The field for the 15th annual Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic is released with an eclectic mix of college basketball programs around the country. The event will run from December 22, 23, and 25, 2024, and it shall be held at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center on the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa campus in Honolulu.
The eight-team field is composed of host University of Hawaiʻi, along with Nebraska, Oakland, Charlotte, College of Charleston, Loyola Chicago, Murray State, and Oregon State. Despite the bracket format for the event, each team will play once daily, with the champion determined on the final day between the last two undefeated teams.
Hawaiʻi, as the host of the tournament and representative of the Big West Conference, heads into this one with an impressive streak of seven straight winning seasons. So far, in two years, the Rainbow Warriors have strung up their seventh straight winning season and have reeled off at least 20 victories each in the last two years.
Nebraska of the Big Ten Conference joined the competition after a 2023-24 season where the Cornhuskers had their first NCAA Tournament in 10 years and achieved a 23-win season, only matched once in school history. The Horizon League Oakland University Golden Grizzlies will participate in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic for the first time ever.
By filling up their magical 2023-24 campaign with the Horizon League regular-season and tournament championship and first-round magical karma against Kentucky, including the NCAA Tournament, the Golden Grizzlies will continue this momentum.
Charlotte, the representative of the American Athletic Conference, finished the previous season with 19 wins and clinched a top-three finish in league play for the first time in nearly 20 years. Head coach Aaron Fearne became a finalist for the Joe B. Hall Coach of the Year award, given to the national top first-year head coach in Division I basketball.
The College of Charleston enters this year’s tournament as the reigning defending regular-season and tournament champions of the Coastal Athletic Association. Coming off back-to-back NCAA Tournaments with their Cougars, this year will be under new head coach Chris Mack.
The Ramblers of the Atlantic 10 Conference shared the regular-season title in 2023-24 and advanced to the National Invitation Tournament. Under third-year head coach Drew Valentine, Loyola Chicago notched its second 20-win season.
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Of the mid-major programs, Murray State of the Missouri Valley Conference has been the model of consistency. The Racers have combined for winning seasons in 34 of the last 37 years and finished atop their league 11 times over the past 15 years.
Oregon State, which is moving to the West Coast Conference after nearly six decades in the Pac-12, will make its first appearance in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic since 2013.
Tickets are planned for release in October. Three days of terrifically competitive hoops await basketball fans as these eight teams battle for supremacy in paradise. Interested persons are advised to log on to the UH Mānoa Athletics website for the latest updates and information.