With the Diamond Head Classic basketball tournament going on hiatus this year, Hawaii head coach Eran Ganot and committee members are exploring options to fill the Rainbow Warriors’ 2025-26 schedule.
“Do we have a couple more tournaments? Do we play more single games?” Ganot said. “It’s challenging for Hawaii.”
ESPN, which owns the UH-hosted event, started the eight-team tournament at the Stan Sheriff Center in 2009. It was played through the championship game 14 times. The tournament was not held in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 championship final between Stanford and Vanderbilt also was canceled because of COVID-19 issues.
Otherwise, the tournament was completed on Christmas Day.
After the 2024 tournament, it was announced this year’s event would be moved to Thanksgiving week, which coincided with the eight-team Maui Classic, also owned by ESPN. While the Maui Classic, which was founded in 1984, will continue, the Diamond Head Classic will go on an unspecified leave.
“Diamond Head is not happening this year,” Ganot said. “We expect it to return. People are working for it to return.”
Ganot said Coaches vs. Cancer, a fundraiser that coincided with the Diamond Head Classic the past eight years and benefited the Hope Lodge, will continue. “For sure,” Ganot said. “That’s not going away. It’s going to be in a creative way.”
Ganot recalled the old Rainbow Classic, which was played between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, and the Great Alaska Shootout, which was played over Thanksgiving week, were once the main eight-team holiday tournaments. Then several other pre-conference tournaments were introduced. But in the past decade, eight-team tournaments have been impacted by expanding conferences, which have moved league games up to December, and a reluctance for teams to play here and then participate in conference play soon after.
Ganot told reporters that “options have changed in terms of what’s going to be available (for tournaments). … The three-game models are going to shift to two-game models.”
He said more changes impacting scheduling will occur. “We’ve got to be ready,” Ganot said. “A great way to go is, No. 1, have a plan and, No. 2, be flexible.”
