Great Alaska Shootout
The Great Alaska Shootout is an annual women's college basketball tournament in Anchorage, Alaska that features host University of Alaska Anchorage and three visiting NCAA Division I teams. The four-team tournament resumed in 2022 following a four-year layoff. The women's Shootout was started in 1980 and ran through 1997 as the Northern Lights Invitational, featuring either four- or eight-team fields and playing at the UAA Sports Center. Following a one-year absence, the tournament was renamed and run along with the men's Great Alaska Shootout every Thanksgiving week from 1999 to 2017. The tournament was held at Sullivan Arena from 1999 to 2013 and moved to the Alaska Airlines Center in 2014.
In 2022, the four-team women's tournament was reborn with co-sponsorship by Arctic Slope Regional Corporation and ConocoPhillips Alaska.
Men's history
The University of Alaska Anchorage hosted the tournament every Thanksgiving from 1978 to 2017. Tournament games were played at the Alaska Airlines Center, a new arena on the UAA campus, from 2014 to 2017. Prior to that, games were played at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage from 1983 to 2013 and at Buckner Field House on Fort Richardson from 1978 to 1982. The men's tournament included eight teams.The tournament was one of the longest-running tournaments in college basketball history, lasting for 40 years, and brought the highest level of basketball to Alaska. The Shootout was held Thanksgiving weekend.
Under National Collegiate Athletic Association rules, teams are normally limited to approximately 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 version of the rule allowed for all games played outside the United States mainland to be exempt from the then-27-game limit. This version was partly responsible for the genesis of tournaments such as Great Alaska Shootout.
The Great Alaska Shootout began in 1978 as the brainchild of former UAA men's basketball coach Bob Rachal. Raycom Sports first picked up the broadcast rights to the tournament in 1979, and ESPN began broadcasting it in 1985.
On August 26, 2017, it was announced that the 2017 men's Shootout would be the last. The University of Alaska Anchorage stopped funding it as newer tournaments were drawing away top teams to warmer locations.
Past champions, runners-up and MVPs
Men's tournament
The following table indicates the winners, runners-up and tournament most valuable players.| Year | Winner | Score | Opponent | Tournament MVP |
| 1978 | North Carolina State | 72–66 | [1978–79 1978–79 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team|Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team|Louisville] | Clyde Austin, NC State |
| 1979 | [1979-80 1996–97 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team|Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team|Kentucky] | 57–50 | [1979–80 2016–17 Iona Gaels men's basketball team|Iona Gaels men's basketball team|Iona] | Jeff Ruland, Iona |
| 1980 | [1980-81 1980-81 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team|North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team|North Carolina] | 64–58 | [1980-81 1980-81 Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball team|Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball team|Arkansas] | Scott Hastings, Arkansas |
| 1981 | Southwestern Louisiana | 81–64 | [1981-82 2001–02 Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball team|Marquette Warriors men's basketball team|Marquette] | Steve Burtt, Iona |
| 1982 | Louisville | 80–70 | Vanderbilt | Lancaster Gordon, Louisville |
| 1983 | North Carolina State | 65–60 | Arkansas | Joe Kleine, Arkansas |
| 1984 | UAB | 50–46 | [1984-85 1988–89 Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team|Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team|Kansas] | Steve Mitchell, UAB |
| 1985 | North Carolina | 65–60 | UNLV | Brad Daugherty, North Carolina |
| 1986 | [1986–87 1986–87 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team|Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team|Iowa] | 103–80 | Northeastern | Roy Marble, Iowa |
| 1987 | [1987–88 1987–88 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team|Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team|Arizona] | 80–69 | [1987–88 2000–01 Syracuse Orangemen basketball team|Syracuse Orangemen men's basketball team|Syracuse] | Sean Elliott, Arizona |
