Diamond Head Classic bracket announced
The University of Hawai’i will face Nebraska on the opening night of the 2014 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
The eight-team tournament is set for Dec. 22, 23 and 25 at the Stan Sheriff Center. The UH-Nebraska game is scheduled to start at 8 p.m., and it will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
The other opening-day pairings are: Ohio vs. George Washington, DePaul vs. Colorado, and Loyola Marymount vs. Wichita State.
Here is the official release from UH:
The bracket for the 2014 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic – to be played Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, Dec. 22, 23, & 25 in Honolulu – has been set. The eight competing teams include Colorado, DePaul, George Washington, Loyola Marymount, Ohio, Nebraska, Wichita State and host Hawai’i.
The multi-day, destination event will feature 12 games over three days. Each team will compete in one game per day, advancing through a bracketed-tournament format. Three of the 12 matchups, including the championship game, will be showcased on ESPN2. ESPNU will carry seven games, and one will be exclusive to ESPN3.
Entering its sixth year, the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic will again be played at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu, where it has become a holiday tradition on the island of O’ahu.
The tournament tips off Monday, with Ohio (Mid-American) pitted against George Washington (Atlantic 10) at 9:30 a.m. HT on ESPNU, immediately followed by DePaul (Big East) versus Colorado (Pac-12) at 11:30 a.m. on ESPNU. Monday’s evening session will feature Loyola Marymount (West Coast) versus Wichita State (Missouri Valley) at 6:00 p.m. on ESPNU and wrap with a battle between Nebraska (Big Ten) and tournament host Hawai’i (Big West) at 8 p.m. on ESPNU.
Five of the participating teams appeared in the 2013-14 postseason, including Colorado, George Washington and Nebraska, all of which earned second-round berths in the NCAA Championship. Wichita State had a storybook season with a 35-1 record and its second straight appearance in the national tournament. Ohio advanced through the quarterfinals of the Collegeinsider.com Postseason Tournament.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE COMPLETE BRACKET
For more information, please visit www.HawaiianAirlinesDiamondHeadClassic.com.
Webster Tai from Nebraska is from New Zealand. I think he and Fotu were on the same team that played Korea this summer. This will be interesting.
Is it just me, or has the Diamond Head field been a disappointment every year? When they first announced this tournament, wasn’t there talk that they would be getting teams like what Maui gets because of the ESPN relationship with both tournaments being in Hawaii? I think that’s when Donovan was AD, so don’t want to pin this on Ben Jay.
Where are Duke, UConn, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan, Florida, etc.? No offense to Wichita State, but I would much rather pay to see one of the traditional powers as the marquee team. If Wichita State were like the third or fourth team in the field, now that would be worth it!
Maybe Gib has a say in the field? Hehehe. Certainly would fit with the rest of the schedule.
ESPN owns and operates the Diamond Head Classic so I don’t believe UH has any input into what teams are invited. You’re right, though, the Maui Invitational draws an elite field. It could just be that it is just more established and the time of year is optimal for teams to travel.
The guard for Nebraska is Tai Webster. I was hoping UH could have landed him. His father, Tony, was a standout guard for the Rainbows in the early ’80s … and a nice guy, too.
ChuckCheese, these teams are better than the ones in the BWC so it’s fine by me! Wichita was awesome last year and will be awesome this year, since I believe most of their players are returning. Anyway, I think the tournament has gotten better each year. It’s certainly better this year than last year. I think it’ll improve in time. I’m just grateful it’s here.
Good ..schedule getting completed..look forward to next season..tony the cat..quick hands. ?.steals..a lot..tony webster..good memory clyde..he was good..!
Chuck…maybe next year more name…teams…next…time at SSC…
ChuckCheese, the 2014 Maui Invitational field doesn’t look particularly jaw-dropping. Funny how Shamburger will be there with Missouri. Funny how he never gave an explanation as to why he’s leaving. Isn’t an explanation the very least all decent athletes should give fans?
Thank Goodness for the Diamond Head Classic. It not only gives us a chance to play superior talent at Home, but we get to be on National TV. With BYU, Pitt and Washington State on our schedule, we should have the most chances in years to make some pre-season noise.
So many things we have in Hawaii are a True Blessing, but trying to get quality teams on our schedule is just NOT one of them. The more Competitive we get, the less and less likely those Blue Chip teams will dare come here to play us…just ask Bob Knight or Tom Izzo.
