Great Alaska Shootout
The Great Alaska Shootout (originally known as the Sea Wolf Classic) is an annual college basketball tournament in Anchorage, Alaska that features colleges from all over the United States. The University of Alaska Anchorage hosts the tournament every Thanksgiving. Tournament games are played at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage. Prior to the Sullivan Arena opening in 1983, games were played at Buckner Fieldhouse. The men's tournament, held annually since 1978, includes eight teams while the women's tournament, held annually since 1980, has four participants.
Under NCAA rules teams are normally limited to 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 incarnation of this rule allowed for all games played outside the United States mainland to be exempt from the (then) twenty-seven game limit. This version of the rule was partially responsible for the genesis of tournaments such as the Great Alaska Shootout.
The men's tournament field has included at least one team which would qualify for the NCAA Division I tournament later in the season during each of its 29 editions. The 1985 field included an event record six teams that would go on to be invited to the NCAA tournament. Five times the tournament field has included the defending NCAA Champion, most recently in 1996 when the University of Kentucky took part in the tournament.
The 2007 men's tournament (scheduled for November 20 through November 24) will feature Butler, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Michigan, Texas Tech, Virginia Tech, Western Kentucky, and host school Alaska Anchorage. Yale, Xavier, Washington State, and Liberty had all agreed to play in the tournament but subsequently dropped out. Bradley, Cleveland State, Santa Clara and defending champion Alaska Anchorage will comprise the 2007 women's field.
Past Champions
Men:
- 1978 - North Carolina State Wolfpack
- 1979 - Kentucky Wildcats
- 1980 - North Carolina Tar Heels
- 1981 - Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) Ragin' Cajuns
- 1982 - Louisville Cardinals
- 1983 - North Carolina State Wolfpack
- 1984 - UAB Blazers
- 1985 - North Carolina Tar Heels
- 1986 - Iowa Hawkeyes
- 1987 - Arizona Wildcats
- 1988 - Seton Hall Pirates
- 1989 - Michigan State Spartans
- 1990 - UCLA Bruins
- 1991 - Massachusetts Minutemen
- 1992 - New Mexico State Aggies
- 1993 - Purdue Boilermakers
- 1994 - Minnesota Golden Gophers
- 1995 - Duke Blue Devils
- 1996 - Kentucky Wildcats
- 1997 - North Carolina Tar Heels
- 1998 - Cincinnati Bearcats
- 1999 - Kansas Jayhawks
- 2000 - Syracuse Orangemen (now Orange)
- 2001 - Marquette Golden Eagles
- 2002 - College of Charleston Cougars
- 2003 - Purdue Boilermakers
- 2004 - Washington Huskies
- 2005 - Marquette Golden Eagles
- 2006 - California Golden Bears
External links
| The University of Alaska Ad Summum |
||
|---|---|---|
 |
Fairbanks |
Alaska Agricultural and Forestry Experiment
Station · Geophysical Institute · Poker Flat Research Range |
| Anchorage |
College of Education · UAA/APU
Consortium Library · Alvin S. Okeson Library · Carolyn Floyd Library |
|
| Southeast |
Egan Library · Whalesong · Tidal Echoes |
|
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
