All-College Basketball Classic Explained

The All-College Basketball Classic was a college basketball event that was played during the winter holidays in Oklahoma City from 1935 to 2016. The final events were held at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. The All-College followed a tournament format until 2000, it was replaced by non-conference games featuring the Oklahoma Sooners and Oklahoma State Cowboys. The All-College Basketball Classic preceded the NCAA, NIT, NAIA, and NBA tournaments.

The All-College Tournament was originally conceived by Henry P. Iba, the coach at Oklahoma A&M, and Bus Ham, sports editor of The Oklahoman. The original purpose of the tournament was to increase interest in high school basketball in Oklahoma, and thereby to improve the quality of the college teams in the state. The first tournament included 16 teams from Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, and was played at Classen High School; Oklahoma A&M won the first title game over Tulsa, 40–17. Two years later the tournament had grown to 32 teams.^[1] When the publisher of The Oklahoman made known its intention to end its sponsorship, the Oklahoma City All Sports Association was formed in 1957 to take over the tournament.^[2]

The size, sponsorship, and success of the tournament varied over the years, and it shrank to four teams in 1981.^[3] In 1999 it had what one report called "one of its worst fields ever" with three small college programs along with Oklahoma.^[4] The last traditionally-formatted tournament was played in 2000, with Oklahoma beating SMU 79–78 in the title game. Beginning in 2001, the event switched to a showcase format, with a pre-determined schedule and no title game.^[5] In 2013 the event included women's basketball for the first time, presenting a doubleheader featuring the Oklahoma State men's and women's teams each playing a game against an out-of-state foe.^[6]

Tournament champions

Year	Winner	Score	Opponent	Source
1936–37		40–17		[7]
1937		26–22
1938		33–25	Texas	[8]
1939		37–34	Texas Tech
1940		39–38
1941		37–31		[9]
1942		37–25
1943		31–27	Norman NAS	[10]
1944	Oklahoma A&M	43–34	Arkansas
1945	Oklahoma A&M	65–46		[11]
1946		42–39	Kansas
1947		32–31
1948	Oklahoma A&M	39–36
1949
1950	Oklahoma A&M	54–41
1951
1952		51–49	Idaho
1953		67–56
1954	San Francisco	73–57
1955		65–58	Oklahoma City
1956		70–69
1957
1958		75–59
1959		75–59
1960		76–74		[12]
1961		47–45		[13]
1962	Loyola Chicago	93–82
1963	Wichita	80–47
1964		67–60
1965		99–90
1966		82–81
1967		91–88
1968	LSU	94–91
1969		87–75
1970		97–81
1971		83–78
1972		101–89
1973		96–75
1974	Centenary	91–80
1975		80–78	Centenary
1976	VMI	69–58
1977	San Francisco	102–90
1978		63–58	Weber State
1979		80–70
1980		94–83	Idaho
1981		63–51
1982	Oklahoma State	76–64
1983	Oklahoma	87–62
1984	Oklahoma	84–72	Louisiana Tech
1985	Oklahoma	92–69
1986		95–82	Oklahoma
1987	Oklahoma	107–56	Illinois State
1988	Oklahoma	124–95	Texas
1989	Oklahoma	99–78
1990		112–99
1991	Oklahoma	78–73
1992		95–76
1993		95–76	Tulsa
1994	Oklahoma	76–61	Tulsa
1995		76–72	Oklahoma
1996	Tulsa	78–75	Oklahoma
1997	Oklahoma	79–61	Alabama
1998	Oklahoma	83–72
1999	Oklahoma	64–51
2000	Oklahoma	79–78

External links

• Official website

Notes and References

1. Volney Meece, "Iba, Ham Saw Good for Preps in All College", The Oklahoman, December 24, 1985.
2. Jim Stafford, "Made in Oklahoma: The Oklahoma City All Sports Association", The Oklahoman, May 31, 2005.
3. Darrell Morrow, "Basketball Tourney Aids OKC Economy", The Journal Record, December 18, 1992. ("Originally, it was a 32-team affair and it was played in high schools throughout Oklahoma City, then it was reduced to 16 teams and then it was reduced to eight. It was eight teams when we took over in 1957. In 1981, it became a four-team tournament because of the difficulty with the schools being restricted to playing a limited number of games.")
4. Berry Tramel, "City hoops tournament to change All-College organizers want to lure big teams", The Oklahoman, September 8, 2000.
5. Berry Tramel, "All-College Tournament enters new dimension", The Oklahoman, December 31, 2000.
6. John Helsley, "Oklahoma State basketball: All-College Classic to feature OSU-Louisiana Tech men, OSU-South Florida women", The Oklahoman, August 4, 2013.
7. Web site: 2023–24 OSU Men's Basketball Media Guide. Oklahoma State University athletics. 134. November 7, 2023. March 5, 2024.
8. Web site: 2023–24 Central Missouri Mules men's basketball record book. University of Central Missouri athletics. October 5, 2023. March 10, 2024.
9. Web site: 2023–24 WTAMU Men's Basketball Record Book. West Texas A&M athletics. November 1, 2023. March 10, 2024.
10. Web site: 2023–24 Oklahoma Men's Basketball Media Guide. Soonersports.com. 113. November 6, 2023. March 5, 2024.
11. Web site: 2023–24 Baylor Bears Men's Basketball Media Almanac. Baylor University athletics. 136–7. November 16, 2023. March 10, 2024.
12. Web site: 2023–24 Wichita State Shockers Men's Basketball Fact Book. Wichita State University athletics. 110. November 1, 2023. March 10, 2024.
13. Web site: 2023–24 Bowling Green Men's Basketball Record Book. Bowling Green athletics. June 1, 2023. March 10, 2024.