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Each year, during the first few weeks of the new season, college basketball fans are given an early taste of how beautiful life is going to be once March rolls around. The handful of early season tournaments across the country gives us four of the most beautiful words in the English language: weekday afternoon live sports. They also typically give us several high-profile games, the results of which only increase in value as the season rolls along.
With the fields set for each of the major 2017 early season tournaments, let’s count down the 10 best, starting with a newcomer.
10. Puerto Rico Tip-Off
When: Nov. 16-17, 19
Where: Fajardo, Puerto Rico
Teams: Appalachian State, Boise State, Illinois State, Iowa State, South Carolina, Tulsa, UTEP, Western Michigan
Bracket has not been released
A year after crashing the Final Four, South Carolina gets an early chance to show that life without Sindarius Thornwell and P.J. Dozier might not be as bad as most are predicting. UTEP is also in the field, which throws in the possibility of Tim Floyd doing something wacky. That’s always fun.
9. Cayman Islands Classic
When: Nov. 20-22
Where: Grand Cayman
Teams: Louisiana, Iowa, Buffalo, Cincinnati, UAB, Richmond, Wyoming, South Dakota State
Cincinnati, which should start the season ranked somewhere around the top 15, is the headliner here. The Bearcats squaring off against Iowa in the title game could make for some interesting, if not aesthetically pleasing, early season viewing.
8. Charleston Classic
When: Nov. 16-17, 19
Where: Charleston, S.C.
Teams: Auburn, Clemson, Dayton, Temple, Hofstra, Indiana State, Old Dominion, Ohio
Bracket not yet released
If Dayton and Clemson meet at any point in the tournament, then the Charleston Classic will become the Oliver Purnell Classic. I won’t have it referred to in any other manner.
7. 2K Classic Benefiting Wounded Warrior Project
When: Nov. 16-17
Where: New York/Nashville/Campus Sites
Teams: Virginia Tech, St. Louis, Providence, Washington
This event reallllly could have used Lorenzo Romar hanging on for another year so it could feature Michael Porter Jr. Instead it will have to rely on Virginia Tech being a potential top-25 team and St. Louis having some talented young players.
6. Legends Classic
When (championship round only): Nov. 20-21
Where (championship round only): Brooklyn
Teams (championship round only): Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Pittsburgh
Robert Williams stunned everyone last spring by announcing that he would be returning to Texas A&M and not become a likely lottery pick in the NBA draft. His return should make the Aggies a top-four team in the SEC, and it should allow them to take care of business in these two games at the Barclays Center. If they don’t, that’s some early cause for concern.
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5. Diamond Head Classic
When: Dec. 22-23, 25
Where: Honolulu
Teams: USC, Miami, Hawai’i, Akron, Davidson, Middle Tennessee State, New Mexico State, Princeton
This one makes the top five solely for the potential of a USC-Miami showdown in the championship game. If that matchup doesn’t happen, then this tournament won’t be worth your time.
4. Hall of Fame Classic
When (championship round only): Nov. 21-22
Where (championship round only): Kansas City
Teams (championship round only): Creighton, UCLA, Baylor, Wisconsin
Not to be confused with the Hall of Fame Tip-Off, the Hall of Fame Classic will play early round games on campus sites during the first two weeks of the regular season before Creighton, UCLA, Baylor, and Wisconsin head to Kansas City for the semifinals and championship. Though these three games might not be quite as exciting as they would have been a year ago, they still involve four teams that should eventually play their way into the NCAA tournament.
3. Maui Invitational
When: Nov. 20-22
Where: Lahaina, Hawai’i
Teams: Marquette, VCU, Wichita State, California, Notre Dame, Chaminade, Michigan, LSU
For casual sports fans who flip on the Maui Invitational every Thanksgiving week simply to avoid having to interact with family, this might be the least inspiring field they’ve seen since 2003. Even so, it has three potential preseason top 25 teams in Wichita State, Notre Dame, and Michigan, and the Shockers could easily be ranked in the top 10 by the time they head to Lahaina. Also, spending two hours (or at least 10 minutes) cheering for Chaminade is a holiday tradition that demands respect.
2. Battle 4 Atlantis
When: Nov. 22-24
Where: Paradise Island, Bahamas
Teams: Arizona, Villanova, NC State, Western Kentucky, Northern Iowa, Purdue, SMU, Tennessee
Bracket has not been released
The Battle 4 Atlantis field may not be quite as deep in 2017 as it’s been in past years, but there will still be plenty of reasons to try and find the AXS TV channel so you can watch the late night quarterfinal action on Day 1.
For starters, you’ve got the likely preseason No. 1 team in the country in Arizona coming in to serve as the headliner. On the opposite side of the bracket will probably be Villanova, another likely top-10 team which won the national title two years ago and was the NCAA tournament’s No. 1 overall seed last March. Purdue returns four of five starters from a Sweet 16 team, SMU should once again be a force in the American, and Western Kentucky has one of the top-10 freshmen in the country in big man Mitchell Robinson.
1. Phil Knight Invitational
When: Nov. 23-24, 26
Where: Portland
Teams: North Carolina, Portland, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Georgetown, Michigan State, Oregon, Connecticut, Duke, Portland State, Florida, Gonzaga, Stanford, Ohio State, Butler, Texas
The Maui Invitational and the Battle 4 Atlantis will both have to take a temporary backseat in 2017. The reason is the Phil Knight Invitational, a 16-team mega tournament created to celebrate the 80th birthday of Nike co-founder Phil Knight. The event will feature two eight-team tournaments, a setup that made it possible to attract power teams from the same conference without there being a fear of them having to square off against one another.
Ten of the 16 teams involved in the tournament have won a national championship, and in total, the group has amassed 23 national titles. The field features three of last season’s Final Four teams, including national finalists North Carolina and Gonzaga. Every game of the tournament will be broadcast on one of the ESPN family of networks, which means even less work than usual will be accomplished this Thanksgiving week.