NASSAU, The Bahamas – A Top-25 showdown between Baylor and St. John’s tips off the opening game of the Continental Tire Baha Mar Championship on Thursday, Nov. 21 at Baha Mar in Nassau, Bahamas. CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein currently ranks Baylor No. 4 nationally in his preseason poll while St. John’s comes in at No. 24. The second opening-round game features No. 22 Tennessee versus Virginia in the fourth year of the tournament which now includes Continental Tire as title sponsor.
Continental Tire, headquartered in Fort Mill, South Carolina, has now partnered with tournament promoter bdG Sports on four events after sponsoring the Continental Tire Main Event tournament in Las Vegas, Continental Tire Challenge featuring Duke beating No. 1 Gonzaga before a record-breaking crowd in Las Vegas in 2021 and last season’s Continental Tire Motor City Invitational that saw Michigan State upset No. 6 Baylor in Detroit.
“Continental Tire is excited to be the title partner of the Baha Mar Championship, featuring the top-tier matchups between Baylor and St. John’s, as well as Tennessee and Virginia,” Senior Manager of Marketing for Continental Tire Brian Beierwaltes said. “This partnership reflects our dedication to supporting premier sporting events and delivering unforgettable experiences for fans. We look forward to being part of an exciting tournament and celebrating the excellence of college basketball.”
CBS Sports Network will televise the two-day, four-game event Nov. 21-22 at the Baha Mar Convention, Arts & Entertainment Center located on the grounds of the stunning Baha Mar resort. First-round action tips off Thursday, Nov. 21 when St. John’s battles Baylor beginning at 7 p.m. ET followed by Tennessee taking on Virginia at 9:30 p.m. The consolation game Friday, Nov. 22 begins at 7 p.m. followed by the championship game at 9:30 p.m.
The field boasts some of the top head coaches in men’s college basketball. The four mentors –
Hall of Famer Rick Pitino of St. John’s, Baylor’s Scott Drew, Virginia’s Tony Bennett and Tennessee’s Rick Barnes – have accumulated more than 115 years of combined head coaching experience while collecting four NCAA championships and more than 2,500 career victories.
Tennessee, winners of the Southeastern Conference three times in the past seven seasons, posted 27 wins, a league title and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament a year ago. Barnes enters his 38th season as a head coach in 2024-25 with more than 800 career wins, including 200-plus on Rocky Top.
Baylor registered 24 wins and tied for third in the Big 12 Conference in 2023-24 en route to its ninth NCAA Tournament appearance in the past 10 seasons. Author of one of the most remarkable rebuilding efforts in college basketball, 23rd-year head coach Drew has crafted Baylor into the second winningest program in the league over the past decade, highlighted by the Bears’ 2021 NCAA Championship title run.
St. John’s narrowly missed the NCAA Tournament in 2023-24 but claimed 20 wins and finished fifth in the Big East in Pitino’s first season leading the Red Storm. Now in his 37th season as a head coach, Pitino owns a pair of national titles (1996 at Kentucky; 2013 at Louisville), ranks as one of the winningest active coaches in the nation with 854 career victories at the college level, and has reinvigorated one of the sport’s winningest and most historic programs.
Virginia earned its school-record 13th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance after posting 23 wins and a third-place finish in the Atlantic Coast Conference last season. Four-time ACC Coach of the Year Tony Bennett, who guided the Cavaliers to the 2019 NCAA Championship, produces some of the top defensive squads in the nation every year.
Past winners of the Continental Tire Baha Mar Championship include Louisville (2021), UCF (2022) and Miami (2023).
LIMITED NUMBER OF VIP PACKAGES AND TICKETS REMAIN ON SALE
A limited number of VIP packages and general admission tickets for all games of the Continental Tire Baha Mar Championship remain on sale online at www.bahamarhoops.com. VIP package amenities include a minimum three-night stay at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar, two premium tickets to all games of the event, two tickets to the tournament’s VIP reception (Nov. 20) with dinner and open bar included, round-trip ground transportation from the airport and resort, two daily breakfast vouchers, welcome gifts and personal concierge service. (Airfare not included in the packages. A passport is required to enter the Bahamas.)
MORE THAN BASKETBALL AWAITS AT THE BEAUTIFUL BAHA MAR RESORT
The remarkable Baha Mar resort serves as the backdrop to this basketball showcase. Anchored by Grand Hyatt and featuring SLS Baha Mar and Rosewood Baha Mar, the resort is situated on 1,000 acres overlooking Nassau’s famous turquoise ocean waters. The destination resort boasts more than 2,300 rooms, the largest casino in the Caribbean, a $200 million luxury water park, an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course, the Caribbean’s first and only flagship ESPA Spa and a collection of more than 45 restaurants and lounges.
ABOUT BAHA MAR HOOPS
As part of Baha Mar Hoops, the resort annually welcomes 20 NCAA teams for three separate regular-season events each November as well as holds a summer league that offers NCAA teams exhibition games against international competition as part of a foreign tour.
The Continental Tire Baha Mar Championship is one of three events that make up Baha Mar Hoops taking place at the Baha Mar resort during each Thanksgiving holiday. The largest regular-season event in the sport of college basketball, the 2024 gathering for Baha Mar Hoops features 20 NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball teams, competing in 24 games over 11 days. The Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship (Nov. 25 and 27) features a pair of four-team bracketed tournaments complete with some the nation’s best programs. The Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship (Nov. 29-Dec. 1) crowns a winner among eight mid-major men’s programs.
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