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Kansas basketball: Lahaina, Hawaii wildfires jeopardize 2023 Maui Invitational

By Joshua Schulman

CATANIA, ITALY - JULY 26: Fire breaks out on Mount Etna and spreads across the entire southern slope of the volcano as wildfires hit Sicily, in Catania, Italy on July 26, 2023. Wildfires cause severe damage and airport closures in Italy. (Photo by Salvatore Allegra/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
CATANIA, ITALY - JULY 26: Fire breaks out on Mount Etna and spreads across the entire southern slope of the volcano as wildfires hit Sicily, in Catania, Italy on July 26, 2023. Wildfires cause severe damage and airport closures in Italy. (Photo by Salvatore Allegra/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) /
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Tragic wildfires in the Lahaina, Hawaii region have put the 2023 Maui Invitational — an annual tournament that Kansas basketball is expected to appear in — at risk.

A string of devastating wildfires in one of the largest areas of Maui has left at least six people dead and hundreds of others injured. The unprecedented event occurred in response to strong winds from Hurricane Dora, a Category 4 storm with winds hovering around 130 mph.

Residents of Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, have been forced to flee the burning area. Homes and historical buildings have been destroyed as smoke continues to fill the air of what was once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

The Lahaina Civic Center, where the Maui Jim Maui Invitational has occurred every year besides 2020 and 2021, was put on lockdown amid the wildfires. It is widely considered one of the most prestigious regular-season tournaments in college basketball history and has run annually since 1984. Additionally, it generates tremendous revenue for the Hawaiian economy.

According to a helicopter feed, the Civic Center is still standing. It was posted at 4:49 p.m. CT yesterday, Aug. 9.

Kansas basketball and seven other schools are expected to compete in Maui this November. KU was supposed to face against host school Chaminade in the opening round. However, these games might not come to fruition.

It goes without saying that in the grand scheme of things, a few basketball games are irrelevant when individuals are losing their homes and livelihoods.

The ideal situation would be moving the tournament elsewhere in Maui and donating the proceedings to relief for Lahaina. Then again, building the area back up could take several years — even decades.

The Kansas Jayhawks have won the tournament the past two times they’ve competed in it (2015, 2019). Now, the university might have to search to reschedule four nonconference games if the 2023 Maui Invitational is canceled altogether.

The Maui Invitational Twitter page posted this in regards to the situation:

Our hearts are with the families going through these terrifying times in Lahaina.

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