Non-conference tournaments, part II: early Thanksgiving week

Covers pre-Thanksgiving day tourneys.

Maui:

Tennessee vs. Wisconsin

Georgetown vs. Oregon

Oklahoma St vs. UConn

North Carolina vs. Chaminade

The stakes:  Lower than most years.  UNC kind of catches a bad break, as Chaminade ain't helping anyone's resume, UConn is in the tank, and OkState is okay but not a top team.  UNC will likely acquire several wins better than any semifinal could offer.

However, Oregon/UNC would be a prime matchup, and one that Oregon might need to make an argument for the 1 line.  Pac-12 has a minor perception problem where they're not considered as often for the 1 line.  Oregon winning three times with wins over Wisky and UNC would be a game-changer.

Wisky/Oregon would be a pretty sexy semifinal.  Each of these 4 games has a clear favorite, so we'll see if anyone gets out of line here.

Legends Classic:

Notre Dame vs. Colorado
Texas vs. Northwestern

The stakes:  4 teams in various states of bubble.  Each of the 4 likely expecting to be NCAA tourney teams, all have modest-to-good chances to get there.  Going 0-2 here would be damaging, 2-0 would be very solid.  This tournament analyzes itself, doesn't it?

Men Who Speak Up Main Event:

St Louis vs. BYU

Alabama vs. Valparaiso

The stakes:  Valpo is going to be a mid-major darling.  They'll get mentioned on at-large boards.  This means, right here, neutral site for 2 games....gotta win both.  To give themselves a realistic shot at an at-large, must win 2 neutral site games over a decent Bama team and a decent BYU team.  Valpo should absolutely root to play BYU, by the way.  Quality win chance trumps easier road to the tourney title.

CBE HoF Classic:
George Washington vs. Georgia

UAB vs. Kansas

The stakes:  Kind of a meh tourney for Kansas.  We can move on.  Georgia gets a signature win chance they need if they beat GW, but let's be real.

Cancun Classic:
Texas Tech vs. Auburn

Purdue vs. Utah St

The stakes:  Purdue seems to be a pretty sizable favorite, anything less than 2-0 is a disaster.  Auburn and TTU, if you're serious about the NCAAs this year, you have to beat the other.

Gulf Coast Showcase:

Vermont vs. Wofford

Hofstra vs. Bradley

Kent St vs. South Dakota

Houston vs. George Mason

The stakes:  Um.  Yeah.  Nothing to see here.  Well, almost nothing.  If a team like Vermont wins AEast, having a few neutral site wins like these might be worth a seed line.  Applies to Wofford and the SoCon too.  Other than that, pass.