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The eight-team field for the 2024 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic will feature the University of Hawaiʻi, Nebraska, Oakland, Charlotte, College of Charleston, Loyola Chicago, Murray State and Oregon State. The 15th edition of the ESPN Events men’s college basketball tournament will be December 22, 23 and 25 at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center on the UH Mānoa campus in Honolulu.
Each team will compete in one game per day, advancing through the bracket over three days for a total of 12 games. The two teams that remain undefeated throughout will face off in the championship game on the final day of the tournament. Tickets are expected to go on sale in October.
Field highlights
- Tournament host Hawaiʻi (Big West) has recorded at least 20 wins in each of the last two seasons and extended its streak of consecutive winning seasons to seven, just one year shy of a program record.
- Led by Big Ten Coach of the Year Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska (Big Ten) enjoyed a stellar 2023–24 campaign, making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in a decade and notching 23 wins, its most since the 1990–91 season and the second-highest total in school history.
- Postseason darling Oakland (Horizon League) makes its first-ever appearance in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic following a memorable 2023–24 campaign that was highlighted by a pair of Horizon League championships and a thrilling upset over Kentucky in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
- Charlotte (American Athletic) finished with 19 wins and a top-three conference finish for the first time in nearly two decades while being led by Aaron Fearne, a finalist for the Joe B. Hall Coach of the Year presented to the top first-year head coach in Division I basketball.
- The College of Charleston (Coastal Athletic Association) is coming off of back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and enters the year as the defending CAA regular-season and tournament champions under the new direction of head coach Chris Mack.
- Loyola Chicago (Atlantic 10) captured a share of the 2023–24 Atlantic 10 regular season title, earned a postseason spot in the National Invitation Tournament, and finished with its second 20-win season under third-year head coach Drew Valentine.
- Murray State (Missouri Valley) has been one of the most consistently successful mid-major programs in the country, sporting a winning record in 34 of the last 37 seasons and finishing at the top of its conference in 11 of the last 15 years.
- Oregon State (West Coast), which previously appeared in the 2013 edition of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, makes the transition to the West Coast Conference this season after nearly six decades of competition in the Pac-12.
For more, visit the UH Mānoa Athletics website.
