By KEVIN McNAMARA
There will be no walks on Lahaina Beach for Ed Cooley and his Friars in the Maui Invitational but there will be high-end competition.
This year’s Maui tournament has been moved to Asheville, N.C. and the event’s bracket was finally revealed on Tuesday morning. Providence will face Indiana in its first round game on Nov. 30 at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville. Texas and Davidson are on the same side of the eight-team bracket as Providence.
North Carolina will face UNLV and Stanford is matched up against Alabama in the final game.
Providence has faced Big Ten power Indiana only one time. The matchup came in the now defunct third place game at the 1973 Final Four. Bob Knight’s Hoosier’s beat Dave Gavitt’s Friars (sans Marvin Barnes), 97-79.
The Maui field is always one of the deepest around and that is the case once again. In Joe Lunardi’s latest way-too-early NCAA bracket on ESPN.com, six of the eight teams are in his tournament field. PC (11 seed) and Indiana (7) are joined by Texas (3), North Carolina (6), Stanford (8) and Alabama (10).
The second and third round Maui games are set for Dec. 1 and 2. All games are being played in Asheville and there is no word yet on what the fan policy (if any) will be. Teams are also concerned about local and state quarantine restrictions that may be in effect around the start of the college basketball season.