NCAA Basketball: Portland to host 2017 non-conference tournament in honor of Phil Knight
16-schools will honor Nike co-founder Phil Knight in a 2017 NCAA basketball non-conference tournament.
Between the Battle 4 Atlantis, the 2K Sports Classic, the Maui Invitational and the CBE Hall of Fame Classic, there are a plethora of terrific annual non-conference tournaments that consist of the top mid majors in the nation and major Power Five schools.
A new preseason tournament called the Phil Knight Invitational (PX80) will likely capture the spotlight over the others in 2017.
The tournament, which was announced by ESPN, will consist of 16-Nike sponsored schools, including Duke, North Carolina, UConn, Michigan State, Ohio State, Texas and others. The teams will be separated into two 8-team brackets and will play over the course of Thanksgiving break (November 23, 24 and 26) at the Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon.
The tournament will be in honor of Nike co-founder and chairman Phil Knight, who is turning 80 in February 2018.
An idea hatched by Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis and then executed by ESPN Events, the event will be two eight-team tournaments with two schools each from the ACC (Duke and North Carolina), Big East (Georgetown and Butler), Big Ten (Michigan State and Ohio State), Big 12 (Texas and Oklahoma), SEC (Florida and Arkansas), Pac-12 (Oregon and Stanford), and WCC (Gonzaga and Portland) and one each from the AAC (UConn) and Big Sky (Portland State).
There are other high-profile Nike schools like Kentucky, Arizona and Villanova, but for reasons such as only two schools per conference and scheduling conflicts, some schools couldn’t make this event work. The Pac-12 schools were chosen because those are the two institutions where Knight earned degrees.
The two bracket winners will not play each other, but each program will be given the opportunity to boost their resume by playing three total games.
According to ESPN, the two brackets will play their games at the same times in different arenas, however, they will all be broadcasted on the ESPN family of networks.
This event is a brilliant idea that could potentially attract more viewers to the college basketball game during football season. With all the major schools that will participate, it’s likely to be another marquee event that is followed heavily by ESPN (similar to the Champions Classic).
The only problem I have is the fact that it will only take place in 2017. Instead, this should be a yearly event that travels to different cities across the nation (even if it stays in Portland, that would be fine too). It would be Nike’s own annual tournament in honor of Knight and will give the sport a little extra juice during the non-conference portion of the schedule.
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