The Great Alaska Shootout: Held Nov. 20-24, this event attracts some of the best collegiate talent from around the country.

• Author: Pilkington, Steve
• Position: Alaska This Month

To anyone not tuned to the NCAA basketball scene, Alaska seems an unlikely place to witness firsthand some of the best collegiate talent from teams like Duke, North Carolina or Arizona. For years, however, some of basketball's biggest names have jumped at the chance for a shot at the title in a uniquely northern tournament, the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout. For anyone who has seen it in the past, it's a memorable spectacle.

Now in its 24th year, the Shootout is promising another great series of games this month, with this season's rosters of top-notch Division I drafts and veterans. The Shootout has an impressive history. Although organizers and fans know convincing the NCAA to allow the annual tournament is a constant struggle, a look at the event's past shows the collegiate basketball season wouldn't be the same without it.

Nate Sagan, who provides sports information for the University of Alaska, compiled a smart history of the tournament, chronicling the humble beginnings of the Shootout and where it has been since it first took place under another name.

"The Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout began as a dream of Bob Rachal, who coached the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves during the 1977-'78 season. Rachal, who died of cancer in 1985, wanted to put a fledgling UAA basketball program on the map and do it in style," Sagan wrote. "With a personality reminiscent of a 19th Century riverboat gambler, he parlayed a NCAA rule that said games outside the contiguous 48 states didn't count against your normal allotment of 28. And the lure of Alaska itself (draws) into a winning hand."

Rachal banked on the hope that the university and Anchorage could attract big name teams to a new tournament and found coaches eager to use three "free" games against their heaviest competitors. The first Sea Wolf Classic was in November of 1978 in the 4,000-seat Buckner Field House at Fort Richardson.

"Each two-game session drew a disappointing average of only 2,500 people, until fans filled the gym to capacity on Sunday night to see the Wolfpack from North...