Terps head to Maui, but tournament is no paradise

For years, an appearance in the Maui Invitational came with a figurative badge of honor for any NCAA men's basketball team.

The tournament, which started in 1984, is held in the Lahaina Civic Center's tiny 2,400-seat gym. Playing a major college basketball tournament in a non air-conditioned high school-sized gym — in a region where temperatures outside regularly creep into the 80's — posed a particularly unique challenge.

Before the venue became air-conditioned in 2003, cramps, fatigue and other heat-related issues were a given during the three-day tournament.

"That's a survival test," Terrapin men's basketball coach Gary Williams said with a laugh last week, recalling his early experiences at the tournament. "If you play three games in three days in 100-degree heat, that's pretty good. You found out a lot about your team."

The new, cooler playing conditions assure that temperature is no longer the main issue. But playing in a tropical paradise comes with a different set of trappings for a team hoping to bolster its NCAA Tournament résumé with some early quality wins.

With a long flight, adjustment to a five-hour time difference and the rigors of playing three games against some of the country's top programs in a vacation destination, bringing home the Wayne Duke Championship Trophy isn't easy. As the Terps begin their fourth Maui Invitational appearance tonight with a game against tournament-host Chaminade, they know there's a delicate balance between work and play.

"It's pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime thing," said guard Eric Hayes, who said he'd like to try snorkeling in Hawaii's crystal-clear waters. "It's real fortunate that I can go out there and play basketball and do it for free. It's real exciting for all of us."

As the Maui Invitational — which the Terps have never won — has established itself as a pre-eminent preseason tournament, various other tournaments have popped up in exotic vacation destinations, such as St. Thomas, Puerto Rico and Cancun. Just last season, the Terps got a post-Thanksgiving trip to Orlando, Fla. for the Old Spice Classic.

And individual coaches have adapted their own tactics for handling these holiday basketball extravaganzas.

Some, like Williams, put a premium on staying as true to normal pregame preparations as usual.

"Three games in three days is a very difficult thing to do," Williams said. "We need all their energy directed at that. We run a pretty tight ship over there because we go over there to win games. We don't go over there for vacation."

Former Wake Forest and South Carolina coach Dave Odom, who was recently named the Maui Invitational's chairman, had a slightly different take on his "six or seven" trips to the 50th state as a head coach or assistant.

Odom, who last coached in Maui in 2001 with South Carolina, talked about planning team functions early in the day to give his players free time and the hazards of letting players spend too much time out in the sun.

The 67-year-old even had a player go cliff diving on one Maui trip.

"I never wanted to take them over there and lock them up," Odom said. "You want to let them experience the ambiance of Hawaii."

Tonight, the Terps face a team that will also be facing a big adjustment, but for entirely different reasons.

Chaminade, a Division II school, has just a 25-minute flight to Maui from their Honolulu campus, according to fifth-year coach Matt Mahar.

Mahar said this year's Silverswords are his most inexperienced bunch, and he's worried about the distraction of the ESPN personalities and prestigious national programs.

Although they are a perennial fixture in the field of eight that's had its share of highlights through the years, including a last-second loss to Indiana in last year's tournament, the national attention will be new to them.

"Hopefully, they won't get too scared by all the bright lights," Mahar said.

Despite all the potential distractions, the Terps, who enter the week as the favorite in a slightly weaker field than usual, seem to be following their coach's lead and focusing on basketball.

Before flying out to Hawaii on Saturday morning, many Terps tempered their expectations for fun in the sun to talk about the on-court tests that await them.

Guard Adrian Bowie, who along with guard Greivis Vasquez played a tournament in Hawaii during his high school days at Rockville's Montrose Christian, said resisting the allure of the waves and white sand is easy — with the right motivation.

"If you want to win bad enough, it's not that hard," Bowie said.

edetweiler@umdbk.com