The Legends Classic is an annual, early-season, college basketball tournament which started in 2007 and takes place at the beginning of the college basketball season in November. Four teams (from four conferences) compete in the Legends Classic. The tournament has been held at various venues in the New York metropolitan area, primarily the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The Legends Classic began in 2007 with the first two events being played at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. In that first year, only the four regional-round hosts were guaranteed to play four games,[1] as Texas, Tennessee, West Virginia, and New Mexico State each hosted a pair of games, before advancing to the semifinals in Newark. Since the 2008–09 season, each team has been guaranteed to play four games.
In 2013, the field for the event decreased from 12 teams to 8 teams from eight separate conferences. Two games were held at four different regional sites selected before the tournament. Four teams advanced to the semifinals and finals at Barclays Center in New York City, while the remaining four teams played in a tournament format at a predetermined on-campus site.[1] After a showcase format was used in 2020, following the withdrawal of teams due to COVID-19-related issues, the size of the field was reduced to four, starting in 2021, with all games played at the same venue.
* – Denotes overtime period
The 2024 tournament took place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, on November 21 & 22, 2024.[2]
The 2023 tournament took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.[3] It took place on November 16 & 17, 2023.
The 2022 tournament took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn[4] The tournament took place from Wednesday, November 16 to Thursday, November 17, 2022.[5]
The 2021 tournament was set to return to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn but was played at the Prudential Center in Newark.[4] The tournament took place from Monday, November 22 to Tuesday, November 23, 2021.[6] Texas and UCLA were originally set to play, but were replaced by Georgia and Providence.[7][8]
The field for the tournament for the year 2020 initially included four teams instead of the usual eight due to COVID-19 concerns.[9] BYU replaced Notre Dame after they pulled out of the field.[10] Then later Vanderbilt withdrew from the tournament as well and the format for the competition was changed to a showcase format.[11] The location of the tournament was also relocated to the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.[12] The participants in the 2020 group included:
All games in the 2020 Tournament are televised on either ESPN or ESPN2.[13] Due to Notre Dame and Vanderbilt not participating in the tournament, the format was changed to a showcase format with the following results.[14]
MVP: Evan Mobley (USC)
All-Tournament Team: Julian Champagnie (St. John's), Alex Barcello (BYU), James Bouknight (UConn) and Keyontae Johnson (Florida).
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