2020 Maui Invitational Reportedly Moving to North Carolina amid Pandemic

The Maui Invitational will reportedly be held about 4,500 miles away from its usual location.

According to Jeff Borzello of ESPN, the yearly basketball tournament held in Hawaii will instead take place in Asheville, North Carolina this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Normally scheduled for three days before Thanksgiving, this year's tournament has been moved later because the season won't start until Nov. 25.

Its new date will be Nov. 30 through Dec. 2 and is expected to feature Alabama, Davidson, Indiana, North Carolina, Providence, Stanford, Texas and UNLV, per Borzello.

The tournament will be held at the ExploreAsheville.com Arena in the Harrah's Cherokee Center.

"We're a tourism-based community, we fit that vibe of what an early-season tournament would look like," Harrah's Cherokee Center general manager Chris Corl told Borzello. "Our goal is to bring business to town. As long as we can cover costs, we'll do whatever it takes."

The Maui Invitational was founded in 1984, two years after then-NAIA school Chaminade pulled off one of the greatest upsets in sports history, defeating top-ranked Virginia.

Last year's tournament concluded with a thrilling 90-84 overtime win by Kansas over Dayton, in what was a preview of what may have been a Final Four matchup had the season not be canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This year's season will begin under the shadow of the coronavirus, with major questions still revolving around non-conference schedules, testing protocols, whether games will happen on campuses or in bubble environments, etc.  

All we know is that college basketball is coming in November, and because 2020 is such a strange year, a tournament named the Maui Invitational will be happening in Asheville.