Main Event (college basketball)


The Continental Tire Main Event was a four-team college basketball tournament held during Monday and Wednesday of Thanksgiving week of the NCAA Division I men's basketball season, with the inaugural tournament beginning in 2014.

Tournament format

The tournament originally featured two four-team brackets 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

Brackets

* – Denotes overtime period

2023 – Continental Tire Main Event

2022 – Continental Tire Main Event

Campus-game contender: Norfolk State beat Monmouth 64–59.

2021 – Roman Main Event

Campus-game contender: North Dakota State beat Tarleton State 54–53.

2020 – Men's Vegas Bubble

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.

Schedule

2019 – MGM Resorts Main Event

Heavyweight Bracket

Middleweight Bracket

2018 – MGM Resorts Main Event

Heavyweight Bracket

Middleweight Bracket

Campus-game contender: McNeese State

2017 – MGM Resorts Main Event

Heavyweight Bracket

Middleweight Bracket

2016 – Men Who Speak Up Main Event

Heavyweight Bracket

Middleweight Bracket

2015 – Men Who Speak Up Main Event

Heavyweight Bracket

Middleweight Bracket

2014 – MGM Grand Main Event

Heavyweight Bracket

Middleweight Bracket

On October 6, 2014, the Middleweight Bracket was revised to a round-robin format.
MilwaukeeLouisiana–LafayetteOral Roberts
Milwaukee56–5266–69
Louisiana–Lafayette52–5676–52
Oral Roberts69–6652–76