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

ESPN Events - PositiveThe 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.

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