The Maui Invitational includes the schools ranked No. 1 (Kansas), No. 2 (Purdue), No. 5 (Marquette), No. 10 (Tennessee) and No. 13 (Gonzaga) in Tuesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.
It’s a loaded field.
Tuesday’s semifinals should be great.
The schedule is as follows:
- 8 p.m. ET: No. 2 Purdue vs. No. 10 Tennessee
- 10:30 p.m. ET: No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 5 Marquette
It’s possible, if not likely, the Elite Eight of the 2024 NCAA Tournament won’t provide two matchups as good on paper as these two games should be. The doubleheader features four of the top seven teams in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, the reigning CBS Sports National Player of the Year in Purdue’s Zach Edey, two other CBS Sports preseason First Team All-Americans in Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson and Marquette’s Tyler Kolek, and one of the best transfers in the country in Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht. In other words, this Tuesday night should be just as interesting as last Tuesday night, when Kansas beat Kentucky and Duke topped Michigan State in the Champions Classic in Chicago.
The title game will be awesome no matter who wins.
Don’t get it twisted.
But if Kansas and Purdue are the schools that advance, it’s worth noting that on Wednesday we’ll then get just the 44th matchup in college basketball history — and the first since November 2021 — between the teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the AP poll. And Edey vs. Dickinson would obviously be a fantastic individual matchup that could set the tone for how this season’s National Player of the Year race will unfold between the two bigs who are statistical monsters. Edey is averaging 21.8 points, 11.0 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in 27.5 minutes per game so far this season. Dickinson is averaging 24.3 points, 12.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals in 28.3 minutes per contest. They are currently ranked No. 1 (Edey) and No. 2 (Dickinson) in the KenPom.com Player of the Year race.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
IN: Mississippi State OUT: Virginia