| 1988 | Seton Hall | 92–81 | Kansas | Chris Mills, Kentucky |
| 1989 | [1989–90 1989–90 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team|Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team|Michigan State] | 73–68 | Kansas State | Steve Smith, Michigan State |
| 1990 | [1990–91 1990–91 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team|UCLA Bruins men's basketball team|UCLA] | 89–74 | Virginia | Don MacLean, UCLA |
| 1991 | Massachusetts | 68–56 | Jim McCoy, Massachusetts | |
| 1992 | [1992-93 1992-93 New Mexico State Aggies basketball team|New Mexico State Aggies basketball team|New Mexico State] | 95–94 | Illinois | Sam Crawford, New Mexico State |
| 1993 | [1993–94 1993–94 Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball team|Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball team|Purdue] | 88–73 | Glenn Robinson, Purdue | |
| 1994 | [1994–95 1994–95 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team|Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team|Minnesota] | 79–74 | BYU | Townsend Orr, Minnesota |
| 1995 | [1995–96 1998–99 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team|Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team|Duke] | 88–81 | Iowa | Ray Allen, Connecticut |
| 1996 | Kentucky | 92–65 | [1996-97 College of Charleston Cougars men's basketball|College of Charleston Cougars men's basketball team|College of Charleston] | Ron Mercer, Kentucky |
| 1997 | North Carolina | 73–69 | Purdue | Antawn Jamison, North Carolina |
| 1998 | Cincinnati | 77–75 | Duke | William Avery, Duke |
| 1999 | Kansas | 84–70 | Drew Gooden, Kansas | |
| 2000 | Syracuse | 84–62 | Missouri | Preston Shumpert, Syracuse |
| 2001 | Marquette | 72–63 | Gonzaga | Dwyane Wade, Marquette |
| 2002 | College of Charleston | 71–69 | Troy Wheless, College of Charleston | |
| 2003 | 78–68 | Duke | Kenneth Lowe, Purdue | |
| 2004 | [2004–05 2004–05 Washington Huskies men's basketball team|Washington Huskies men's basketball team|Washington] | 79–76 | Alabama | Nate Robinson, Washington |
| 2005 | Marquette | 92–89 | South Carolina | Steve Novak, Marquette |
| 2006 | California | 78–70 | Loyola Marymount | Ryan Anderson, California |
| 2007 | [2007–08 2007–08 Butler Bulldogs men's basketball team|Butler Bulldogs men's basketball team|Butler] | 81–71 | Texas Tech | Mike Green, Butler |
| 2008 | [2008-09 2008-09 San Diego State Aztecs men's basketball team|San Diego State Aztecs men's basketball team|San Diego State] | 76–47 | Hampton | Kyle Spain, San Diego State |
| 2009 | [2009-10 2009-10 Washington State Cougars men's basketball team|Washington State Cougars men's basketball team|Washington State] | 93–56 | San Diego | Klay Thompson, Washington State |
| 2010 | St. John's | 67–58 | Arizona State | Justin Brownlee, St. John's |
| 2011 | [2011–12 2011–12 Murray State Racers men's basketball team|Murray State Racers men's basketball team|Murray State] | 90–81 | Southern Mississippi | Isaiah Canaan, Murray State |
| 2012 | [2012–13 2012–13 Charlotte 49ers men's basketball team|Charlotte 49ers men's basketball team|Charlotte] | 67–59 | Northeastern | Pierria Henry, Charlotte |
| 2013 | [2013–14 2013–14 Harvard Crimson men's basketball team|Harvard Crimson men's basketball team|Harvard] | 71–50 | TCU | Wesley Saunders, Harvard |
| 2014 | Colorado State | 65–63 | [2014–15 2014–15 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's basketball team|UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's basketball team|UC Santa Barbara] | Alan Williams, UC Santa Barbara |
| 2015 | Middle Tennessee | 78–70 | [2015–16 2015–16 Toledo Rockets men's basketball team|Toledo Rockets men's basketball team|Toledo] | Nathan Boothe, Toledo |
| 2016 | Iona | 75–73 | Nevada | Sam Cassell Jr, Iona |
| 2017 | [2017–18 2017–18 Central Michigan Chippewas men's basketball team|Central Michigan Chippewas men's basketball team|Central Michigan] | 75–72 | Cal State Bakersfield | Shawn Roundtree, Central Michigan |
Women's tournament
The following table indicates the winners, runners up and tournament MVPs.1Tournament was played in a round robin format.
2The tournament was moved to earlier in the season beginning in the 1994–95 season; hence the first 1994 tournament corresponds to the 1993–94 season and the second tournament to the 1994–95 season.