Early-season tournament preview, part II: Thanksgiving week

This will cover everything starting Monday and Tuesday.

Gulf Coast Showcase
Nov 23-25
8 teams in your standard format
Matchups:
Milwaukee vs. Murray St
Duquesne vs. Pepperdine
Drake vs. Western Kentucky
Weber St vs. Central Michigan
The stakes:  Fairly low, although a couple good mid-majors are lurking in here.  Pepperdine is everyone's favorite darkhorse, and with this field, they'd need to win this to make those people feel good.  Weber and Murray are competent teams, but there's no golden goose in here that will qualify as a signature win for any of these teams.  So the stakes are simple - the winner gets 3 neutral-site wins which the committee will like but not fawn over.

Maui Invitational
Nov 23-25
8 teams in your standard format
Matchups:
St John's vs. Vanderbilt
Wake Forest vs. Indiana
Kansas vs. Chaminade
UNLV vs. UCLA
The stakes:  Well, there's a clear top 4 and bottom 4 in this field.  So first things first: Vandy/Indiana and Kansas/UCLA need to handle their business.  After that...it's both high stakes and no stakes.  All are in power conferences; all will have many signature win chances, so this isn't a make or break trip for any of the 4.  This is more about bad loss avoidance than anything else.  Low stress tournament, surprisingly.

Legends Classic
Nov 23-24
4 teams in your standard format
Matchups:
LSU vs. Marquette
NC State vs. Arizona St
The stakes:  Frankly, LSU is a tier above everyone else and needs to handle their business.  LSU's non-con SoS is frankly terrible, so these are two very very very important games for them.  Must handle.  Marquette and NC State definitely could use a boost, and this represents a solid chance to get a jump on the process.  ASU is a lost cause.  Also, Belmont/IUPUI is possible in the JV bracket.

Men Who Speak Up Main Event
Nov 23, 25
4 teams in your standard format
The matchups:
Clemson vs. UMass
Creighton vs. Rutgers
The stakes:  The names are shiny.  The caliber isn't.  I don't think 2 wins helps anyone here.

CBE Hall of Fame Classic
Nov 23-24
4 teams in your standard format
The matchups:
Kansas St vs. Missouri
North Carolina vs. Northwestern
The stakes:  Actually a poor setup for UNC.  They're getting nothing of value here.  Northwestern, assuming they lose, which would be fine, then needs to win that second game, no matter what.  Also note we've got Wofford at Columbia in the JV bracket, which is infinitely more interesting than the main bracket.

Cancun Challenge
Nov 24-25
4 teams in your standard format
The matchups:
TCU vs. Rhode Island
Maryland vs. Illinois St
The stakes:  Assuming URI and Maryland wins the games they're supposed to, it'll be a chance at a solid win for Maryland and a signature win for URI.  Standard stuff.  I don't see the other two teams as at-large threats for the time being, so we'll see if they change my mind.