The University of North Carolina men's basketball team's quadrennial trip to Hawaii is set for Thanksgiving week, as UNC will begin play at the Maui Invitational and on Nov. 24 against Chaminade University, the host school.

The 2008 Maui Invitational is in its 25th year, with this year's field also featuring Alabama, Indiana, Notre Dame, Oregon, Saint Joseph's and Texas. Tournament play at the Lahaina Civic Center opens with a game between Saint Joseph's and Texas. The Carolina-Chaminade game will take place at 9:30 p.m. (EST) and will be shown on ESPNU. See Scoreboard, Page A10 in The Chapel Hill News Aug. 10 for the full schedule.

Remaining game tickets go on sale to the general public this Wednesday at 3 p.m. at mauiinvitational.com.

Bloggin' Dawson

North Carolina's field hockey superstar Rachel Dawson, who swept up major individual awards like a vacuum cleaner last year en route to leading the Tar Heels to an undefeated national championship season, is in Beijing with the U.S. hockey squad. Dawson is maintaining a blog while in China, which can be read at http://racheldawson8.blogspot.com/. One early entry even mentions the National Player of the Year's running into a group of Bouncing Bulldog team members, who skipped other events in the United States to go to Beijing, and Dawson's delight at seeing fellow Chapel Hillians.

Along comes Jones

Dwight Jones, an All-America wide receiver at state champion Burlington Cummings, has been admitted to the University of North Carolina and will be a Tar Heel in 2008, head coach Butch Davis announced Friday. Jones, who was attending preseason practice at Division II Valdosta State, is expected to take the practice field with Carolina in the next few days.

Misunderstanding the number of core courses he needed to enroll at a Division I school, Jones headed to Valdosta State. UNC officials worked with the ACC, NCAA and Valdosta State to resolve the situation; the NCAA granted a waiver so that he could transfer without sitting out a year.

Additionally, North Carolina announced Friday that freshman linebacker Kevin Reddick will not attend the University this fall but should matriculate at a later date.