A10fan2

To celebrate Phil Knight's birthday in 2017. I bet these teams change between now and 2017. It's good to be a Nike school though. Great company to keep.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...or-phil-knight

Committed schools:

Kentucky (SEC)

Florida (SEC)

Michigan State (Big Ten)

Ohio State (Big Ten)

Duke (ACC)

North Carolina (ACC)

Connecticut (Big East)

Georgetown (Big East)

Texas (Big 12)

Oklahoma (Big 12)

Stanford (Pac-12)

Oregon (Pac-12)

Xavier (A-10)

Butler (A-10)

Gonzaga (WCC)

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Muddy's from 2009

He has since made the same "prediction" this year. CLASSIC

xavierhoops

Very impressive list, and great for both Xavier and Butler programs. This is the work of Michigan St AD Mark Hollis as a "thank you" to Knight for all Nike does for the elite Nike programs. Hollis said this will be "the greatest in-season basketball even of all time."

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Chris Mack in 3 years at Xavier has had twice the NCAA wins (4) of the entire Dayton coaching staff in the modern era of NCAA basketball (2).

MudFlap

Hell of a line-up. Like a mini NCAA for some great programs.

clark1a

Next thing you know, there'll be a "Sonny Vacaro Invitational".
Anymore blatant?

Where have you gone Chuck Taylor?

ace93

Ha, ha. No, really can't get any more blatant than that.

DistrictBaller

Very cool. It's nice to see Butler and Xavier representing the A-10 in this event.

__________________
"We will wreak havoc on our opponent's psyche and plan of attack."
- VCU Head Coach Shaka Smart

A10fan2

What brand uni's does VCU wear?

__________________
Muddy's from 2009

He has since made the same "prediction" this year. CLASSIC

DistrictBaller

We're Nike as well.

__________________
"We will wreak havoc on our opponent's psyche and plan of attack."
- VCU Head Coach Shaka Smart

X-band '01

If it makes people feel better, I'm pretty sure that X isn't "Hyper Elite" - if that were the case, we'd probably see hideous unis that NE schools like Syracuse, Ohio State and Duke wear right now.

xudash

We're in the Elite Group. The HE group is comprised of:

"The nine teams all have won National Championships in Nike footwear and apparel. The programs donning the Nike Hyper Elite Platinum uniforms in 2012 include The University of Arizona, Baylor University (women’s), Duke University, University of Florida, University of Kentucky, Syracuse University, The University of Connecticut (men’s and women’s) and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill."

I presume Butler is in the Elite Group as well.

DistrictBaller

VCU is a Nike Elite school as well as of 2011. George Mason was the other Nike Elite school in the CAA.

__________________
"We will wreak havoc on our opponent's psyche and plan of attack."
- VCU Head Coach Shaka Smart

BigE

if Phil does not make it to 80
will it be cancelled
or
will it become a memorial tourney

bprichard

What an impressive field. Except Oklahoma. I know they've had some great teams in the past, but they've been awful lately.

paulxu

I get that there are two teams from each big conference, and they added Xavier/Butler and Gonzaga/Portland to round it out to 16 teams.

Portland because it's in Portland.
Oregon because it's there and big time ties to Nike.

But Stanford? Why not UCLA? Or Arizona...a hyperelite school?

(side bar fun: Sean Miller watches while Mack takes the Buick to this tournament...assuming Mack is still at X then. Not a good assumption based on recent history.)

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...he went up late, and I was already up there.

bprichard

The Pac 12 has been such a mess lately that it seems difficult to predict the future, although Arizona or UCLA do seem like much surer bets. (Although from a quick Google search, it appears that UCLA is an Adidas school, so they're out.) So Arizona seems like they should have been the choice.

I think Mack will probably be gone by then. If he somehow gets Xavier to the second week of the tournament this season, I bet a lot of schools will be taking a run at him immediately. Just getting to the tournament might be enough honestly.