Blue Chip teams are expected to WIN every year, they are under extreme pressure. If you think our schedule is cupcakes, try looking at Kentucky’s schedule in the pre-season…they have all home games against nobody’s, except Texas and North Carolina and do not play one game on their opponent’s court! So tell me why would they would endure the jet lag to come here. http://www.coachcal.com/2014-2015-kentucky-basketball-schedule/. You have to take it for what it is, a backhanded compliment of respect for us.
Lucky We Live Hawaii…on most things. 59 days until we take the court.
GO BOWZ
Backbeat, awesome,awesome comment. Love that you started the countdown. Can’t wait!
Maui 2014 may not be jaw dropping as much as in years past by Maui standards, but I would trade Ohio, Loyola Marymount and DePaul from the Diamond Head for Arizona, Pitt and San Diego State from Maui in a heartbeat. Wouldn’t that make it much more appealing?
And look at Maui 2015: Indiana, Kansas, St. John’s, UCLA, UNLV, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest. I would take those seven right now for Diamond Head 2015!
I guess my disappointment stems more from believing the hype that the Diamond Head would be similar to Maui and it has been far from it. That and the fact that the final is on Christmas, and there are not bigger teams to draw fans to the arena on Christmas. I always give up my Christmas day tickets because of family stuff but if UH ever made it to a final against the likes of an Indiana, Kansas or UCLA? Now that would be a nice Christmas present!
ChuckCheese, the Maui Invitational is the best pre-season tournament in the nation, so it’s difficult to compete with.
Yeah the 2015 field looks amazing! Maybe I’ll save up and attend.
You say Arizona, Pitt, and San Diego State? San Diego State played in the Diamond Head classic in 2012. Arizona won it. UH plays Pitt on November 21. My point is that the DHC and UH do attract big name teams.
For most of last season, Wichita State was the most talked about team in the nation. They were talked about daily on Espn’s Sport’s Center. They were 35-1!
The DHC is a lot of fun. I mean, if Obama and family went last year then that should be evidence enough of how cool it is! jk, I know Barack was there only to support his in bro-in-law. Anyway, it’s good times and it’s cool to see the SSC housing a bunch of other fans who travel thousands of miles to support their teams. There were about a hundred Iowa State fans and a good number of OSU and Boise State fans in attendance. The crowds really make it so the SSC is pretty loud all the time.
WOW!
The Diamond Head Classic official website has Shamburger, Rozitis, Spearman, Standhardinger, Harper, and Hackman still listed on the UH roster.
Looks like ESPN did everything it could to push the first day of the DHC out of prime time. Starting game at 8:30am HST, then UH playing at 1:00am EST, and a ~4 hour break in between.
Any fan that watches all 4 games should get a free Dave Shoji t-shirt.
Hey Great Awesome comments about UH MBB hoops! Very, constructive, thoughtful, insightful, and good natured banter, talk back and forth. Common Thread? WE ALL UH MBB HOOPS AND WANT TO SEE THEM DO WELL!
As was mentioned, even from Riley Wallace time, even Bob Nash, getting harder to schedule maybe half a dozen top 30 teams,,, to come to SSC to play. The DHC… just the exposure on any of the ESPN networks, is great, millions can catch a view of UH playing. And that potential recruit’s family gets to watch too.
I think Gib has the talent, really that 2+ and 3+ star Athletic team top to bottom, and even last year showing they were super competitive against, ahem, Shamburger’s new team Mizzou, showed that UH hoops is a good product.
Hey Fans, Awesome talking up UH Hoops, as
Eagle says, as well as BackBeat says, Countdown to first game RBC at SSC .. going to be rocking!
Go Bows. Rainbow Warriors!
🙂
Mahlao Dayton and WI MBB forum and fans, still the best in the business!
Shamburger left because of flying cockroaches and misquotes ( mosquitoes).
Roaches, mosquitoes and centipedes are bothering some new VB recruits. Maybe they affect some of the wahine bb recruits too.
islandman; Very funny kine stuff!
🙂
something bout no see eye to eye, ai, oh ai!!!! Wish him the best. I really wish, I think Gib tried very hard to do, Get Mizzou to play UH either on outer island or at SSC as a return game, Mizzou said NO. Would have been great game, Shamburger vs Fotu and UH MBB Warriors..
Man , I cannot type for nothing!
