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(s) | bdG Sports |
| No. of teams | 4 |
| Country | United States |
| Venue(s) | 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(s) | San Diego State |
| TV partner(s) | ESPN (2021-2022) ESPN2, ESPNU (2014-2019, 2021-present) FloHoops (2020) ESPN+ (2023-present) |
| Sponsor(s) | 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 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, with the inaugural tournament beginning in 2014.
Tournament Format
[edit ]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
[edit ]| 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
[edit ]* – Denotes overtime period
November 17
ESPN+/ESPN2 Championship
November 19
ESPN2
November 19
ESPN+
2022 - Continental Tire Main Event
[edit ]November 18
ESPN2/ESPNU Championship
November 20
ESPN
November 20
ESPN
Campus Game Contender(s): Norfolk State beat Monmouth 64-59
2021 - Roman Main Event
[edit ]November 19
ESPNU/ESPN2 Championship
November 21
ESPN
November 21
ESPN2
Campus Game Contender(s): North Dakota State beat Tarleton State 54-53
2020 - Men's Vegas Bubble
[edit ]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
[edit ]| Date | Time | Winner | Loser | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 28 | 1 PM | Air Force | CSUN | 66-61 |
| 5 PM | Baylor | Louisiana | 112-82 | |
| November 29 | 12 PM | Seattle | Air Force | 63-45 |
| 3 PM | Baylor | Washington | 86-52 | |
| November 30 | 2 PM | CSUN | Seattle | 76-65 |
| December 1 | 1 PM | Cal Riverside | Washington | 57-42 |
| WINNERS ARE IN BOLD. Game Time in Pacific Time. | ||||
2019 - MGM Resorts Main Event
[edit ]Heavyweight Bracket
[edit ]November 24
ESPN3/ESPN2 Championship
November 26
ESPN2
November 26
FloSports
Middleweight Bracket
[edit ]| 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
[edit ]Heavyweight Bracket
[edit ]November 19
ESPNU/ESPN3 Championship
November 21
ESPNU
Middleweight Bracket
[edit ]November 19
Championship
November 21
Campus Game Contender(s): McNeese State (Iona did not play any Campus Games.)
Heavyweight Bracket
[edit ]Middleweight Bracket
[edit ]November 20
Flohoops.com Championship
November 22
Flohoops.com
Heavyweight Bracket
[edit ]Middleweight Bracket
[edit ]| 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 | — |
Heavyweight Bracket
[edit ]Middleweight Bracket
[edit ]November 23 Championship
November 25
November 25
Heavyweight Bracket
[edit ]November 24
ESPN3/ESPNU Championship
November 26
ESPN2
Middleweight Bracket
[edit ]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
[edit ]- ^ "Men's Vegas Bubble".
- ^ "San Diego State, Xavier, Washington & Saint Mary's headed to Vegas for Continental Tire Main Event". 24 June 2023. Archived from the original on June 25, 2023.
- ^ "HISTORY & RECORDS". Archived from the original on August 11, 2022.
- ^ "2017 Main Event schedule & brackets announced". bdGlobal. Archived from the original on September 14, 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
- ^ "2016 Main Event schedule & brackets announced". bdGlobal. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2016.[dead link ]
- ^ "2015 Main Event schedule & brackets announced". bdGlobal. Archived from the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
- ^ "bd Global announces 2014 MGM Grand Showcase & Main Event". bd global. 23 July 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
- ^ "Revised Middleweight Bracket schedule announced". Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.