Players Era headlines Thanksgiving-week offerings on the college basketball slate
Trending
The Players Era, Maui Invitational, Fort Myers Tip-Off and Battle 4 Atlantis are part of a holiday-week schedule for AP Top 25 college basketball teams.
The Players Era is the headliner with eight ranked teams among its 18-team field. That field includes No. 3 Houston, No. 7 Michigan and No. 8 Alabama.
The Maui Invitational has No. 23 N.C. State in the consolation bracket. The Fort Myers Tip-Off features No. 11 Michigan State and No. 16 North Carolina.
The Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas has No. 24 Vanderbilt.
The Players Era quickly rose to prominence since last year’s launch by guaranteeing at least $1 million in name, image and likeness money to what was then eight participating teams.
Here’s a look around the country for this week’s holiday festivities:
Players Era
The championship and third-place game take place today; consolation games are set for today and Thursday.
Maui Invitational
N.C. State climbed two spots to No. 23 in Monday’s poll as the lone ranked team in the eight-team field, arriving in Hawaii after a fast start to Will Wade’s coaching tenure.
Yet the Wolfpack opened the three-day tournament in Lahaina with a loss to Seton Hall. They'll play an undetermined opponent today.
Fort Myers Tip-Off
The event’s headlining “Beach Division” schedule features No. 11 Michigan State and No. 16 North Carolina. The Spartans opened play Tuesday against East Carolina, while the Tar Heels faced St. Bonaventure. Then the Spartans and Tar Heels meet Thursday in the round-robin schedule.
Both already have marquee wins this year. The Spartans have beaten Kentucky and Arkansas, while the Tar Heels have a win against Kansas.
Battle 4 Atlantis
The eight-team event at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas got a late addition of a ranked team with Vanderbilt jumping into Monday’s poll at No. 24.
The Commodores face Western Kentucky on Wednesday in that three-day event’s opening game. The tournament also features one of the leading vote-getters among unranked teams in Saint Mary’s and preseason Atlantic 10 favorite VCU.
Big-city pairings
Fourth-ranked Duke continues a demanding nonconference schedule -- one going all the way back to the preseason -- by facing No. 22 Arkansas in Chicago in the CBS Sports Thanksgiving Classic. It marks Duke’s third matchup against a power-conference opponent after opening the season with a win against Texas, followed by beating then-ranked Kansas last week.
The Blue Devils will next host reigning NCAA champion and 10th-ranked Florida in next week’s ACC/SEC Challenge, visit Michigan State (Dec. 6) and face No. 20 Texas Tech in New York (Dec. 20) before opening Atlantic Coast Conference play.
And on Friday, No. 5 UConn and No. 13 Illinois will meet in New York’s Madison Square Garden. Both teams lost last week, the Huskies at home to now-No. 2 Arizona and the Illini to Alabama.