A visit to Hawaii conjures visions of surfing the pipeline, para-sailing above the rolling waves, or perhaps stuffing yourself at a luau while wahines in grass skirts undulate to the accompaniment of a ukulele.

Hey, it all sounds good to Scooter McFadgon.

Just not this week.

"Hawaii's a great place to go,'' Tennessee's senior guard said. "Maybe when you get older you can take a trip to Hawaii, but you might never get another chance to play some of the top teams in the nation and be in one of the powerhouse tournaments in the nation.

"So I ain't worried about surfing lessons. I'm just worried about these teams and not getting blown out of the gym.''

The teams McFadgon and the Vols are thinking about are gathered for the EA Sports Maui Invitational. For three days, the Lahaina Civic Center will be the center of the college basketball world.

The tournament begins Monday. Tennessee faces Stanford at 11:30 p.m. (EST). The Vols play the fourth game of the day, all televised by ESPN2.

"It really does look like the road to the Final Four starts in Maui,'' said tournament director Dave Gavitt. "It's a terrific event once again.''

Considering Louisville, Texas and North Carolina are in the field, along with Iowa, Brigham Young and island giant-killer Chaminade, Gavitt isn't necessarily off base.

In short, Tennessee is running with fast company. The winner of the UT-Stanford game faces the North Carolina-BYU winner on Tuesday. Louisville or Texas is likely to be waiting in the championship game on Wednesday.

Win or lose, everybody gets in three games. Even the losers' bracket will be a minefield.

If the tournament were held in Buffalo, the challenge would be daunting enough. But it's not. It's held in paradise.

Thus, every coach must strike a balance of allowing his team to enjoy the ambiance, but not enjoy it too much.

"We wouldn't go over there if fun wasn't part of the trip,'' said Louisville coach Rick Pitino. "I don't think you travel to Maui to exclude fun from your itinerary.

"We're not going to allow them to surf or deep-sea fish, but we are going to allow them to have a lot of fun.''

North Carolina coach Roy Williams is a Maui veteran.

"Having fun is about 20 percent of it,'' he said. "Getting better as a basketball team is a lot of it, too.''

The Tar Heels have several activities scheduled, but nothing edgier than snorkeling.

BYU also will avoid the adrenaline-rush events.

"I remember going to the Rainbow (tournament) seven or eight years ago in Honolulu,'' said coach Steve Cleveland. "My post guy decided he wanted to go body-surfing and about killed himself.''

UT coach Buzz Peterson came to Maui as a Vanderbilt assistant in 1995.

"The thing I remember is quick turn-arounds,'' he said. "You've got to go out there knowing about all seven of the other teams.''

The Vols traveled Friday, allowing two full days to adjust to the differences in time and climate.

Several players will have family along on the trip. Athletic director Mike Hamilton and his family are on hand, along with a small party of boosters.

Peterson said the Vols will concentrate on basketball, at least through Wednesday.

Thursday is set aside for free time and a Thanksgiving meal before the flight home.

The Vols and BYU are the only participants without a game under their belts.

North Carolina and Stanford warmed up in a doubleheader Friday night in Oakland, Calif., but not against each other. Santa Clara upset the No. 4 Tar Heels 77-66. Stanford struggled against San Francisco, winning 93-83 in overtime.

Texas and Iowa played home games Friday with the Longhorns crushing Texas State 95-63 and the Hawkeyes rocking Western Illinois 85-62. The trade-off is that they didn't make the long flight until Saturday.

Louisville stopped in Oahu to play BYU-Hawaii on Saturday.

Chaminade, located in Honolulu, opened its season with a win over Winona State.

Breaking up the trip with a warm-up game paid dividends for last year's Maui champion. The Dayton Fliers played at Pepperdine on the way west.

"We thought about playing a game,'' Peterson said, "but we just couldn't find the right opponent.

"Those two exhibitions were good enough.''

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com.