard to get a good read though with their level of competition so far. Will be fun to watch. Just my opinions, but I like Tex or Wolfpack 

Good luck and enjoy it

I like NC ST a lot in this spot and expect them to roll past Seton Hall in the opener. 

 looking forward to Boise tonight… seems like Alot of chalk.  Shockers usually just a Homer, but surprised me on the road last year a handful of times.  

thanks fellas, YO  Florida Man will be leaning wolfepack but guessing the line at Pack -6’??  Really surprised to see Seton Hall down this year…like way down. Could it reach -10? 

I will say we give the West Coast time zone squads a tick ‘ advantage…it’s real. Add a .25 or .5 pt to Chaminade, USC, Wazoo.  Slightly Boise, ASU.

Researching ASU…these guys look like a lot of fun! Texas too as Totter said…I rewatched the Duke loss…They’re absolutely athletic and a tough matchup. 

My man that is some fun facts.Never knew about that 82 upset,insane!

Gotta figure Wade and the Wolfies take this tournament ... watched some of the game against VCU and they definitely bent a few times in both halves but found a way to hang on down the stretch. Otherwise they have been lights-out in every other game. 

@JJWoods

@totter

 Lots of great info guys thanks when I first saw line up at Maui didn’t like usually we got very good teams invited if my memory serves me right  

I’ll be watching these teams closely Bol everyone 

Favorite tment of the year. I legit have reminder in my phone saying soft rims. Looking forward to updates!

@rangersmets

 
 Good stuff…they do look like the top shelf Team. 

Absolutely true   It’s unfortunate but money has spoken and all the big boys (blue bloods)  will be hitting that new monster size tournament in Las Vegas with millions $ on the line.  They truly bought em all up sadly.  Also I think the lack of L Town (still 3-4 years away) is a setback for the Tournament. You can look up the lineups for the next two years… 

It’s sad, BUT, like I said to start….a wide open tournament will bring a lot of hard effort and great games.  And potentially, lucrative spots to wager!   

 I mean this is a straight “come on man” FFS   

soooo, yeah West Maui and the sponsors here, surely aren’t going to even pretend to match the numbers of this Goliath Vegas event.  This lineups absurd…blows me away. Hell, I’d like to attend.  Same time, theres no tournament like the MIT for honestly thousands of fans across the country.  RIP Bill “Jack straw” Walton. Bilas will always be a part, the numerous “big name celeb” type people of course will always attend.  And even JJ Woods will be there, and won’t miss one again even if it’s Division 2 Chaminade vs Div 2 BYU-Oahu.  It’s a tradition and one helluva exciting event live.  

jj 

Also, you know ESPN will be involved  they need this tournament to succeed as well.  I would imagine, ahem….a few of these squads will be ranked by ESPN by tourney tip 

Sad to see NIL money obliterating these classic tournaments….Next year, has Zona and BYU so lineup should be much better…

thoughts on the prob the 4 best teams… USC, NC State, Texas, Boise. 

On paper, like what USC has done with transfers + they have coaching advantage…. Should be top 25 imo.

Boise lost the Div 2 Hawaii Pacific in the 1st game…they may have some flashbacks…or come in with redemption… I have them or Utah St winning the MW Conf…like the kid Andrews from UCLA a lot. 

Texas is also around the perimeter + good coach… they can be scrappy on defense but offensively they lack talent on offense.

Haven’t seen NC State play much, but know they’re close faves to win the ACC with Duke… means a lot when going into a tourney playing with talent < #1 KP team. 

Enjoy the tourney brother 

Fantastic….  Thanks for popping in…I’m always searching for your threads Bags..appreciate the times I’ve tailed. ;)  also thanks for the optimistic reminder that BYU  and Zona will be a part of 2026.  That Hawaii pacific upset was eyebrow raising…wtf, and immediately lost some value for the tourney. A Horns tight finish would have also been nice. 

not sure if you’ll catch this, but curious your view on ASU? 

After a few thoughts from the great cappers here….My updated lines: 

NC st -9   
USC -2’    
Wazzu -6’   
Texas -5

Saw these Champion futures listed: 

NC state +180   
Texas +200   
USC +270    
ASU +1000   
Boise St +1500   
Wash st +3500 
I wasn’t able to find odds on Seton Hall I would guess +5000 

Im not sure how accurate, but seems right on with our discussion… Wolfpack, Horns, Trojans a level above what could be a pair of live dogs with decent value in ASU & Boise  

@JJWoods

 thoughts on ASU - lost a ton of talent. Not confident in this years squad…ft % is below 70% for most of their guys…played all home games so far, but wait and see how they do vs Hawaii on the road Thursday… Texas defense should give them fits imo…

Agreed on Horns D  . Looking forward to watching ASU tonight against a solid Bows squad. Trying to remember which school last year arrived early to get acclimated….almost positive it was N. Carolina 

Why covers, why ?

He couldn't help himself from touching another member in the ist way possible. Was warned and still couldn't manage. Wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't end up in the Epstein email chains

@ABooksNightmare

 Please!  Im being serious, with my question of asking why he got 86.  That was kinda funny though.

And I gave you a serious answer. Based on what I know transpired, he couldn't stay away from wedgie and wedgie from him. I know he was told to stay out of his threads and what not but he was boxed multiple times because of wedgie...they had some kind of lovers spat here at COVERS that could not withstand the ends of time. Love is a fickle thing, but their love was not a forever thing. There may have been some other happenings too 

@ABooksNightmare

 Fair enough! Seems odd, however it happened.

good luck on plays today, and the weekend