The Hawaii men’s basketball team has drawn another East Coast opponent for a first-round game in the Diamond Head Classic. This year’s high-powered foe is Miami (Fla.) of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In the other Dec. 22 first-round pairings for the 2012 field, Mississippi meets Indiana State, San Diego State gets San Francisco, and Arizona plays East Tennessee State, tournament executive director David Matlin said.

All four first-round games of the UH-hosted event will be televised on ESPNU. ESPN is expected to officially announce the pairings today. UH will meet either Arizona or ETSU in the second round on Dec. 23, and one team from the other side of the bracket on Christmas Day.

UH has drawn a team from the Eastern time zone in the first round in all four years of the event. The Hurricanes narrowly missed the NCAA Tournament last year, despite notching a landmark win at Duke. Miami went 20-13 (9-7 ACC) in 2011-12 and made it to the second round of the NIT. UH went 16-16 and missed the postseason.

Three double-figure scorers return from last season’s Hurricanes squad: guard Durand Scott (12.9 ppg) and forwards Kenny Kadji (11.7) and Reggie Johnson (10.0). Miami is coached by Jim Larranaga, who famously led upstart George Mason to the Final Four in 2006.

"It’s another high-caliber team," UH coach Gib Arnold said. "They’ve got a lot coming back. The kid Durand Scott is a fabulous player, an All-ACC type of player. … A big-time player out of high school. He’ll probably be on quite a few preseason All-ACC teams. And the two big kids, Reggie Johnson and Kenny Kadji, are also double-figure guys. They’ve got a nice mix of really good inside guys, and they’re deep with big, athletic guards. So we’ll have our work cut out for us, definitely. It’s a very, very good team and I’m sure a lot of people will have them predicted to be in the top half of the ACC."

Arnold was prompted to say that it appears to be one of the tougher first-round draws given to UH. Florida State and a better-than-expected Auburn team were UH’s opening opponents the past two years.

"Yeah, I’ve been waiting for them (the pairings committee) to do us some favors. No, I joke about that, they do a good job," Arnold said. "We’ll play whoever you tell us to play. We’re just grateful to be hosting it. We’ve played some pretty darn good teams in that tournament."

The Rainbow Warriors defeated Clemson in the consolation championship of last year’s DHC, marking the first time UH beat a school with active ACC membership.

UH and Miami have met three times, all in the 1960s. The teams split two meetings in Honolulu and Miami won the third at home, 84-82, in the final meeting on Jan. 31, 1969.

No game times have been announced, but Matlin said UH is guaranteed three national TV games for the second straight year.

Arizona and San Diego State, on opposite sides of the bracket, are anticipated to be the ranked, marquee teams of the event and theoretically would meet in the final on Christmas.

"You try to just balance it out and have competitive games," Matlin said. "Arizona and San Diego State are the two top-ranked teams, so they’re in different brackets. Other than that, I think you have a pretty competitive field. A lot of it’s geared to making competitive matchups in the first round as well; that’s what’s appealing from a TV perspective."

Matlin also expressed enthusiasm about the first two days of the tournament being played on a Saturday and Sunday for the first time.