ESPN Events Welcomes Elite Teams to 2017 Early-Season Men’s Basketball Tournaments


The newest addition is the recently-announced PK80 – Phil Knight Invitational, a 16-team, early-season men’s college basketball event honoring Nike co-founder and 2012 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Phil Knight in advance of his 80th birthday. One of the largest regular-season multi-team events in college basketball history will be played from the Rose Quarter’s Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Ore., over Thanksgiving week.

The other three-day multi-team events include the Gildan Charleston Classic, Tire Pros Puerto Rico Tip-Off, Wooden Legacy, AdvoCare Invitational and Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic. The destination events staged from Charleston, S.C., San Juan, Puerto Rico, Orange County, Calif., Orlando and Honolulu are all bracket-format tournaments featuring 12 games over three days. The teams compete once per day, advancing with a victory. The two remaining undefeated teams will face off in a championship game.

In its third-year under the ESPN Events umbrella, the NIT Season Tip-Off will be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The four designated home schools will each host two campus-site games prior to traveling to Brooklyn for the two-day championship round.

In addition to the multi-team tournaments, ESPN Events also manages four single-day, neutral-site events including the Armed Forces Classic, State Farm Champions Classic  and Jimmy V Men’s and Women’s Classics presented by Corona. The Jimmy V Men’s and Women’s Classics fields will be announced at a later date.

The 2016-17 college basketball season is underway and several teams ranked in the November 28 Associated Press poll will be participating in 2017 events: No. 1 Kentucky, No. 3 North Carolina, No. 4 Kansas, No. 5 Duke, No. 6 Virginia, No. 8 Gonzaga, No. 12 Saint Mary’s (Calif.), No. 18 Butler, No. 19 Iowa State, No. 20 South Carolina, No. 21 Rhode Island, No. 23 Oregon, No. 24 Florida and No. 25 West Virginia.

Gildan Charleston Classic – Nov. 16, 17 & 19
The Gildan Charleston Classic, held at TD Arena in Charleston, S.C., will include Auburn, Clemson, Dayton, Hofstra, Indiana State, Old Dominion, Ohio and Temple.

Tire Pros Puerto Rico Tire Pros Tip-Off – Nov. 16, 17 & 19
The Tire Pros Puerto Rico Tip-Off, held in San Juan, will showcase Boise State, Florida State, Illinois State, Iowa State, South Carolina, Tulsa, UTEP and Western Michigan

Wooden Legacy – Nov. 23, 24 & 26
The Wooden Legacy will be played in Orange County, Calif. The field consists of Cal-State Fullerton, DePaul, Georgia, Harvard, Saint Joseph’s, Saint Mary’s (Calif.), San Diego State and Washington State.

AdvoCare Invitational – Nov. 23, 24 & 26
The AdvoCare Invitational, held at HP Field House at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Fla., will feature Long Beach State, Marist, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon State, St. John’s, UCF and West Virginia.

NIT Season Tip-Off – Thanksgiving Week
The NIT Season Tip-Off championship round will be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. and will feature Rhode Island, Seton Hall, Vanderbilt and Virginia.

PK80 – Phil Knight Invitational – Nov. 23, 24, & 26
PK80 – Phil Knight Invitational is a 16-team, early-season men’s college basketball event honoring Nike co-founder and 2012 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Phil Knight in advance of his 80th birthday. The teams will be split into two separate, eight-team brackets at a later date.

Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic – Dec. 22, 23 & 25
The eighth annual Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic will be played at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu with a field of Akron, Davidson, Miami, Middle Tennessee, New Mexico State, USC, Utah State and tournament host school Hawai‘i.

Additional Events
Armed Forces Classic – Friday, Nov. 10
The Armed Forces Classic – a series of Division I men’s college basketball games that are televised from United States military bases around Veterans Day as a morale event for service members – will return to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, the site of the inaugural Classic in 2012, and showcasing Texas A&M against West Virginia.

State Farm Champions Classic – Tuesday, Nov. 14
The seventh installment of the State Farm Champions Classic will be played at the United Center  in Chicago and again showcase Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan State.