ESPN Events announced last Monday that beginning in 2025, the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic will be played about a month earlier as part of “Feast Week,” ESPN’s week-long college basketball lineup of action in late November. The eight-team, three-day tournament will move to Thanksgiving Week (Nov. 24-30), with the exact dates yet to be determined.
In addition, a women’s multi-team event (MTE) featuring the University of Hawai’i Rainbow Wahine will debut under the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic banner during Feast Week. The tournament format and exact dates for the women’s event will be announced in the future.
Since its inception in 2009, the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic has traditionally been played during the late December holiday season, culminating with the final four contests on Christmas Day. All Classic games have been shown live nationwide via ESPN2.
UH coach Eran Ganot said it is possible the OUTRIGGER Rainbow Classic — which was played in late December from its inception in 1964 through 2008 — could return to that time slot. It has been played in early/mid-November from 2009 to this season, in order to make room for the Diamond Head Classic.
“All options are on the table, but the Rainbow will stay (intact),” Ganot said. “It’s really historic. I was here (as a Hawai’i assistant coach) when the Diamond Head was announced, and we said, ‘The Rainbow is not going away.’ We just moved it to the (season) tip-off.
“So now with this (development), we’ll try to find the right place for it, that it deserves.”
Thanksgiving Week has also been the traditional time for the prestigious Maui Invitational in Lahaina, which is regarded as the nation’s premier tournament outside of the NCAA Tournament itself. The Maui Invitational is also televised by ESPN.
In this year’s Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic title game, Nebraska defeated Oregon State on Christmas Day.
Previous Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic tournament champions include Southern California (2009, 2017), Butler (2010), Kansas State (2011), Arizona (2012), Iowa State (2013), George Washington (2014), Oklahoma (2015), San Diego State (2016), Texas Christian (2018), Houston (2019), Vanderbilt (2021), Hawai’i (2022) and Nevada (2023).