Phil Knight Basketball Tournament: Legacy And Future

who is phil knight basketball tournament

The Phil Knight Invitational is a college basketball tournament honouring the contributions of Nike co-founder Phil Knight to the sport. The tournament has been held three times in Portland, Oregon, with the most recent iteration taking place in November 2022. The event has included both men's and women's teams, with 32 games played across the men's and women's brackets. The tournament is hosted by ESPN and Rip City Management and features some of the nation's top basketball programmes.

Characteristics Values
Date November 24–27, 2022
Location Portland, Oregon
Venues Chiles Center, Moda Center, Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Organizers ESPN Events, Rip City Management
Teams 16 men's teams, 8 women's teams
Format Tournament-style, two brackets each for men and women
Championships Men's PKI, Women's PKI, Men's Phil Knight Legacy, Women's Phil Knight Legacy

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Phil Knight Invitational (PKI) 2022

The Phil Knight Invitational (PKI) is a college basketball tournament held in honour of Nike co-founder Phil Knight. The 2022 edition, also known as PK85, was held in Portland, Oregon, from November 24 to 27, 2022, to celebrate Knight's 85th birthday.

The tournament featured 16 teams, including some of the nation's top men's and women's college basketball programs. The teams were divided into two brackets, with eight men's teams and four women's teams each competing in a tournament-style format. The games were played across three venues in Portland: the University of Portland's Chiles Center, the Moda Center, and Veterans Memorial Coliseum (VMC).

The men's bracket included teams such as Alabama, Connecticut, Iowa State, Michigan State, North Carolina, Oregon, Portland, and Villanova. The women's bracket featured teams such as Iowa State, Michigan State, North Carolina, and Oregon. The tournament was a three-day bracketed event, with the teams playing a total of 32 games.

The addition of women's teams to the 2022 Phil Knight Invitational was a significant development, as it marked the first time that women's teams were included in the tournament. This change reflected a broader celebration of college basketball and Phil Knight's impact on the sport.

The 2022 Phil Knight Invitational was highly anticipated, with CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein describing it as "one of the premier college basketball tournaments of the 2022-23 season." The tournament format ensured that each team played three games, with single-session tickets for the games made available in July 2022.

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Phil Knight Legacy 2022

The Phil Knight Invitational is a college basketball event held in Portland, Oregon, to celebrate Nike co-founder Phil Knight. The 2022 edition of the tournament, the Phil Knight Legacy, took place from November 24 to November 27, 2022, and, for the first time, included separate tournaments for women's teams alongside the men's teams. The events took place across three venues in Portland: the University of Portland's Chiles Center, the Moda Center, and Veterans Memorial Coliseum (VMC).

The Phil Knight Legacy tournament featured an eight-team men's bracket and a four-team women's bracket. The men's tournament included Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Oregon State, Portland State, Purdue, West Virginia, and Xavier. The women's tournament featured Connecticut, Duke, Iowa, and Oregon State. The men's and women's teams played three and two games, respectively, all in a bracket-style format.

The Phil Knight Legacy tournament was hosted by Rip City Management and televised on ESPN platforms. The tournament schedule was published in July 2022, with the following confirmed for the Moda Center:

  • Thursday, November 24: four PKI Men's Quarterfinal games (split into two, two-game sessions)
  • Friday, November 25: four Phil Knight Legacy Men's games (two Semifinals and two Consolation games, split into two, two-game sessions)
  • Sunday, November 27: four Championship games (split into two, two-game sessions): PKI Men's Championship, PKI Women's Championship, Phil Knight Legacy Men's Championship, and Phil Knight Legacy Women's Championship.

The Phil Knight Invitational tournament is known for its high-quality teams, with the 2017 tournament featuring 14 former National Champions and three of the Final Four participants from the 2017 NCAA tournament. The 2022 edition of the tournament continued this trend, with the men's bracket featuring 10 of the previous 16 National Champions.

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Phil Knight Invitational 2019

The Phil Knight Invitational is a college basketball event held in Portland, Oregon, to celebrate Nike co-founder Phil Knight. The inaugural event was announced by Nike and ESPN on March 6, 2019, and took place on November 12, 2019, at the Moda Center. The event honoured Knight's impact on the game and his contributions to college basketball.

