FanHouse

The Top Of the World Classic will be no more, according to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks ... which hosted the event.

"The decision to cancel this year's tournament was not of our making or of our choice," tournament director Brian Hove said. "The escalation in appearance fees precipitated by the 2006 NCAA rule change has effectively priced the Classic out of the market."

Before 2006, there were 10 certified preseason basketball tournaments in the country, including the Top of the World Classic and the University of Alaska Anchorage's Great Alaska Shootout.

Rule changes in 2006 allowed any institution to host a multiple-team event; there were 45 held last year.

Unless you worked late hours, a stoner, or a fan of a school that was participating, you probably never watched the TOTW Classic. Major programs saw no reason to go all the way up to Alaska to play in a tournament that even their well-traveled fans won't attend. Smaller programs saw no reason to spend money to go up to Alaska when they could now get the same sorts of money by traveling to a nearby tournament.

They couldn't even field a tournament this year. They originally had Stanford, Morehead State and Chattanooga signed on ... but Morehead State and Chattanooga paid a buy-out to play in events closer to home. Bradley, Central Florida and Austin Peay all agreed to joining the tournament, but they were still three teams short of holding the event.

They couldn't even find another team to make it a smaller, six-team dance.