Countdown to Craziness 2016 is a month away, but now Blue Devil fans can already start looking forward to Duke's 2017 nonconference schedule.
Duke will play in the first PK80—Phil Knight Invitational along with 15 other teams during Thanksgiving weekend 2017 in Portland, Ore., the team announced Wednesday afternoon. The event will honor Knight, the Nike co-founder, ahead of his 80th birthday and take place at the Rose Quarter's Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
One of the largest college basketball regular-season tournaments scheduled in college basketball history, the tournament will feature Duke, North Carolina, Michigan State, Connecticut, Arkansas, Butler, Florida, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Portland, Portland State, Stanford and Texas. The event will feature two eight-team brackets, with each team playing three games and two bracket champions being crowned.
“Phil Knight has been a visionary and innovator for a long time,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a release. “PK80 is a unique way we can honor him and the contributions he has made not just to the game of basketball, but to all of sport.”
The Blue Devils' 2017 nonconference schedule already includes a game against the Spartans as part of the Champions Classic.
The PK80 tournament's field has nine of the past 13 national champions, with all 16 teams combining for 23 national titles and almost 90 Final Four appearances. Ten of the 16 teams have won at least one national championship.
ESPN will televise the event, and released a video to promote it Tuesday.
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