New postseason Vegas 16 tourney only features 8 teams

Las Vegas – The Vegas 16 postseason college men’s basketball tournament has become the Vegas 8.

The new tournament to be played March 28-30 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas will feature eight teams instead of the originally announced 16. Organizers said Monday that they only wanted 16 teams if they could secure top-quality programs. After some unusual results in several conference tournaments, they were hesitant to fill out the bracket with just available teams.

The eight teams are Louisiana Tech (23-9), East Tennessee State (23-11), Tennessee Tech (19-11), Old Dominion (22-13), Northern Illinois (21-12), UC Santa Barbara (18-13), Oakland (21-11) and Towson (20-12).

Tournament chairman Jim Livengood says he’s confident the event will grow into a primary option for teams in postseason play because of its location, neutral site and its dates set two weeks after Selection Sunday.

The tournament will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.