Welcome to Feast Week, College Basketball’s first real marquee week of games. In the pre-NIL era of college sports, this week would’ve been headlined by the Maui Invitational. But the times have changed, and now this blockbuster week will focus on the massive Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. Plus, Maui still exists and we’ve got several other big events coming this week.
The Thanksgiving Feast
Players Era Festival – Nov. 24-27 in Las Vegas
Teams: Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Creighton, Gonzaga, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon, Rutgers, San Diego State, St. John’s, Syracuse, Tennessee, UNLV
There’s a bit of a funky format here, as the teams don’t play a true bracket. Each team gets two “group play” games, then they
match up teams based on their record and point differential for the final games on Wednesday and Thursday. However, the main reason these teams showed up is to grab the NIL check that is waiting for them upon getting into Vegas.
The two group play games that stand out to me already are Alabama vs Gonzaga (8:30p Monday) and Houston vs Tennessee (5:00p Tuesday). Gonzaga has looked like one of the best teams in the country to start the season, and they draw an Alabama team that will be looking to run against the Zags. Expect a fun, fast paced game between two like-minded teams in that one. The opposite will be true in the Houston and Tennessee matchup, as both of these teams would prefer to beat the crap out of each other for 40 minutes. This is also a great test for the freshmen in this game, Houston’s Kingston Flemings and Chris Cenac, and Tennessee’s Nate Ament. How will they handle the physicality? I can’t wait to find out.
The Dessert Table
Duke vs Arkansas – Nov. 27 in Chicago
The lone standalone game comes on Thanksgiving immediately after the CBS NFL game wraps. Most of you will probably tune into Chiefs at Cowboys, but I would recommend keeping tabs on this contest, too. The Blue Devils have had a very nice start to the season, coming off a good win against Kansas in the Champions Classic. Arkansas, meanwhile, nearly lost to Winthrop on their home court. Cam Boozer vs Darius Acuff is the main event here, but there’s enough athletes on the Razorback squad to potentially make this a 40-minute fight.
Maui Invitational – Nov. 24-26 in Lahaina, Hawaii
Teams: Arizona State, Boise State, Chaminade, NC State, Seton Hall, Texas, USC, Washington State
This field just isn’t what it used to be, which is sad to see. However, we could get a couple of interesting games out of this. NC State has been an absolute machine to start the season, but USC and Texas could both push them under the correct circumstances.
Rady Children’s Invitational – Nov. 27-28 in San Diego
Teams: Florida, TCU, Wisconsin, Providence
The best outcome for this tournament is a Florida vs Wisconsin game on Black Friday, but they’ll have to survive their Thanksgiving matchups to get there.
