LAHAINA, Hawaii — The first few speakers on the dais did not stray far from the comfortable lane of basketball: How tough their matchup was, how their reshaped rosters were coming together, how they negotiated the travel.
Not Tom Izzo.
When it was the grizzled Michigan State coach’s turn to talk about the Maui Invitational, he came right at the elephant: “I’m glad to hopefully be a part of getting things back to normal.”
When the premier early-season college hoops tournament tips off Monday morning at its traditional home, the Lahaina Civic Center, it will be within eyesight of plots of land still barren from the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfires that tore through historic Lahaina town, killing 102 people and displacing countless others as thousands of homes and other structures were damaged or destroyed.
The idyllic coastal backdrop of Sunday’s pre-tournament press conference at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort contrasted sharply with the state of recovery underway in Lahaina itself.
Some homes are being rebuilt, but it appears to be a slow process. Front Street and the Lahaina Harbor remain closed off for the foreseeable future. A symbol of the town, the century-and-a-half-old banyan tree, is recovering but inaccessible to the public. Debris continues to be hauled out of town and visible along the Lahaina Bypass Road.
"Normal" is still a ways off, Izzo acknowledged to Spectrum News after the main press event. And he'd be one to know; his first game as a head coach was against Chaminade here 30 years ago, and he has traveled to the Valley Isle some seven times in total for the Maui Invitational including his days as an assistant to Jud Heathcote.
“Sadness struck me,” he said of his drive through Lahaina this weekend, “but you know as we’ve learned in life, it never stops. It keeps moving on. And it’s our job to help people that have gone through these things.”
He and Tennessee coach Rick Barnes got their teams together to play a Maui relief game last year.
An important distinction, Izzo added, was being sure not to tell people “I know what you’re going through,” because “we don’t know,” he said.
North Carolina coach Hubert Davis, who played for the Tar Heels in the Maui Invitational in 1989, said he was thankful to be part of the first tournament back on the island to see the recovery efforts for himself.
“It really puts things into perspective,” Davis said. “You make so much of basketball, but it was people’s lives that were changed. To come back here and maybe for a moment, take people away from what they’re going through and put a smile on their faces, that’s an opportunity to serve and that’s a place (my team) always likes to be in.”
That, in essence, is the balance that longtime tournament operator, Chicago-based KemperSports, has tried to strike — a respect for the trauma that was inflicted on the local community and promoting a nationally televised event that has thrived in West Maui for decades.
On the latter front, it will be a suitably stacked: Three of the top five and four of the top 10 teams in the country are here.
Action begins at 9:30 a.m. between second-ranked and two-time defending national champion UConn and Memphis, coached by another Maui Invitational alum in Penny Hardaway. Colorado and Michigan State (noon), No. 4 Auburn and No. 5 Iowa State (4 p.m.), and No. 10 North Carolina and Dayton (6:30 p.m.) follow. All four games are on ESPN2 or ESPNU.
Events outside of the tournament’s control caused this to be only the second Maui Invitational held on Maui in its last five editions. The 2020 and 2021 tournaments were held on the continent during a time of local COVID restrictions and last year’s November tournament was moved to Oahu’s Stan Sheriff Center in the aftermath of the fires while the Lahaina Civic Center was still being used as a site for federal aid.
In February, KemperSports announced that the tournament was returning to the Valley Isle. Travel packages for visiting fans went up around the same time, with three hotels in Kaanapali — the Hyatt, Westin and Sheraton — made available.
“It’s incredible to be back. Maui is the true home of the Maui Invitational,” tournament director Nelson Taylor told Spectrum News. “It was never a doubt in our mind that we were coming back.”
Compared to a normal year, there were additional meetings with county and state agencies.
“We engaged with the Mayor (Richard Bissen)’s office, HTA (Hawaii Tourism Authority) through the governor’s office through all things … to make sure it would be appropriate,” Taylor said.
The Lahaina Civic Center reverted back to control of Maui Parks and Recreation over the summer. A company offered to resurface the LCC court for no charge and the bathrooms required some work; otherwise, the 2,400-seat building was basically ready to go. Taylor said some additional power generators were added in case the island’s revamped Red Flag Warning system shuts off external electricity.
More than 6,000 visitors are expected for this year’s event, comparable to 2022, Taylor said, when the economic impact for Maui was estimated at $22 million through the HTA. A fourth hotel, the Outrigger Kaanapali Beach, was tapped for overflow rooms, he said.
Longtime national college basketball reporter Andy Katz, who is in town for the tournament, said the Kemper staff made the right call to move it to Oahu last year, as opposed to the mainland, keeping the event in the islands so that the recovery efforts were visible.
“I hope people recognize how important it is to continue to come here, to help the people of Maui, the state of Hawaii, but to always do it in a respectful manner,” Katz told Spectrum News. “Obviously tourism dollars are imperative here, but do it respectfully — enjoy it but at the same time, help.”
The community has largely welcomed the tournament back. Local merchants are holding a “Lahaina Festival” in nearby Kaanapali, near the row of high-end hotels that service the area, to coincide with the tournament. Local volunteers have long made up much of the tournament staff during Thanksgiving week.
As usual, about half of the LCC capacity is made available for local residents at discounted prices while the other half are fans of the visiting teams.
“We’ve really felt the aloha spirit. We’ve seen the excitement from everybody,” Taylor said. “Really, just ready to welcome us back and show that Maui is open.”
About 100 local keiki participated in a basketball clinic on Saturday. Retired North Carolina coaching legend Roy Williams visited with Lahainaluna’s basketball teams for some private instruction as well, Taylor said.
Chaminade coach Eric Bovaird, who is representing the host Silverswords at the tournament during one of their off years from inclusion in the field, did a clinic in Lahaina a matter of months after the fire. “It was understandably very gloomy,” he said.
He could see the contrast this weekend.
“Many people are still hurting, but it seems to be in a much better place,” Bovaird said. “It was so much fun spending the day with so many kids from Maui.”
Keiki paired up with the tournament’s eight head coaches for a free-throw contest on the Sunday leading into the tournament, per tradition. UConn coach Dan Hurley kept his title streak going by winning along with Iao Intermediate seventh-grader Colton Ching.
The tournament partnered with the nonprofit Treecovery Hawaii to put on a tree-planting initiative at hotels and around the Civic Center over the weekend. The idea is for the trees to be fostered and transplanted onto properties in the area once people are ready to move back in.
Correction: UConn's rank is No. 2. A previous version of the story had an incorrect ranking.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.