Main Event (college basketball)

Main Event (college basketball)
FormerlyMGM 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)
SportCollege Basketball
Founded2014
Owner(s)bdG Sports
No. of teams4
CountryUnited 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)
Most recent
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 websiteContinental 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]) is a 4 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

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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

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* – Denotes overtime period

2023 - Continental Tire Main Event[2]

[edit]
First Round
November 17
ESPN+/ESPN2
Championship
November 19
ESPN2
Saint Mary's54
San Diego State79
San Diego State100*
Washington97
Washington74
Xavier71
Consolation
November 19
ESPN+
Saint Mary's49
Xavier66

2022 - Continental Tire Main Event

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First Round
November 18
ESPN2/ESPNU
Championship
November 20
ESPN
5Baylor79
16Virginia86
16Virginia70
19Illinois61
19Illinois79
8UCLA70
Consolation
November 20
ESPN
5Baylor80
8UCLA75

Campus Game Contender(s): Norfolk State beat Monmouth 64-59

2021 - Roman Main Event

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First Round
November 19
ESPNU/ESPN2
Championship
November 21
ESPN
Arizona82*
 Wichita State78
 Arizona80
4Michigan62
4Michigan74
 UNLV61
Consolation
November 21
ESPN2
 Wichita State74
 UNLV73

Campus Game Contender(s): North Dakota State beat Tarleton State 54-53

2020 - Men's Vegas Bubble

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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

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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

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Heavyweight Bracket

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First Round
November 24
ESPN3/ESPN2
Championship
November 26
ESPN2
23Colorado56
 Wyoming41
21Colorado71
 Clemson67
 Clemson62*
 TCU60
Consolation
November 26
FloSports
 Wyoming47
 TCU64

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

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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

[edit]
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]

[edit]

Heavyweight Bracket

[edit]
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

[edit]
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]

[edit]

Heavyweight Bracket

[edit]
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

[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

2015 - Men Who Speak Up Main Event[6]

[edit]

Heavyweight Bracket

[edit]
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

[edit]
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]

[edit]

Heavyweight Bracket

[edit]
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

[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

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