Main Event (college basketball)

Main Event (college basketball)

Formerly	MGM Grand Main Event (2014) Men Who Speak Up Main Event (2015–2016) MGM Resorts Main Event (2017–2019) Men's Vegas Bubble (2020) Roman Main Event (2021)
Sport	College Basketball
Founded	2014
Ceased	2023
Owner	bdG Sports
No. of teams	4
Country	United States
Venues	Heavyweight Bracket T-Mobile Arena (2017–present) MGM Grand Garden Arena (2014–2016) Middleweight Bracket Ed W. Clark High School (2019) Cox Pavilion (2018) T-Mobile Arena (2017) MGM Grand Garden Arena (2014–2016)
Last champion	San Diego State
Broadcasters	ESPN (2021–2022) ESPN2, ESPNU (2014–2019, 2021–present) FloHoops (2020) ESPN+ (2023–present)
Sponsor	Continental Tire
Related competitions	Ball Dawgs Classic
Official website	Continental Tire Main Event

The Continental Tire Main Event (formerly known as the MGM Grand Main Event, Men Who Speak Up Main Event, MGM Resorts Main Event, Roman Main Event, Men's Vegas Bubble ^[1] ) was a four-team college basketball tournament held during Monday and Wednesday of Thanksgiving week of the NCAA Division I men's basketball season, with the inaugural tournament beginning in 2014.

Tournament format

The tournament originally featured two four-team brackets (labeled Heavyweight and Middleweight) with each team playing two games in Las Vegas. Members of the Heavyweight bracket each host at least one member of the Middleweight bracket on campus before the tournament. Since the Middleweight bracket's dissolution in 2021, the tournament continues to find opponents for members of the formerly named Heavyweight bracket to host on campus that would have played in the Middleweight bracket.

While the Heavyweight bracket pool always features four teams, the Middleweight bracket pool's size is variable, ranging from as little as two teams to as many as five. Despite this, only up to four teams in the Middleweight bracket pool played in Las Vegas. Since 2021, two teams that would have played in the Middleweight bracket each play two Heavyweight opponents before facing each other on campus.

Tournament champions

Year	Team	Bracket
2014	Oklahoma State	Heavyweight
	Round Robin – No Winner	Middleweight
2015	Creighton	Heavyweight
	Howard	Middleweight
2016	Valparaiso	Heavyweight
	Round Robin – No Winner	Middleweight
2017	UNLV	Heavyweight
	Prairie View A&M	Middleweight
2018	Arizona State	Heavyweight
	Utah Valley	Middleweight
2019	Colorado	Heavyweight
	Round Robin – No Winner	Middleweight
2020	Baylor	-
2021	Arizona	−
2022	Virginia	−
2023	San Diego State	−

Brackets

* – Denotes overtime period

2023 – Continental Tire Main Event ^[2]

	First Round November 17 ESPN+/ESPN2					Championship November 19 ESPN2
	Saint Mary's		54
	San Diego State		79
						San Diego State		100*
						Washington		97
	Washington		74
	Xavier		71
						Consolation November 19 ESPN+
						Saint Mary's		49
						Xavier		66

2022 – Continental Tire Main Event

	First Round November 18 ESPN2/ESPNU					Championship November 20 ESPN
	5	Baylor	79
	16	Virginia	86
						16	Virginia	70
						19	Illinois	61
	19	Illinois	79
	8	UCLA	70
						Consolation November 20 ESPN
						5	Baylor	80
						8	UCLA	75

Campus-game contender(s): Norfolk State beat Monmouth 64–59.

2021 – Roman Main Event

	First Round November 19 ESPNU/ESPN2					Championship November 21 ESPN
		Arizona	82*
		Wichita State	78
							Arizona	80
						4	Michigan	62
	4	Michigan	74
		UNLV	61
						Consolation November 21 ESPN2
							Wichita State	74
							UNLV	73

Campus-game contender(s): North Dakota State beat Tarleton State 54–53.

2020 – Men's Vegas Bubble

The event had a unique format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also adopted the temporary name "Men's Vegas Bubble" and aired on FloHoops. Despite including Baylor as the 2020 champion, no other records from this year are included in the tournament's history and records page. ^[3]

Schedule

Date	Time	Winner	Loser	Score
November 28	1 p.m.	Air Force	CSUN	66–61
	5 p.m.	Baylor	Louisiana	112–82
November 29	12 p.m.	Seattle	Air Force	63–45
	3 p.m.	Baylor	Washington	86–52
November 30	2 p.m.	CSUN	Seattle	76–65
December 1	1 p.m.	Cal Riverside	Washington	57–42
WINNERS ARE IN BOLD. Game times in Pacific Time.

