Vegas Showdown (basketball) facts for kids

The Vegas Showdown is an exciting yearly basketball competition for college men's teams. It started in 2013 and was first called the Wooden Legacy. The tournament was named after a famous basketball coach, John Wooden. His UCLA Bruins teams won 10 national championships between 1964 and 1975.

History and Format

The Wooden Legacy began in 2013. It combined two older events: the Wooden Classic and the DirecTV Classic.

From 2013 to 2019, eight teams played in the Wooden Legacy. It was a three-day tournament with 12 games. The games were shown on ESPN channels. For the first few years (2013-2016), the first two rounds were played at Titan Gym in Fullerton. The final games took place at the Honda Center in Anaheim. From 2017 to 2019, all games were held at Titan Gym.

In 2020, the tournament planned to change. It would become a two-day event with only four teams. All games were supposed to be at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim. However, a worldwide health situation (the COVID-19 pandemic) caused the 2020 tournament to be canceled.

The new four-team, two-day format finally started in 2021. The semifinal and championship games were shown on ESPN2. The game for third place was on ESPNU. In 2023, the event got a new name: the Vegas Showdown.

Tournament Results

• – Denotes overtime period

2024 Tournament

The 2024 Vegas Showdown was a special "showcase" event. It happened on Tuesday, November 26, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. As part of the Showdown, some teams also played games at their home campuses later that week. For example, Seattle played Duke, and Furman played Kansas.

Campus Games

2023 Tournament

The 2023 tournament was held from November 23–24 at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas. This was the first year it was called the Vegas Showdown.

Usage

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2022 Tournament

The 2022 tournament took place on November 23 and 24, 2022.

Usage

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2021 Tournament

The 2021 tournament was held on November 25 and 26.

Usage

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| Team-Width = 
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| RD2        = 
| RD3        = 

| RD1-seed1  = 
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| RD1-team2  = 
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| RD1-seed3  = 
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| RD1-seed4  = 
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| RD2-seed1  = 
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| RD2-seed2  = 
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| RD3-seed1  = 
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| RD3-seed2  = 
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2020 Tournament (Canceled)

Several teams, including Georgetown, Kansas, UCLA, and Virginia, were set to play in the 2020 Wooden Legacy. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some teams had to withdraw. ESPN tried to move the tournament to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, to keep everyone safer. However, in late October 2020, ESPN decided to cancel all its college basketball tournaments for that year, including the Wooden Legacy.

2019 Tournament

The 2019 tournament was the last one to feature eight teams. It took place from November 28 to December 1.

See also

In Spanish: John R. Wooden Classic para niños