Sport | Men's & women's college basketball |
---|---|
Founded | 1978 |
Ceased | 2017 |
No. of teams | 4 (women's) |
Country | United States |
Venue(s) | Alaska Airlines Center, Anchorage, Alaska |
Official website |
The ASRC/ConocoPhillips Great Alaska Shootout is an annual women's college basketball tournament in Anchorage, Alaska that features host University of Alaska Anchorage and three visiting NCAA Div. I teams. The four-team tournament resumed in 2022 following a four-year layoff. The women's Shootout was started in 1980 and ran through 1997 as the Northern Lights Invitational, featuring either four- or eight-team fields and playing at the UAA Sports Center. Following a one-year absence, the tournament was renamed and run along with the men's Great Alaska Shootout every Thanksgiving week from 1999 to 2017. The tournament was held at Sullivan Arena from 1999 to 2013 and moved to the Alaska Airlines Center in 2014.
Now co-sponsored by Arctic Slope Regional Corporation and ConocoPhillips Alaska, the 2022 tournament is being held Nov. 18–19 at the Alaska Airlines Center. The 2022 field features host Alaska Anchorage (an NCAA Div. II program) against NCAA Div. I programs UC Riverside, La Salle and Pepperdine.
The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) hosted the tournament every Thanksgiving from 1978 to 2017. Tournament games were played at the Alaska Airlines Center, a new arena on the UAA campus, from 2014 to 2017. Prior to that, games were played at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage from 1983 to 2013 and at Buckner Field House on Fort Richardson from 1978 to 1982. The men's tournament included eight teams (with the exception of a six-team field in 2009).
The tournament was one of the longest-running tournaments in college basketball history, lasting for 40 years, and brought the highest level of basketball to Alaska. The Shootout was held Thanksgiving weekend. [1]
Under National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules, teams are normally limited to approximately 28 regular-season games. However, games in "exempted events," traditionally played early in the season, are not counted against that limit. The most recent policy from the NCAA in this regard allows all teams to play in one exempted event per season. Those teams who choose to take advantage of that opportunity may play up to thirty-one games per season, including games played in those exempted events but excluding postseason tournament games. A previous version of the rule allowed for all games played outside the United States mainland to be exempt from the then-27-game limit. This version was partly responsible for the genesis of tournaments such as Great Alaska Shootout.
The Great Alaska Shootout began in 1978 as the brainchild of former UAA men's basketball coach Bob Rachal. Raycom Sports first picked up the broadcast rights to the tournament in 1979., [2] and ESPN began broadcasting it in 1985.
On August 26, 2017, it was announced that the 2017 Shootout would be the last. The University of Alaska Anchorage stopped funding it as newer tournaments were drawing away top teams to warmer locations. [1]
The following table indicates the winners, runners-up and tournament most valuable players (MVPs). [3]
The following table indicates the winners, runners up and tournament MVPs. [4]
1Tournament was played in a round robin format.
2The tournament was moved to earlier in the season beginning in the 1994–95 season; hence the first 1994 tournament corresponds to the 1993–94 season and the second tournament to the 1994–95 season.
The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) is a public university in Anchorage, Alaska. UAA also administers four community campuses spread across Southcentral Alaska: Kenai Peninsula College, Kodiak College, Matanuska–Susitna College, and Prince William Sound College. Between the community campuses and the main Anchorage campus, roughly 15,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students are currently enrolled at UAA. It is Alaska's largest institution of higher learning and the largest university in the University of Alaska System. The university is classified among "Master's Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs" with an additional classification for Community Engagement.
Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion is an indoor arena in the northwest United States, on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. It serves as home to several of the university's sports teams, known as the Washington Huskies of the Pac-12 Conference.
The George M. Sullivan Arena is a 6,290-seat arena in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. The arena is named after former Anchorage mayor George M. Sullivan. It is owned by the Municipality of Anchorage and operated by O'Malley Ice & Sports, who operates the Ben Boeke Ice Rink. The Sullivan Arena sits in the southwest region of Fairview, a neighborhood in Anchorage. The arena opened in 1983 and sits just east of Mulcahy Stadium as part of the Chester Creek Sports Complex. Sullivan Arena hosted the 1989 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships along with the Harry J. McDonald Memorial Center in Eagle River.
The Alaska School Activities Association (ASAA) is the regulating body for high school interscholastic activities in Alaska and is Alaska's member to the National Federation of State High School Associations.
Buckner Fieldhouse is a 3,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Fort Richardson, Alaska, near Anchorage.
