NCAA Basketball: Way-too-early rankings of 2022 PK85 Invitational teams

It doesn’t even feel that long ago but one of the best NCAA Basketball non-conference early-season tournaments was created nearly five years ago. It was the PK80, also known as the Phil Knight Invitational in honor of Nike founder Phil Knight. It featured 16 programs affiliated with Nike, including some huge names such as Duke, Gonzaga, Florida, UConn, Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State, and Oregon, the “host” of the Portland-based event.

The 16 teams were divided into two different brackets to make sure that teams from the same conferences aren’t together. Last time around, the Duke Blue Devils and Michigan State Spartans won their respective brackets to go 3-0 and get a couple of big wins. But there were plenty of quality matchups featuring top-25 teams that made the event memorable.

And the good news is that we’re going to get it back, with another batch of elite programs set to participate.

Looking at those teams this season, there’s a legit chance the national champion will come from that group. And if you take away both Portland and Portland State from the mix, 12 of the 14 other programs are projected currently to make the NCAA Tournament.

But which of them are set to be a contender? Here’s a way-too-early look at what the rosters for the 2022-23 season will look like and who should be viewed as the favorite of the respective brackets.

Phil Knight Invitational Bracket – No. 8 Portland Pilots

Although they’re automatically last in the group as the non-Gonzaga mid-major team in the bracket, don’t underestimate the Pilots. They’re much improved under former Eastern Washington head coach Shantay Legans, already with more wins in WCC play (4) than the past three years combined (1).

Portland also has a fairly young roster, with the top four scorers all juniors. That includes Tyler Robertson, coming off a 30-point triple-double for the program. If he, Chris Austin, and Moses Wood all come back, they’ll be a tough out in this tournament.

7. Iowa State Cyclones

The Cyclones won just two games last season but already is at 17-9 this year under new head coach T.J. Otzelberger, thanks to a bevy of new transfers and impact freshman Tyrese Hunter. They’re led by leading scorer Izaiah Brockington (17.9 ppg) but he and Minnesota grad transfer  Gabe Kalscheur will be gone after this season, leaving Iowa State likely to have to rebuild again.

Although Hunter will be back as the leader, it remains to be seen how good the supporting cast will be. The 4-9 record in Big 12 play is an indicator of the team coming back to Earth and barring another couple of big-time transfers next offseason, likely will come back closer to Earth in 2022.