UConn Men's Basketball Notebook: Huskies Headed to Hawaii

I hope Kevin Ollie has a nice bathing suit. If not, he has 2 years to go get one.

Early this afternoon, word came down that UConn will participate in the 2016 Maui Invitational.

The 1field looks to be filled with a who's who of national powers. The Huskies will be joined by Georgetown, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Tennessee, Chaminade, and Wisconsin. There is a combined 14 national championships won by the field.

UConn has participated in the Maui Invitational 3 times and have come away with a championship on two occasions; 2005 and 2010. They are 8-1 all time in the tournament.

The Maui Invitational has a correlation to the NCAA Tournament. Four times in the tournament's history, the winner has gone on to win the National Championship; Michigan 1988-89, North Carolina in 2004-05 and 2008-09, and Connecticut in 2010-11.

This is yet more evidence that the Huskies problems with the American Athletic Conference are serious. In order to remain a power program, UConn must schedule these in-season tournaments and a tough non-conference slate. Good on the Warde Manuel and Kevin Ollie for getting an invite.

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In present news, Ryan Boatright was named the AAC's Player of the Week. Averaging 18.7 ppg, 6.3 rpg, and 4.3 apg in the Puerto Rico Tip Off, Boatright has come out of the gate strong. His performance got him named to the All Tournament team. Boatright is currently leading the conference in scoring, at 20 per game.

Daniel Hamilton joined Boatright this week, being named the conference Rookie of the Week. The 6'7" swingman has impressed everyone who has seen him, averaging almost 15 ppg and 7 rebounds in the tournament. Hamilton has shown the ability to play all over the court, making threes at a high clip and playing with athleticism.

Get used to seeing both of these guys win these awards. It's going to happen quite a bit.