Tournament: Hoophall Miami Invitational/Basketball Hall of Fame Classic and Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational
When and where: Nov. 27, American Airlines Arena, Miami
Teams involved: Kentucky, South Florida, Ohio State, Memphis
Initial thoughts: Is the Hoophall Miami Invitational one event? Or three events? We can't decide.
Here's what we mean: Technically, the inaugural Hoophall Miami Invitational is the culmination of two other events: the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic and the Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational. The Classic and Invitational each comprise separate five-team "campus rounds" that will play out throughout November. The Classic side includes Kentucky, South Florida, Boston University, Albany and New Jersey Institute of Technology. The Invitational side includes Ohio State, Memphis, Louisiana Tech, Grambling State, and University of Texas at Arlington. From Nov. 13 on, each set of five teams will play a couple of loosely affiliated games associated with the competition. Then, on Nov. 27, two teams from each side of the event will meet at American Airlines Arena in Miami. Despite being a one-off doubleheader with no rounds or advancement, the Naismith Hall of Fame calls these two games "brackets": one for the Classic, one for the Invitational. It refers to that overall event as the Hoophall Miami Invitational. We think?
See? Confusing, right?
Fortunately, you only really need to know one thing about the Hoophall Miami Invitational and its associated sub-events: A spot at the Nov. 27 event is not actually on the line. (Though if you're the kind of person who enjoys making heads or tails of arcane competitive structures, here's the official news release. Go wild.) Only four teams have a chance to play in the House Where LeBron James Went to Metaphorical College: Kentucky, South Florida, Ohio State and Memphis. The Wildcats will play the Bulls, and the Buckeyes will face the Tigers.
Those matchups are the ones worth worrying about here. And if this event (these events?) becomes more than a blip on the early-season radar, it will have a lot to do with how new-look rosters in Columbus and Memphis come together this fall.
Why you'll want to watch: Kentucky fans will watch, because it's Kentucky. Non-Kentucky fans might want to check in, if only because it will still be early in the season. By this point, John Calipari will still be figuring out his team's best lineup configuration, though without worrying about splitting equal minutes across nine or 10 players. Instead, these Wildcats will be much more conventional, with a typical rotation and, believe it or not, the occasional personnel hole (like frontcourt depth). They'll also be a very talented, and still young, title contender. This is a chance to see that process in the early going.
On second thought, if you really want to get a read on Kentucky, watching them thrash a USF team that went 9-23 in 2014-15 -- former UK assistant Orlando Antigua's first as the Bulls' coach -- might not be the best source of data.
The second game of the doubleheader -- "Invitational Bracket," if you're nasty -- will be far more interesting. For one, it should be more competitive. For another, Ohio State and Memphis will be two of the 2015-16 season's most unfamiliar and unpredictable teams.
Take Ohio State. Thad Matta had a characteristically tight rotation a season ago, rarely dipping deeper than his sixth man (Marc Loving/Jae'Sean Tate). Now four of those top six players -- No. 2 overall draft pick D'Angelo Russell and seniors Shannon Scott, Sam Thompson and Amir Williams -- are all gone. That leaves just Loving and Tate as regular contributors. Center Keita Bates-Diop and guard Kam Williams got a bit of work as freshmen, and both look promising. Ohio State will also add five four-star players. JaQuan Lyle appears to be the best of the group -- a big, smooth guard capable of playing multiple perimeter positions. How good the Buckeyes will be will largely come down to Lyle and his classmates, and how ready they are to contribute right away. We won't know until well after November.
Memphis suffered a similar roster exodus, albeit under entirely different conditions. More candidly: The 2014-15 Tigers were a bit of a mess. A team that finished 18-14 last season lost five players at various stages, starting in November with top prospect Dominic Magee, followed by Kuran Iverson (who was kicked off the team in January), and culminating this spring, when Austin Nichols, Nick King and Pookie Powell all transferred. Nichols was by far the biggest loss, and not just because he was one of the Tigers' few stalwarts (and one of the best shot-blockers in the country to boot). His transfer request was met by Memphis with a host of unreasonable conditions. Nichols fought back. The Tigers took a public relations beating and relented. The whole thing was just kind of embarrassing.
All of which has put Memphis coach Josh Pastner, who has always struggled to earn the trust of an intense metropolitan fan base, in a make-or-break position this season. Fortunately, seven newcomers are on the way, including three players (power forward Dedric Lawson, small forward K.J. Lawson, and center Nick Marshall) ranked among the top 10 at their positions in the Class of 2015. It's entirely possible the Tigers will emerge from last season's ruptures as a more cohesive, focused and successful group. Or they could devolve further. The first month of the season, which also includes a matchup with top-10 Oklahoma, should provide a few hints.