Nike announced that the Ohio State Buckeyes are set to take part in a 16-team early season tournament called PK80 - a celebration of Nike founder Phil Knight's 80th birthday - that will take place from Nov. 23-26 in 2017.
Ohio State is being joined in the event by Arkansas, Butler, Connecticut, Duke, Florida, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Michigan State, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Portland, Portland State, Stanford and Texas.
“We are thrilled to be part of the PK80 basketball tournament in Portland next season," Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said in a statement. "The Nike brand has had an enormous impact on collegiate athletics. Being part of such a prestigious event that honors Mr. Knight was very important to The Ohio State University.”
The event is being held in Portland, with games being played at the Moda Center and at Veteran's Memorial Coliseum. The 16 teams will be separated into two eight-team brackets, with each team being guaranteed to play three games. This format allowed for two teams from the same conference to participate in the event, but they will not play each other - meaning Ohio State will not face Michigan State in a pre-Big Ten matchup. All of the games will be televised by ESPN.
“On behalf of the 16 schools participating in PK80, we are honored to be highlighting Mr. Knight’s contributions to college basketball,” Clint Overby, vice president of ESPN Events, said in a press release. “The strength of the field coupled with the two venues in Portland set the stage for what should be an exciting weekend.”
Ohio State has taken part in the CBS Sports Classic each of the past two seasons, resulting in games against North Carolina in 2014 and Kentucky in 2015. They will face UCLA in Las Vegas as part of the tournament this season, but their agreement to that even expires after this season.
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