2018 Wooden Legacy field Announced

Seven schools were announced Thursday as participants in in the 2018 Wooden Legacy that will be played in Southern California next November 22, 23 and 25.

With one school to be named, men’s college basketball teams scheduled to compete in the 2018 Wooden Legacy are Fresno State (Mountain West Conference), Hawai’i (Big West) LaSalle (Atlantic 10), Miami (Atlantic Coast), Northwestern (Big Ten), Seton Hall (Big East) and Utah (Pac-12).  Except for Miami, the other six schools will be competing in their first Wooden Legacy event.

Miami, which won its last two games in the 2013 Wooden Legacy after losing in their opening contest in overtime, Northwestern and Seton Hall competed in the 2017 NCAA Championship, while Fresno State and Utah were NIT participants last March.

The Wooden Legacy was formed in June 2013 when the John R. Wooden Classic was merged with the Anaheim Classic, which was an eight-school bracketed event played for six years (2007-2012) at the Anaheim Convention Center.  The Wooden Classic was staged 19 years (1994-2012) at Honda Center with the first 17 events being college doubleheaders.  Utah played in the 1996 and 2000 Wooden Classics against Arizona and USC, respectively.

The Wooden Legacy is one of several in-season eight-school bracketed college basketball tournaments owned and operated by ESPN Events, a subsidiary of ESPN, that have been staged since 2006.  Miami’s appearance in the 2018 Wooden Legacy will be its ninth as the Hurricanes have captured ESPN Events’ titles at the 2007 and 2015 Puerto Rico Tip-Offs and the 2009 and 2014 Charleston Classics.

Hawai’i will be competing in its 10th ESPN Events tournament with the 2018 Wooden Legacy being their first away from Honolulu where the Rainbows have hosted the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic since 2009.  Hawai’i and Miami are competing together in the 2017 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic and will meet in a first-round game December 22 on the Rainbow’s home floor.

While Fresno State will be competing in their first-ever tournament operated by ESPN Events, LaSalle (second), Northwestern (second), Seton Hall (fifth) and Utah (fourth) have previous participations in the in-season tournaments.  Northwestern won its only previous ESPN appearance by defeating Seton Hall in the finals of the 2011 Charleston Classic.