The SoCal Challenge was an eight-team

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

tournament held during Monday and Wednesday of

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

week of the NCAA Division I men's basketball season, with the inaugural tournament taking place in 2021. Following games held at campus sites, teams were placed into either the Sand Division or the Surf Division and compete for the tournament title in their division. Semifinal and final games were held at The Pavilion at JSerra in

San Juan Capistrano, California San Juan Capistrano (also known colloquially as San Juan or SJC) is a city in southern Orange County, California, United States. The population was 35,253 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census. Named for Saint John of Capistrano, San Ju ...

. Each of the games played on campus in the days leading up to the main event involved one team from each division. The event was hosted by the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

. The final tournament was held in 2023.

Brackets

2023

The

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

tournament featured one

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

team: Cal State Bakersfield from the host Big West Conference as well as California from the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

. On-campus games were hosted by the team listed second below. Following the on-campus games, teams were placed into either the Sand Division or the Surf Division without regard to the outcome of those games. Division semifinal winners met in the finals. Following the tournament, the SoCal Showcase matched California and San Diego State.

On-campus games

''Game recaps:''

Sand Division

''Game recaps:'' KiAndre Gaddy of Tarleton State was named most valuable player for the Sand Division.

Surf Division

''Game recaps:'' Malevy Leons of Bradley was named most valuable player for the Surf Division.

Showcase

''Game recap:'' * – Denotes overtime period

2022

The

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

tournament featured two Southern California teams: Cal State Northridge from the host Big West Conference and California Baptist, as well as Minnesota from the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. On-campus games were hosted by the team listed second below. Following the on-campus games, teams were placed into either the Sand Division or the Surf Division without regard to the outcome of those games. Division semifinal winners met in the finals. A four-game boys' high school basketball showcase event was held at the tournament site two days before the main tournament began.

On-campus games

''Game recaps:''

Sand Division

''Game recaps:'' Jaden House of High Point was named most valuable player for the Sand Division.

Surf Division

''Game recaps:'' * – Denotes overtime period Keshon Gilbert of UNLV was named most valuable player for the Surf Division.

2021

The

inaugural In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inau ...

tournament featured Cal Poly from the host Big West Conference, three other schools located in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and TCU from the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

event was held two weekends before the men's basketball tournament began.

On-campus games

''Game recaps:'' * – Denotes overtime period

Sand Division

''Game recaps:'' * – Denotes overtime period

Fardaws Aimaq Fardaws Aimaq (born January 6, 1999) is a Canadian professional basketball player for Lietkabelis Panevėžys of the LKL and the EuroCup. He previously played for the Mercer Bears, Utah Valley Wolverines, Texas Tech Red Raiders, and California ...

of Utah Valley was named most valuable player for the Sand Division.

Surf Division

''Game recaps:'' Orlando Robinson of Fresno State was named most valuable player for the Surf Division.

References

External links

SoCal Challenge
{{Thanksgiving College basketball competitions College men's basketball competitions in the United States Recurring sporting events established in 2021 2021 establishments in California Basketball in California