The Maui Invitational is still king of college basketball’s early season tournaments

The Maui Invitational has been considered the king of early season college basketball tournaments for some time now. While up-and-comers, like the Battle 4 Atlantis, have attracted strong fields in recent years, there’s still just one early season tournament that has hosted three national champions over the last decade.

But just how strong is the correlation between November success on the island and success over the next four months? A quick look at the profiles of the tournament’s 30 champions shows -- well, it’s pretty strong.

Not since the Maui tournament’s third year of existence has a champion (a Will Perdue-led Vanderbilt squad) missed out on the NCAA Tournament, and only once over those 27 years has the tourney winner earned a seed higher than eight in the dance (Dayton in 2003).

Here’s a look at the full history of Maui Invitational champions with their NCAA Tournament finish and seed (in parentheses):

1984 - Providence - No Tournament
1985 - Michigan - Second Round (2)
1986 - Vanderbilt - No Tournament
1987 - Iowa - Sweet 16 (5)
1988 - Michigan - National Champion (3)
1989 - Missouri - First Round (3)
1990 - Syracuse - First Round (2)
1991 - Michigan State - Second Round (5)
1992 - Duke - Second Round (3)
1993 - Kentucky - Second Round (3)
1994 - Arizona State - Sweet 16 (5)
1995 - Villanova - Second Round (3)
1996 - Kansas - Sweet 16 (1)
1997 - Duke - Elite Eight (1)
1998 - Syracuse - First Round (8)
1999 - North Carolina - Final Four (8)
2000 - Arizona - Championship Game (2)
2001 - Duke - Sweet 16 (1)
2002 - Indiana - Second Round (7)
2003 - Dayton - First Round (10)
2004 - North Carolina - National Champion (1)
2005 - Connecticut - Elite Eight (1)
2006 - UCLA - Final Four (2)
2007 - Duke - Second Round (2)
2008 - North Carolina - National Champion (1)
2009 - Gonzaga - Second Round (8)
2010 - Connecticut - National Champion (3)
2011 - Duke - First Round (2)
2012 - Illinois - Second Round (7)
2013 - Syracuse - Second Round (3)

The final tally comes out to four national champions, one national runner-up, two semifinalists, two elite eight appearances, four trips to the Sweet 16, 10 second round exits, four one-and-dones, and just two squads left out of the field.

A look at the tournament seeds the Maui champions have earned is even more impressive:

No. 1 - 6
No. 2 - 6
No. 3 - 7
No. 5 - 3
No. 7 - 2
No. 8 - 3
No. 10 - 1
Missed Tournament - 2

So 19 of the Maui Invitational winners -- well over half the total number of champions -- have gone on to earn an NCAA Tournament of three or better.

As always, the data will take an interesting turn if Chaminade pulls out three wins this week.