Wish UK still played in the Maui Invitational.

[Robcatt24]

Love events like the Champions Classic and the CBS Sports Classic.

But man, I loved it when Kentucky played in Maui.

Watching the Cats playing 3 nights the week of Thanksgiving was absolutely awesome.

 

[Wildcat-in-STL]

Maui , Tubby vs Cal is when I decided I wanted Cal as our coach. Tubby just stared and sat down while Cal actually encouraged players and was active on the sideline.... and Cal kicked our butts .....

Maybe when players can go directly to the league again, Cal might get more 2-4 year players and we can afford to play in these tournaments again.... But then again....... playing in both classics and a tough preseason tourny every year might be too much even for experienced teams..

 

[Robcatt24]

Maui , Tubby vs Cal is when I decided I wanted Cal as our coach. Tubby just stared and sat down while Cal actually encouraged players and was active on the sideline.... and Cal kicked our butts .....

Maybe when players can go directly to the league again, Cal might get more 2-4 year players and we can afford to play in these tournaments again.... But then again....... playing in both classics and a tough preseason tourny every year might be too much even for experienced teams..

I agree.

This is the last year of the current contract of the CBS Sports Classic. Not sure it will be renewed.

Can only play in Maui every 4 years, I believe.

Just feeling nostalgic for the Maui gig watching these games.

 

[Wildcat-in-STL]

I agree.

This is the last year of the current contract of the CBS Sports Classic. Not sure it will be renewed.

Can only play in Maui every 4 years, I believe.

Just feeling nostalgic for the Maui gig watching these games.

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I think back then you could only play 2 preseason tournaments in 4 years and the Maui was once every 1 years... and boy was it fun... Maui and great alaskan shootout .. watching those games all day was so much fun..... I hear the Alaskan shootout is trying to make a come back and fix their building and reputation... if they do I would like to see us back in it one day too.

 

[JohnnyGreen1975]

Holiday tournaments are so much fun to be a part of...

 

[Justwar]

I said this on hob they should make it a summer tournament, expand the field.

 

[bthaunert]

Love the Maui Invitational. Nothing else compares for in-season Tournaments imo

 

[Robcatt24]

I think back then you could only play 2 preseason tournaments in 4 years and the Maui was once every 1 years... and boy was it fun... Maui and great alaskan shootout .. watching those games all day was so much fun..... I hear the Alaskan shootout is trying to make a come back and fix their building and reputation... if they do I would like to see us back in it one day too.

I remember UK and Syracuse meeting in the first round of Great Alaskan Shootout the year after they played in the 1996 title game.

Cats thumped them by like 34.

 

[SCChucktownCat]

But then again....... playing in both classics and a tough preseason tourny every year might be too much even for experienced teams..

Kansas and Mich. St. seem to be up to the task. Just sayin’

 

[2Adulterers]

I agree.

This is the last year of the current contract of the CBS Sports Classic. Not sure it will be renewed.

Can only play in Maui every 4 years, I believe.

Just feeling nostalgic for the Maui gig watching these games.

View embedded media

I went to Honolulu with UK for the Rainbow Classic and all the trips to Maui loved it

 

[loublue22]

Yet there are many people in the attendance threads complaining we don't have enough marquee home games.

I'm good with the way Cal is doing it, our non-conference neutral site games are being played with the most visibility and not at 11pm the day before Thanksgiving.

 

[blubo]

Kansas and Mich. St. seem to be up to the task. Just sayin’

.....remains to be seen

 

[UK90]

Love the Maui Invitational. Nothing else compares for in-season Tournaments imo

Agreed, it's by far the best of these early tournaments. And I think in part because they still play it in an old field house where it feels like the fans are right on top of the action, instead of a shiny state of the art arena.

That makes for a louder more frenetic and exciting environment. These fancy new arenas with their luxury suites and all just don't generate that same kind of fan energy.

 

[stoneycat_20]

Last time we played there we made F4..

 

[mj2k10]

Agreed, it's by far the best of these early tournaments. And I think in part because they still play it in a beat up old field house type facility instead of a shiny state of the art arena.

That makes for a louder more frenetic and exciting environment. These fancy pants new arenas with their luxury suites and all just don't generate that same kind of fan energy.

You just nailed a problem (one of many) that plagues college basketball. College basketball (Hell, maybe the sport in general) thrived when it was absolutely loaded with games played in arenas that were relatively small, very loud, mostly uncomfortable, and extremely intense,

That experience is mostly gone. Most power conference schools play in some generic barn with luxury suites and priority seating for the senior citizen boosters.

 

[anon_q409idbs5m40a]

I think back then you could only play 2 preseason tournaments in 4 years and the Maui was once every 1 years... and boy was it fun... Maui and great alaskan shootout .. watching those games all day was so much fun..... I hear the Alaskan shootout is trying to make a come back and fix their building and reputation... if they do I would like to see us back in it one day too.

Whatever happened to the Great Alaskan Shootout? I recall when the 1979-80 team played there.

 

[Robcatt24]

Whatever happened to the Great Alaskan Shootout? I recall when the 1979-80 team played there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Alaska_Shootout

 

[Wildcat-in-STL]

Whatever happened to the Great Alaskan Shootout? I recall when the 1979-80 team played there.

sometime around the year 2000 or 2001 the roof started having leaks bad and didnt want to spend the money to improve it.... so good teams stopped playing there and for 15 years its been mid major teams in that tournament.... but there is talk of maybe some BCS teams might play in it again in the coming years.