The 2019 tournament was a one-day, four-team invitational featuring Memphis, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Oregon State. The event consisted of only two games: Oregon defeated Memphis, and Oklahoma defeated Oregon State.

The Phil Knight Invitational was initially known as the PK-80 Invitational in 2017, a 16-team, two-bracket college basketball tournament. All participating teams had a business relationship with Nike. The event included teams from the Power Five conferences of FBS football, with two teams each from the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12, and SEC. Additionally, two teams each from non-football conferences, the Big East and the West Coast Conference, were involved.

The 2019 Phil Knight Invitational served as the inaugural event, with the annual tournament slated to continue through 2021. The event organisers, ESPN Events, Rip City Management, and Rose Quarter, aimed to build upon the success of the PK80 and host a celebration of Phil Knight's impact on college basketball.

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PK-80 Invitational 2017

The PK-80 Invitational, also known as the Phil Knight Invitational, is a college basketball tournament honouring Nike co-founder Phil Knight. The 2017 version of the event was a 16-team, two-bracket tournament held in Portland, Oregon, during Thanksgiving week (November 23–26). The tournament was one of the largest regular-season tournaments in college basketball history, with games split between the Rose Quarter's Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The 16 teams that participated in the tournament were: Arkansas, Butler, Connecticut, Duke, Florida, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Portland, Portland State, Stanford, and Texas. The teams were divided into two eight-team brackets, the Victory Bracket and the Motion Bracket, with each team playing three games. The brackets ran simultaneously in the two arenas, with two bracket champions crowned at the end.

The Victory Bracket featured Michigan State, Georgetown, North Carolina, Portland, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Oregon, and Connecticut. Michigan State won the Victory Bracket, defeating North Carolina 63-45 in the championship game. Other notable results in this bracket included Oklahoma defeating Oregon 90-80 and Arkansas defeating Connecticut 102-67.

The Motion Bracket included Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Texas, Butler, Stanford, Ohio State, and Portland State. The Duke Blue Devils won the Motion Bracket, beating the Florida Gators 87-84 in the championship game. Notable results in this bracket included Duke's comeback victory over Texas in overtime and Florida's double-overtime win over Gonzaga.

The tournament was considered one of the best in-season tournaments ever due to the quality of the teams participating, with 10 of the previous 14 National Champions and three of the Final Four participants from the 2017 NCAA tournament taking part.

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Phil Knight's impact on basketball

Phil Knight is a co-founder of Nike and a 2012 Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame inductee. His impact on basketball has been celebrated through the Phil Knight Invitational (PKI), a college basketball tournament held in his honour. The tournament is hosted by ESPN Events and has been held three times in Portland, Oregon, most recently in November 2022.

The Phil Knight Invitational is a multi-team tournament featuring some of the top men's and women's college basketball teams in the nation. The 2022 event included 16 men's teams and eight women's teams, playing a total of 32 games over three days. The teams were divided into two separate brackets: the Victory and Motion Brackets. The tournament included several prominent college basketball programs, including Duke, North Carolina, Gonzaga, and Oregon.

The tournament is known for its high-quality teams and has been called the "best in-season tournament ever". The 2017 version of the event, also known as the PK-80 Invitational, was held to celebrate Phil Knight's 80th birthday. It featured 16 teams, all with a business relationship with Nike, and included teams from the Power Five conferences of FBS football and two non-football conferences.

In addition to the PKI, there is also the Phil Knight Legacy tournament, which is hosted by Rip City Management. This tournament also includes men's and women's brackets and is played in a similar format to the PKI. The Phil Knight Legacy tournament is held in conjunction with the PKI during Thanksgiving week, with both tournaments honouring Phil Knight's contributions to the sport of basketball.

Through the Phil Knight Invitational and Phil Knight Legacy tournaments, Phil Knight's impact on basketball is recognised and celebrated by bringing together some of the best college basketball teams and showcasing their talent on a national stage.

Frequently asked questions

The Phil Knight Invitational is a college basketball event held in Portland, Oregon, to celebrate Nike co-founder Phil Knight.

The tournament was first held in 2017 to celebrate Phil Knight's 80th birthday.

The tournament has been held thrice so far, in 2017, 2019, and 2022.

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