The tournament consisted of eight National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams that did not receive bids to the NCAA tournament or the NIT.
Games were played at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Paradise, Nevada.
[1] The 8-team field for the inaugural Vegas 16 tournament was unveiled on March 14, 2016.
While organizers had originally aimed to have a 16-team field, a decision was made to cut the size to 8 teams, stating that due to the results of conference tournaments, "we were hesitant to just fill out the bracket with 'available teams,' so by choosing quality over quantity, we settled on eight teams, many of which were considered for an NIT berth.
"[2] [3] Trey Freeman of Old Dominion was named the tournament most valuable player.