HONOLULU — Hawaii’s first title defense in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic college basketball tournament will be no easy feat.

The 2023 edition of the Rainbow Warriors’ signature, nationally televised holiday event at the Stan Sheriff Center features some familiar faces and two power conference schools.

The eight-team field is: UH, Georgia Tech of the Atlantic Coast Conference; Nevada of the Mountain West; Old Dominion of the Sun Belt; Saint Mary’s of the West Coast Conference; Temple of the American Athletic Conference; TCU of the Big 12; and Massachusetts of the Atlantic 10.

Nevada, Saint Mary’s and TCU were NCAA Tournament teams in the 2022-23 season. Saint Mary’s is coached by Randy Bennett — a mentor and former boss of UH coach Eran Ganot — and TCU is led by former Rainbow Warriors assistant coach Jamie Dixon.

UH won the DHC for the first time in 2022 on JoVon McClanahan’s game-winner over SMU. TCU (2018) is the only other past DHC winner in the field.

The tournament will be played on Dec. 21, 22 and 24, moved up by a day from the Dec. 22, 23 and 25 slot it had occupied for each of its previous editions. Dec. 24 has been the slot for the Hawaii Bowl for the last several years.

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.