Nike mega-tournament explains why we're in the AAC (not really)

[huskiesNhoos]

For whatever reason I was thinking about the nike mega tournament that got agreed on a couple years ago, because I couldn't remember what year it was going to be (2017). We talked about it on the board here a while back, but just to rehash, it's two eight team tournaments of nike sponsored schools (duh).

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...s-commit-16-team-mega-event-honor-phil-knight

The only thing that could derail the tourny, or screw up the originally committed teams is changing sponsorship before then, or conference realignment. The rule for whatever reason (probably money) is that you can't have more than 2 teams from a conference. The teams listed by conference are:

ACC - Duke, UNC
SEC - UK, Florida
B10 - Mich st, Ohio st
B12 - Texas, Oklahoma
Pac12 - Oregon, Stanford
West Coast - Gonzaga, Portland
BE - Gtown, Butler, Xavier
AAC - UConn

clearly we couldn't stay in the big east, because they already have to kick one out now, and clearly we couldn't go in another conference otherwise they'd have to kick another team out (because obviously they'd keep us!). The question now is, who's going to fill that last spot in the tourney now that one of gtown, butler, xavier is getting the boot? what other AAC schools are Nike? Either way, I really hope this tourney still happens

 

[whaler11]

I'm guessing the reason you can't have more than 2 from a conference is to ensure teams from the same conference don't play each other.... two tournaments of 8 teams and all.

If they kick someone out the replacement doesn't need to come from the AAC.

 

[HooperScooper]

clearly we couldn't stay in the big east, because they already have to kick one out now, and clearly we couldn't go in another conference otherwise they'd have to kick another team out (because obviously they'd keep us!). The question now is, who's going to fill that last spot in the tourney now that one of gtown, butler, xavier is getting the boot? what other AAC schools are Nike? Either way, I really hope this tourney still happens

Would have to be SMU or Memphis.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

I'm guessing the reason you can't have more than 2 from a conference is to ensure teams from the same conference don't play each other.... two tournaments of 8 teams and all.

If they kick someone out the replacement doesn't need to come from the AAC.

I know, but the current list of teams would seem to dictate that's the direction they would go. Since SMU is going to be under investigation, I'd say Memphis would be more likely to get the nod

 

[tcf15]

Last year at the Battle 4 Atlantis, Georgetown and Butler were in the field as Big East members, and the reason that was okay was because the field had been determined before the NBE was formed. Think the field for the Nike tourney will remain as is.

 

[tcf15]

Also, this tournament was confirmed by in this Courant article a while back, so I think it's for sure going to happen: http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn...all-insider-mccarthy-0623-20150622-story.html

In the Bahamas this season, UConn is in a field that includes Syracuse, Michigan, Gonzaga, Texas, Washington. The Huskies will be in similarly strong fields in the Maui Invitational in 2016 and the Nike event in 2017.

 

[whaler11]

I know, but the current list of teams would seem to dictate that's the direction they would go. Since SMU is going to be under investigation, I'd say Memphis would be more likely to get the nod

Doubtful they kick someone out since they would only play for first or last if you put them on opposite sides.

If they do kick someone out I have a feeling they aren't going to ignore Nike schools from the A-10 or MWC or MVC because UConn happens to be in the AAC.

 

[Fishy]

I don't think anyone is dying to invite Memphis or SMU to anything. They're both train wrecks PR-wise.

They could bring in someone like Brigham Young or UNLV. I think they're Nike schools.

 

[CallMeBruce]

In all seriousness, one of the very few nice things about being in the AAC is that, for preseason tournaments where you can only have one team per league, we're going to be the obvious first choice in our league nearly every time, which leads to us getting some primo tournament spots.

Yeah, obviously I'd rather be in the ACC or B1G, but we might as well enjoy the delicious sides that come with the sandwich.