I meant to type… we got our Forum Back for UH MBB fans!
and…. WE ALL LOVE…. UH MBB HOOPS.. want them do DO AWESOME… Countdown for UH Hoops die hards.
Continue the comments, loving it!
🙂
Go Warriors, Bows, Rainbows, go UH MBB team!
islandman:
for real? Then UH has to call vector control. Centipede stings if allergic can be bad. The B52 bomber big boy roaches caused a 7 foot UH recruit to leave the program, that was long time ago, the roaches were so big, flying at him.. he went aloha.
No seriously, UH , get on it.. UH dorms, have to have the GREEN stamp of health and pest approval, want the best for our student athletes.
Know , that even people that have geese or chickens in their yards, those birds will control the centipede population, they love to eat them things.
Hope they fix it soon, would not want athletes to get bitten or sick. Come on UH get is fixed. Must be election year?
WVB going be real exciting as well as Laura Beeman’s WBB will be good too.. just have to have FB and Norm, get to Hawaii, bowl and good to go new season!
WVB and WBB exciting as long as the recruit(s) don’t bale out . That’s the price of paradise. Someone like Rozitis was able to weather the flying roaches.
islandman:
weather hot, humid too, perfect conditions , without the trades and cool weather for the big roaches to fly.. the centipedes that is major problem, just the sting hurt more than honey bee sting, and cause allergic reaction to some.
If social media, they, WBB and WVB , recruits, newbies, or just on visit? leave, shoots, all the hard work that Shoji and Beeman put in for naught.
That should be on local sports report, Wahine athletes, thinking of leaving because of insect pests..I am really sure, Dave Shoji and Laura Beeman will talk to DAGS… vector, control to take care of situation.. Weather has been breeding ground for Mosquitoes, centipedes, can be controlled by perimeter pesticide, safe kine, treatment, that is what we have at our house. It works, No centipedes or Mosquitoes, around for a couple of years.. at least not in the house.
WI MBB site has some really nice, and fan/family and hoop fan deluxe people. Really enjoying today’s posts!
Quote of the day(among a lot of other good comments!)
BackBeat:
“Lucky We Live Hawaii…on most things. 59 days until we take the court.
GO BOWZ”
Eagle too.
1) Scheduling and announcing of DHC, RBC, and working on getting probably Southeastern La. for that open Jan SSC home game. Good.
2)Thomas and Fleming create some excitement in summer league and discussion on how they still working get better. Good.
3)Reyes Watch. He get in , even late Aug admission. Good.
4)THE Big Brother watch. When pau. Good.
5)UH have another 20+ winning season, and finally go to big dances. Double Good!
As you all say, cannot wait until all guys get back, and in school, then, before we know it.. first game RBC. Good.
🙂
Summer League playoffs postponed per Brian M. due to mosquitoes ( impending bad weather).
We get roaches that can sky and dunk on you.
You all take care… be safe…
servante—and islandman, you all have great sense of wit and humor!
islandman, the attack of mosquitoe, or misquotetoe, and attack of the B52 flying cockaroachie, chase away one big 7 footer, and a Sham the Man, as well as Shaq attack..hope the Wahine team, can go to war, like preseason workouts, battle of the bugs..
All stay safe during two storms..
WI MBB fans, stay strong, and sometimes laugh, that helps a lot!
🙂
THE Difference between The DHC & Maui Classics IS The Home Team…
The Top Ten-ners and Top Thirty-ers Know the High-Risk of playing UH
Chaminade presents “Some” Risk but nowhere near the Level of Danger (Of a Non-Top 20 Loss) that UH poses
So the Field Loss is Understood, but three teams will be 2-1, one 3-0, three 1-2 and one 0-3
UH ‘Doubles the Risk’ of a Bad (1-2) Tourney, able to Drop Any Team (And Likely 2 of 3) into the Losing Half
UH CAN Win 2 of 3 Most Years; Mostly ~5th Last Few Years
And once or Twice a Decade, 3 of 3
Chaminade might catch one and some years, two
Usually on an Off Night or the Weak/Down/Inattentive/Young/Arrogant Team (like Texas)
(which the Top-Ten-ners are almost always Not)
——-
Sig.Storms…
H.IWA – Max Category 1 (90MPH)
H.Iniki – Max Category 4 (145 MPH)
H.Iselle – MAX (So Far) Category 3 – Current 85–>65? MPH
The i’s Have IT?