2019 – MGM Resorts Main Event

Heavyweight Bracket

	First Round November 24 ESPN3/ESPN2					Championship November 26 ESPN2
	23	Colorado	56
		Wyoming	41
						21	Colorado	71
							Clemson	67
		Clemson	62*
		TCU	60
						Consolation November 26 FloSports
							Wyoming	47
							TCU	64

Middleweight Bracket

	Detroit Mercy	UC Irvine	Louisiana
Detroit Mercy	—	86–74	62–81
UC Irvine	74–86	—	92–67
Louisiana	81–62	67–92	—

2018 – MGM Resorts Main Event

Heavyweight Bracket

	First Round November 19 ESPNU/ESPN3					Championship November 21 ESPNU
		Arizona State	72
	15	Mississippi State	67
							Arizona State	87
							Utah State	82
		Saint Mary's	63
		Utah State	80			Consolation November 21 BD Global
						15	Mississippi State	61
							Saint Mary's	57

Middleweight Bracket

	First Round November 19					Championship November 21
		Utah Valley	72
		Hartford	65
							Utah Valley	87
							Long Beach State	72
		Iona	85
		Long Beach State	86			Consolation November 21
							Hartford	75
							Iona	80

Campus-game contender(s): McNeese State (Iona did not play any campus games.)

2017 – MGM Resorts Main Event ^[4]

Heavyweight Bracket

	First Round November 20 AT&T Sportsnet Rocky Mountain AT&T Sportsnet					Championship November 22 ESPN2
		UNLV	95
		Rice	68
							UNLV	85
							Utah	58
		Utah	83
		Ole Miss	74			Consolation November 22 ESPNU
							Rice	62
							Ole Miss	79

Middleweight Bracket

	First Round November 20 Flohoops.com					Championship November 22 Flohoops.com
		Prairie View A&M	80
		Eastern Kentucky	70
							Prairie View A&M	71
							Georgia State	56
		Georgia State	68
		Eastern Washington	50			Consolation November 22 Flohoops.com
							Eastern Kentucky	62
							Eastern Washington	83

2016 – Men Who Speak Up Main Event ^[5]

Heavyweight Bracket

	First Round November 21 YouTube					Championship November 23 ESPN2
	Saint Louis		62
	BYU		92
						BYU		89
						Valparaiso		92
	Alabama		60
	Valparaiso		68			Consolation November 23 YouTube
						Saint Louis		57
						Alabama		62

Middleweight Bracket

	Ball State	Coppin State	Coastal Carolina	Southern Utah
Ball State	—	79–77	—	94–83
Coppin State	77–79	—	59–89	—
Coastal Carolina	—	89-59	—	83–68
Southern Utah	94–83	—	68–83	—

2015 – Men Who Speak Up Main Event ^[6]

Heavyweight Bracket

	First Round November 23 YouTube					Championship November 25 ESPN2
	Clemson		65
	UMass		82
						UMass		76
						Creighton		97
	Creighton		85
	Rutgers		75			Consolation November 25 ESPN2
						Clemson		76
						Rutgers		58

Middleweight Bracket

	First Round November 23					Championship November 25
	UTSA		84
	Central Arkansas		98
						Central Arkansas		54
						Howard		73
	Texas Southern		81
	Howard		87			Consolation November 25
						UTSA		80
						Texas Southern		91

2014 – MGM Grand Main Event ^[7]

Heavyweight Bracket

	First Round November 24 ESPN3/ESPNU					Championship November 26 ESPN2
		Oregon State	53
		Oklahoma State	66
							Oklahoma State	73
							Tulsa	58
		Auburn	35
		Tulsa	53			Consolation November 26 ESPN3
							Oregon State	69
							Auburn	71

Middleweight Bracket

On October 6, 2014, the Middleweight Bracket was revised to a round-robin format. ^[8]

	Milwaukee	Louisiana–Lafayette	Oral Roberts
Milwaukee	—	56–52	66–69
Louisiana–Lafayette	52–56	—	76–52
Oral Roberts	69–66	52–76	—

References

1. "Men's Vegas Bubble".
2. "San Diego State, Xavier, Washington & Saint Mary's headed to Vegas for Continental Tire Main Event". continentaltiremainevent.com. June 24, 2023. Archived from the original on June 25, 2023.
3. "HISTORY & RECORDS". Archived from the original on August 11, 2022.
4. "2017 Main Event schedule & brackets announced". bdGlobal. Archived from the original on September 14, 2013. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
5. "2016 Main Event schedule & brackets announced". bdGlobal. August 15, 2016. Retrieved August 27, 2016.^{[ dead link ]}
6. "2015 Main Event schedule & brackets announced". bdGlobal. Archived from the original on June 23, 2016. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
7. "bd Global announces 2014 MGM Grand Showcase & Main Event". bd global. July 23, 2014. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
8. "Revised Middleweight Bracket schedule announced". mgm.bdglobalsports.com. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2014.

External links

• Event's Official Website
• Event's Official Twitter Account