For the second year in a row, the Maui Invitational will be held away from the islands. However, this year, the tournament will feel much more at home. The event will be held in Vegas, commonly referred to as the "ninth island."
The event will still be hosted by Division II Chaminade, which had been in every edition of the Maui Invitational until 2018. The Silverswords were back in the bracket in 2019 and will be in the event every other year from now on.
Without Duke, UNC or Kansas playing, there could be hope for the Silverswords to win at least a game. Chaminade pulled off an upset in 2017, beating Cal by 26 points.
The rest of the field includes two top-25 teams in Houston and Oregon, a strong mid-major in Saint Mary's and four other squads that all have the potential to play spoiler.
Maui Invitational Futures Odds
Here are the betting odds for who will take home the title, courtesy of FanDuel:
Futures odds updated as of Monday at 11:30 a.m. ET.
| Team Name | Odds to Win |
| Houston Cougars | +170 |
| Oregon Ducks | +260 |
| Notre Dame Fighting Irish | +550 |
| Saint Mary's Gaels | +600 |
| Wisconsin Badgers | +750 |
| Butler Bulldogs | +2000 |
| Texas A&M Aggies | +4200 |
Houston Cougars
Coming off of a Final Four appearance last season, the Cougars lost four starters. However, they are still ranked 15th in the AP Top 25 and ninth in KenPom after a 3-0 start, which included a 20-point win over the Virginia Cavaliers.
Houston brings a top-10 defense in the country into this tournament, but it also has one of the best guards in all of college basketball in Marcus Sasser. The junior averages 23.3 points per game so far this year.
Houston is one of six teams ranked in the top-15 nationally in both offensive and defensive efficiency, so it is the favorite in this MTE for a good reason.
Oregon Ducks
Dana Altman once again proved to be one of the best in the business in terms of navigating the transfer portal. The Ducks lost six of their nine best players from last year's Pac-12 championship team, but they still have top-25 level talent this year, thanks to Altman.
Will Richardson and Rutgers transfer Jacob Young have led the Ducks in scoring through three games, But if the defense can't progress from their performance against BYU, they could be playing in the loser's bracket come Wednesday.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
The Fighting Irish have struggled as of late, finishing below .500 in two of the last three seasons. But this year's team has the talent to make the NCAA Tournament, as it ranks 90th in defensive efficiency and 10th in offensive efficiency.
Notre Dame returns eight of its top 10 players from last year, led by Prentiss Hubb and Dane Goodwin.
The program's lone transfer, Paul Atkinson, was the 2019-20 Ivy League Player of the Year with Yale. So far this year, he leads the team in scoring and is second in rebounding.
Saint Mary's Gaels
Saint Mary's is 4-0, including a 19-point win over Big Sky preseason favorite Southern Utah. The Gaels return two key players that it lost to injury last season, and every other player from last year's team.
So far this year, five players average double-digit points per game for the Gaels.
I expect them to give Notre Dame all it can handle on Monday.
Wisconsin Badgers
With 10 freshmen, the Badgers are one of the youngest teams in Division I.
Super-senior, Brad Davison, returns as the best player on the roster. Entering this season, Davison had more career points, rebounds and assists than every other player currently in the program combined.
The Badgers come into the Maui Invitational fresh off of a loss to Providence in the Gavitt Games. However, Wisconsin has had a whole week off from that loss to prepare for its opener vs. Texas A&M.
Butler Bulldogs
The Bulldogs have struggled with injuries to start the season, but are still currently 3-1.
Aaron Thompson has played only one game but will return for the Maui Invitational. At the same time, Bryce Nze left the last game with a shoulder injury and is questionable for Monday's matchup vs. Houston.
Also, senior Bo Hodges and sophomore Myles Tate have both yet to play this season — although Tate could return for the Maui Invitational.
Butler hasn't done much, beating an abysmal IUPUI team by only nine and Troy by only 11 before losing to Michigan State by 21. Monday's game against the Cougars could be ugly.
Texas A&M Aggies
The Aggies lost eight players to the transfer portal this offseason but were able to add Tyrece Radford from Virginia Tech and Henry Coleman III from Duke. They also returned three of their top six scorers in Quenton Jackson, Andre Gordon and Hassan Diarra.
Finally, they also added last year's Mountain West Player of the Year in Wyoming transfer Marcus Williams.
The Aggies are 4-0 but have just one win against a team inside the top 200 in Abilene Christian, who they beat by one point in double overtime.
Monday's Maui Invitational opener against Wisconsin will be their toughest test so far.
Chaminade Silverswords
I will be betting the Silverswords ML until I can't anymore in the Maui Invitational.
They have a challenging first game against the Ducks, but look for Chaminade to make some noise in the loser’s bracket on day two.
Best Bets
It's hard to bet against the Cougars here with how good they've been to start the season. I'll be taking three units on the Cougars to win the event.
The Ducks will have a much more difficult road to the final, as I expect them to meet up with Saint Mary's in the second round.
I'll take one unit on the Gaels as an underdog in hopes that they find their way to the final.
Picks: Houston (3 units) | Saint Mary's (1 unit)
