Diamond Head Classic 2023

[MikeUMA]

Report that Georgia Tech is in the field. The rest we've known.
https://www.bloggingthebracket.com/2023 ... ournaments

Does playing in this event even matter anymore?

I don't think that event was ever really a crown jewel, and with more MTEs than ever now, the DHC lost more ground, but it's still a nice event. The Christmas Day timing isn't ideal, but a trip to Hawaii in the winter is rarely a bad thing.

That's a decent field
Georgia Tech (ACC)
Hawai’i (Big West)
Nevada (MW)
Old Dominion (Sun Belt)
Saint Mary’s (WCC)
TCU (Big 12)
Temple (American)
No HUGE names in there, but certainly better than playing some low-tier Northeast school on a Tuesday night in front of 1900 fans.

[eldonabe]

^
At least we might have a shot for a victory against a low tier Northeast School though. That smells a lot like an 0-3 13 hour trip.

[MikeUMA]

^
At least we might have a shot for a victory against a low tier Northeast School though. That smells a lot like an 0-3 13 hour trip.

So you don't know who exactly we're playing, their roster, or our roster. I hope you don't do financial forecasting for a living.

[Quann]

I can attest that Honolulu in December does not suck. I spent my honeymoon there in early December one year. Weather was between 80-87 for a high every day and we had one rainy day during my 12 days there and all the locals were freaking out that one day it rained. Whoever ends up going, enjoy, Oahu is beautiful. Need to go back some day to explore the other islands.

[eldonabe]

^
At least we might have a shot for a victory against a low tier Northeast School though. That smells a lot like an 0-3 13 hour trip.

So you don't know who exactly we're playing, their roster, or our roster. I hope you don't do financial forecasting for a living.

Mike - as of right now, Umass is not beating any of those 7 teams you listed.

I am going to get off the negative train in a few days, but I am not going to ignore reality either. The roster is in flux and new names will appear soon enough - given how last year went with what certainly appeared to be a solid roster, the team imploded.

[Merlin Samuels]

I was in Maui a couple years ago wearing my retro UMass shirt and a guy yelled “go UMass!”

This is awesome.

[inthescoop]

I was in Maui a couple years ago wearing my retro UMass shirt and a guy yelled “go UMass!”

This is awesome.

I saw more UMass stickers driving around Montana for a week than I did in months around NYC.

[MikeUMA]

Saint Mary's has backed out. They'll now play in a different MTE, run by a competing events organizer. The DHC is run by ESPN Events, and they must be pissed.
https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status ... 9966737408

Big hit to the quality of that field. ESPN Events will now have to scramble to find someone else, which will be a tall order as a ton of teams are already committed to other MTEs, unless they can poach like how Saint Mary's was poached.

[MikeUMA]

Portland has replaced Saint Mary's in the field. The Pilots: https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sc ... tland/men/

Expecting the bracket reveal in late July.

[DoctorJ]

At least from a reasonable conference. Hopefully we get a fairly soft first game. Tough tournament and we are coming a long distance.

Would like to play Temple. Guessing that will be our first game.

[natwam2547]

Portland has replaced Saint Mary's in the field. The Pilots: https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sc ... tland/men/

Expecting the bracket reveal in late July.

Big step down in competition, but this late in the game it makes a lot of sense logistically. They were part of the Phil Knight tournament last year for obvious reasons. Still a solid field all together. TCU, Nevada made the NCAA tournament and Hawai'i won this tournament last year.

^ It would be a huge gaff if Umass/Temple aren't playing against each other in the first game.

[PreecherJenkins]

whoever is going gotta go to Leonard's.

I am not a huge Honolulu guy, reminds me of a big city with a beach. Kauai and Maui are more my speed.

[MikeUMA]

Bracket announced
12/21 - UMass vs Georgia Tech (with Tafara Gapare). 9 PM Eastern on ESPN2
12/22 - UM vs either Portland or Hawai'i. Either 11 PM Eastern, or 1:00/1:30 AM. ESPN2 either way.
12/24 - vs Temple / Nevada / TCU / Old Dominion. Could be anywhere from 1:30 PM to 8:30/9:00 PM. Either ESPNU or ESPN2.

https://espnevents.com/news-and-updates ... d-classic/

[natwam2547]

I was hoping for either GT or Temple.

[DoctorJ]

Yeah, I wanted Temple but looks highly unlikely.

What I don't like it that Portland and Hawaii are going to be be relatively unaffected by jet lag. We
will be playing our second game just a day after playing our first after a long flight.