The Empire Classic, formerly known as the 2K Sports Classic, is an annual college basketball event played in November at the beginning of the season and televised by ESPN. Originally known as the Atlantic City Shootout and produced by the Gazelle Group, Inc., the event was first played in 1995. The following year, it became the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic as a collaboration between the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the American Cancer Society in an effort to raise funds for cancer research. In 2012, the tournament beneficiary became Wounded Warrior Project, resulting in the tournament being renamed the 2K Sports Classic. A new annual college basketball tournament benefiting cancer research, also called the Coaches Vs. Cancer Classic and hosted by the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, was held from 2012 to 2014. In 2019, the event was renamed the 2K Empire Classic Benefiting Wounded Warrior Project, commonly referred to as the "Empire Classic."
The UNLV Rebels are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The Rebels compete in the NCAA Division I as a member of the Mountain West Conference. The school's colors are scarlet and gray. It was founded in 1958 for basketball in Paradise, Nevada. It did not have a nickname for Nevada Southern at the time from 1958 to 1968.
The DirecTV Classic was an eight-team college basketball tournament held during Thanksgiving week at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. The tournament began in 2007, and was owned and operated by ESPN Regional Television. Games were televised on ESPN2 and ESPNU. Until 2012, it was known as the "76 Classic"; ConocoPhillips's 76 chain owned the naming rights to the tournament. DirecTV sponsored the 2012 tournament. In 2013, the event merged with the Wooden Classic to form a new event, the Wooden Legacy.
The following is a list of sporting venues, events, and teams based in Alaska.
The Alaska Anchorage Seawolves men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents the University of Alaska Anchorage. The Seawolves were an original member of the now defunct men's division in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). They played at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to the Seawolf Sports Complex on campus at the start of the 2019–20 season.
The Alaska Airlines Center is a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Anchorage, Alaska. It is located on the campus of the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) and adjacent to Providence Alaska Medical Center (PAMC).
The 2012 Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout was the 34th Great Alaska Shootout, the annual college basketball tournament in Anchorage, Alaska that features colleges from all over the United States. The event is scheduled from November 20, 2012, through November 24, 2012, with eight colleges and universities participating in the men's tournament and four universities participating in the women's tournament. Most of the games in the men's tournament were televised on the CBS Sports Network.
The Alaska Anchorage Seawolves are the 13 varsity athletic teams that represent the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), in Anchorage, Alaska, United States, in NCAA intercollegiate sports. The vast majority of UAA's athletic teams are in NCAA Division II, with the exception of the women's gymnastics and men's ice hockey teams, which are members of Division I.
Matthew Thomas Lojeski is an American-Belgian former professional basketball player who last played for AEK Athens of the Greek Basket League and the Basketball Champions League. He also represents the senior men's Belgian national basketball team. Standing at 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m), and weighing 92 kg (203 lbs.), he plays at the shooting guard and small forward positions.
The Portland State Vikings women's basketball team represents Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. The school's team competes in the Big Sky Conference, and plays its games in the Viking Pavilion, a 3,094-seat arena that opened for the 2018-2019 season. Portland State are currently the defending conference tournament champions.
The 2016 GCI Great Alaska Shootout was the 38th Great Alaska Shootout, the annual college basketball tournament that features colleges from all over the United States. All games were played at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage, Alaska. The event took place November 23 through November 26, 2016 with eight schools participating in the men's tournament and four in the women's tournament. The men's first round, semifinals, and championship game were televised on CBS Sports Network. Iona won the men's tournament, defeating Nevada 75–73. In the women's tournament, USC defeated Portland.
The 2016–17 San Jose State Spartans men's basketball team represented San Jose State University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Spartans, led by fourth year head coach Dave Wojcik, played their home games at the Event Center Arena as members of the Mountain West Conference. They finished the season 14–16, 7–11 in Mountain West play to finish in a tie for eighth place. They lost in the first round of the Mountain West tournament to Utah State.
The 2017 GCI Great Alaska Shootout was the 39th and last edition of the Great Alaska Shootout, an annual college basketball tournament that featured colleges from all over the United States. All games were played at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage, Alaska. The event took place November 21 through November 25, 2017 with eight schools participating in the men's tournament and four in the women's tournament. The men's first round, semifinals, and championship game were televised on CBS Sports Network. Central Michigan won the men's tournament, defeating Cal State Bakersfield. In the women's tournament, Alaska Anchorage defeated Tulsa.
The 2018–19 Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners men's basketball team represented California State University, Bakersfield in the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Roadrunners were led by eighth-year head coach Rod Barnes and competed at the Icardo Center. CSU Bakersfield was a member of the Western Athletic Conference. They finished the season 18–16, 7–9 in WAC play to finish in a tie for fifth place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the WAC tournament to Texas–Rio Grande Valley. They were invited to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament where they defeated Cal State Fullerton in the first round to win the Riley Wallace Classic and defeated Southern Utah in the second round before losing in the quarterfinals to Green Bay.
The Avis Alaska Sports Complex is a multi-purpose complex on the campus of the University of Alaska Anchorage in Anchorage, Alaska. Its ice arena, named the Chuck Homan Ice Rink, seats 800 and is the current home of the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves men's ice hockey team.