 

[JesusCal91]

Is there any reason we can't or don't play in it

 

[TBCat]

Sitting out of these tournaments is one of the things I disagree with Cal about. It's one of the most fun things these players will do. I would be in Maui every chance I get. Now avoiding some of these low rent tournaments, like that year we played in a ball room, is a different story.

 

[UK90]

Is there any reason we can't or don't play in it

Well the circumstantial evidence plainly suggests it has something to do with Cal becoming coach.

We regularly played in it once every four years until Cal was hired, but then that pattern stopped (we did play it once under Cal, in 2010, but that had already been scheduled before he arrived).

Cal can be rather particular about what kind of non-conference games and crowds he wants to deal with.

 

[Cawood86]

Kansas and Mich. St. seem to be up to the task. Just sayin’

Welp. MSU is out already.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

I agree.

This is the last year of the current contract of the CBS Sports Classic. Not sure it will be renewed.

Can only play in Maui every 4 years, I believe.

Just feeling nostalgic for the Maui gig watching these games.

View embedded media

This is the game I think of every time Maui is mentioned. I remember my Dad and I watching that one. We lost our minds when Brassow made that tip in. Epic moment in Kentucky Basketball history.

 

[UK90]

This is the game I think of every time Maui is mentioned. I remember my Dad and I watching that one. We lost our minds when Brassow made that tip in. Epic moment in Kentucky Basketball history.

That was one of the greatest games in November you'll ever see.

 

[Mulder14]

Welp. MSU is out already.

All teams play 3 games

 

[K_TIME]

Cal schedules for the kids...so there it is

 

[sjjones]

Well the circumstantial evidence plainly suggests it has something to do with Cal becoming coach.

We regularly played in it once every four years until Cal was hired, but then that pattern stopped (we did play it once under Cal, in 2010, but that had already been scheduled before he arrived).

Cal can be rather particular about what kind of non-conference games and crowds he wants to deal with.

Cal has said he doesn't like the tournament formats where teams play three games in three days. Says it doesn't prepare them for the NCAA, where they always get at least a day off between games.

 

[BostonCat2001]

Love events like the Champions Classic and the CBS Sports Classic.

But man, I loved it when Kentucky played in Maui.

Watching the Cats playing 3 nights the week of Thanksgiving was absolutely awesome.

even if they lost 2 of the 3?

 

[BostonCat2001]

All teams play 3 games

and their reward for playing those 3 games results in a game against duke when they get back. which i'm sure they will be ready for with fresh legs.

 

[Cawood86]

All teams play 3 games

Yep, but they ain't playing for the big trophy though

 

[Cawood86]

If Cal took a team over there and lost more than one game the folks on here would need immediate medical attention.

Some are still whining about Evansville. If UK went and lost all 3 games. This site would be shut down for 2-3 days and there would be folks being banned left and right.

I can't stand UK losing. It ruins my day. But Cal is right on this even though I really liked it when UK played in it. I don't like it, but he's right
.
He's had maybe 2-3 teams that could have played in it and done well.
Now if the OAD NBA rule changes for CBB, then I expect Cal and UK would start scheduling a lot different.

 

[Mike-D]

Love events like the Champions Classic and the CBS Sports Classic.

But man, I loved it when Kentucky played in Maui.

Watching the Cats playing 3 nights the week of Thanksgiving was absolutely awesome.

We should still be playing it. Cal has been ridiculous about it.

 

[drainthatub]

I wish we still played Athletes in Action. Would really boost our resumé and get us prepared for these tough early games against the likes of Evansville, etc.

 

[CatfanMike47]

The field doesn’t look all that good anymore!

 

[anon_q409idbs5m40a]

sometime around the year 2000 or 2001 the roof started having leaks bad and didnt want to spend the money to improve it.... so good teams stopped playing there and for 15 years its been mid major teams in that tournament.... but there is talk of maybe some BCS teams might play in it again in the coming years.

Wow, did not know that. Would seem as if with all of the money they made the roof could have been fixed.

 

[anon_q409idbs5m40a]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Alaska_Shootout

Thanks, I knew that UK played there during my Senior year but wasn't sure if it was the first tournament or second.

 

[KYExtemper]

I understand Cal's rationale for not liking tournaments, but I miss our participation in them.

 

[Cal-4-Three]

Didn't Cal make a comment about how he would never go back to Maui or something like that due to the long flight? I can't be the only one that remembers that.

 

[Diggers_Matching_Highlighter]

Whatever happened to the Great Alaskan Shootout? I recall when the 1979-80 team played there.

This shirt is on my Christmas list this year:

https://www.super70ssportsstore.com...ction/products/1979-great-alaska-shootout-tee

I grew up in Central Illinois and inherited a huge fandom of Bradley from my Dad. He let me stay up late the night UK absolutely destroyed the Braves. After looking it up, it was only a 21 point margin, but it may as well been 50.

It also seemed like the game started at 1:00 in the morning, but it was probably earlier. Outside of Midnight Madness or Mass, I don't think I had ever been up that late before. Good Memories.

 

[CB3UK]

Sitting out of these tournaments is one of the things I disagree with Cal about. It's one of the most fun things these players will do. I would be in Maui every chance I get. Now avoiding some of these low rent tournaments, like that year we played in a ball room, is a different story.

This. Its like the SEC tournament. We dont care if you like it or not Coach....its one of the things you need to do for the fans.