Graduate of the University of Wisconsin. Games will be played at the Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
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The PK80 – which celebrates the Nike co-founder’s 80th birthday – will be played in Portland, Oregon. All are Nike-affiliated schools. Nike is a great partner, and we are excited to join some of college basketball’s most successful programs in Portland next year.
One of the largest college basketball regular-season tournaments scheduled in college basketball history, the tournament will feature Duke, North Carolina, Michigan State, Connecticut, Arkansas, Butler, Florida, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Portland, Portland State, Stanford and Texas. The Pac-12 schools were chosen because those are the two institutions where Knight earned degrees.
Arkansas will join a field that will compete in a pair of eight-team brackets and will crown a pair of champions from November 23-26, 2017. The list of teams in each of the two brackets and possible matchups will be released later this fall, according to ESPN Events vice president Clint Overby. All 24 games will be televised on ESPN networks. Each tournament will be split so that only one team from a given conference is represented in each.
North Carolina coach Roy Williams added, “I’ll always cherish my friendship with [Knight]”.
“Phil Knight has been a visionary and innovator for a long time”, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
The PK80 will likely dwarf other early-season Thanksgiving week events in 2017.
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“On behalf of the 16 schools participating in PK80, we are honored to be highlighting Mr. Knight’s contributions to college basketball”, said Clint Overby, vice president, ESPN Events.
