Arizona, which beat Kentucky 84-79 in overtime to win its first NCAA title, will play Boston College in the opening round of the 14th annual Maui Invitational, it was announced yesterday.
Kentucky will play George Washington in another first-round game on Nov. 24 and is in the same bracket of the eight-team tournament with Arizona.
The other bracket has Duke playing Chaminade and Missouri against DePaul.
The semifinals are Nov. 25 with the championship game on Nov. 26.
The last time Kentucky and Arizona met before the championship game in Indianapolis on Mar. 31, was in the title game of the 1993 Maui Invitational when Kentucky prevailed, 93-92, on a last-second tip-in by Jeff Brassow.
If the two Wildcats do meet in the semifinals, it will be the second year in a row an NCAA championship game rematch was played the next November.
Kentucky and Syracuse played in the opening round of last year's Great Alaska Shootout with Kentucky winning again.
The Maui Invitational will be the debut for three coaches: Ak Skinner at Boston College, Pat Kennedy at DePaul and Tubby Smith at Kentucky.
The tournament will also feature some experimental rules changes that the NCAA has mandated for certain exempt early season games.
Among those rules are a four-quarter format rather than two 20-minute halves, a 40-second shot clock instead of 35 and a wider free throw lane alignment.