Nike announces loaded 16-team Phil Knight Invitational for 2017
Nike announced a loaded 16-team field for the Phil Knight Invitational in 2017, a preseason tournament honoring the 80th birthday of the massive company's founder.
The event, which will be played from Nov. 23-26 in Portland, will feature 16 Nike-sponsored schools participating in two eight-team tournaments. Each eight-team tournament will crown one champion, and will take place in two different arenas at the same time.
Two teams from the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, Pac-12, and WCC will participate, with one school from the AAC and Big Sky rounding out the field.
| School | Conference |
|---|---|
| Duke | ACC |
| North Carolina | ACC |
| Georgetown | Big East |
| Butler | Big East |
| Michigan State | Big Ten |
| Ohio State | Big Ten |
| Texas | Big 12 |
| Oklahoma | Big 12 |
| Florida | SEC |
| Arkansas | SEC |
| Oregon | Pac-12 |
| Stanford | Pac-12 |
| Gonzaga | WCC |
| Portland | WCC |
| UConn | AAC |
| Portland State | Big Sky |
Other high-profile Nike schools such as Kentucky, Arizona, and Villanova couldn't make the event work due to scheduling conflicts.
Perennial powerhouses such as Duke, North Carolina, Michigan State, Florida, Gonzaga, UConn, Ohio State, and Texas will make the event one of the best preseason tournaments in recent memory. The announcement of the tournament field brought some high praise from those coaches involved.
"Phil Knight has been a visionary and an innovator for a long time," Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski said to ESPN's Andy Katz on Wednesday. "PK80 is a unique way we can honor him and the contributions he has made not just to the game of basketball, but to all of sport."
"We've never been a part of something this amazing, both in terms of quantity and quality of the teams," Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said.