2018 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic Field Revealed

 

The field is set for the 2018 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic to be played Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday, Dec. 22, 23 and 25, 2018 at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.

The 10th annual event will feature undefeated TCU (Big 12), currently ranked No. 15 in the Associated Press Top 25, as well as Charlotte (Conference USA), Colorado (Pac-12), Indiana State (Missouri Valley), Rhode Island (A-10), St. Mary’s (WCC), UNLV (Mountain West) and tournament host school Hawai’i (Big West).

Four of the teams played in the 2017 postseason. Rhode Island and Saint Mary’s each advanced to the NCAA Championship Second Round. TCU claimed the 2017 Postseason NIT title, while Colorado was also an NIT participant. Both Saint Mary’s and TCU have been nationally ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 this season.

Five of the eight teams have previously appeared in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic. Charlotte, Rhode Island, and TCU will make their first-ever appearances in the tournament.

The Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, an eight-team men’s college basketball tournament, will feature 12 games through three days. Each team will compete in one game per day, advancing through the bracket. The two teams that remain undefeated throughout will face off in the championship game on the final day of the tournament.

Previous tournament champions of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic include USC (2009), Butler (2010), Kansas State (2011), Arizona (2012), Iowa State (2013), George Washington (2014), Oklahoma (2015), and San Diego State (2016).

The family-friendly tournament includes three days of tournament play, practices, events and travel experiences unique to the islands of Hawai’i. Additional information can be found on the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic’s official Web site at HawaiianAirlinesDiamondHeadClassic.com.

The Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic is one of 11 owned-and-operated basketball events by ESPN Events, a division of ESPN.

ESPN Events
ESPN Events, a division of ESPN, owns and operates a large portfolio of 31 collegiate sporting events worldwide. The roster includes three Labor Day weekend Arizona college football games; FCS opening-weekend game; 14 college bowl games, 11 college basketball events and two college award shows, which accounts for approximately 300-plus hours of programming, reaches almost 64 million viewers and attracts over 700,000 attendees each year. With satellite offices in Albuquerque, Birmingham, Boca Raton, Boise, Dallas-Fort Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Montgomery and St. Petersburg, ESPN Events builds relationships with conferences, schools and local communities, as well as providing unique experiences for teams and fans.

ESPN Events also manages the Big 12 Corporate Partner Program.

Collegiate Football
Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl (Houston); AdvoCare Texas Kickoff (Houston); Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl (Florida); Bahamas Bowl (Nassau); Birmingham Bowl (Alabama); Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl (Florida); Camping World Kickoff (Orlando, Fla.); Celebration Bowl (Atlanta); Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Boise); DXL Frisco Bowl (Frisco, Texas); Gildan New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque); Guardian Credit Union FCS Kickoff (Montgomery, Ala.); Hawai’i Bowl (Honolulu); Las Vegas Bowl (Nevada); Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl (Dallas-Fort Worth); MEAC/SWAC Challenge (Baton Rouge, La.); Raycom Media Camellia Bowl (Montgomery, Ala.); The Home Depot College Football Awards Presented by Gildan (Atlanta) and Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl (Dallas-Fort Worth)

Collegiate Basketball
AdvoCare Invitational (Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla.); Armed Forces Classic (Ramstein Air Base, Germany); College Basketball Awards Presented by Wendy’s (Los Angeles); Gildan Charleston Classic (South Carolina); Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu); Jimmy V Men’s Classic presented by Corona (New York City); Jimmy V Women’s Classic presented by Corona (Hartford, Conn.); NIT Season Tip-Off (Brooklyn, N.Y.); PK80 presented by State Farm (Portland, Ore.); Puerto Rico Tip-Off; State Farm Champions Classic (Chicago) and Wooden Legacy (Fullerton, Calif.)

For more information, visit the official website, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube pages.

About Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian®, the world’s most punctual airline as reported by OAG, has led all U.S. carriers in on-time performance for each of the past 13 years (2004-2016) as reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Consumer surveys by Condé Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure have ranked Hawaiian the highest of all domestic airlines serving Hawai’i.
Now in its 88th year of continuous service, Hawaiian is Hawai’i’s biggest and longest-serving airline, as well as the largest provider of passenger air service from its primary visitor markets on the U.S. Mainland.
Hawaiian offers non-stop service to Hawai’i from more U.S. gateway cities (11) than any other airline, along with service from Japan, South Korea, China, Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa and Tahiti. Hawaiian also provides approximately 170 jet flights daily between the Hawaiian Islands, with a total of more than 250 daily flights system-wide.
Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. is a subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HA). Additional information is available at HawaiianAirlines.com. Follow updates on Twitter about Hawaiian (@HawaiianAir) and its special fare offers (@HawaiianFares), and become a fan on its Facebook page. For career postings and updates, follow Hawaiian’s LinkedIn page.
For media inquiries, please visit Hawaiian Airlines’ online newsroom.

About the Hawaii Tourism Authority
The Hawaii Tourism Authority is responsible for strategically managing the State of Hawaii’s marketing initiatives to support tourism. HTA’s goal is to optimize tourism’s benefits for Hawaii, while being attentive to the interests of travelers, the community and visitor industry. Established in 1998 to support Hawaii’s leading industry and largest employer, HTA continually strives to help ensure the sustainability of tourism’s success.

For more information about HTA, please visit www.hawaiitourismauthority.org. Follow updates about HTA on Facebook, Twitter (@HawaiiHTA) and its YouTube Channel.

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ESPN Media Contact: Anna Negron at 860-766-2233 or [email protected]; @Anna_ESPN