The words “Best Ever” are often thrown around to create excitement and energy around players, events, or performances. In the case of the Players Era Championship, which will be played in Las Vegas November 24-26, it’s hard to deny.
Players Era made a huge splash into the College Basketball scene a year ago by announcing it’s first ever format revolving around NIL money to the participating teams, and an increasing amount of NIL money given to the winning team. This format attracted some nationally relevant programs and media outlets, as well as nationally broadcasted games on TBS, with Oregon taking the crown.
This season the Men’s Championship will have 18 Teams and the Women’s Championship with have 4 (top 10 caliber) teams
Mens Teams
Kansas
Houston
Tennessee
Auburn
Alabama
Creighton
UNLV
San Diego State
Oregon
Iowa State
Syracuse
Gonzaga
Baylor
St Johns
Michigan
Maryland
Notre Dame
Rutgers
Womens Teams
Duke
South Carolina
UCLA
Texas
On the Men’s side, 15 of the 18 teams playing are listed in CBS Sports Analyst, Jon Rothstein’s Preseason Top 40. Houston, St Johns, and Michigan are listed in the his top 10. In addition the field will include 18 of the 60 players projected by ESPN to get drafted in the 2026 NBA draft, including projected Lottery Picks, Darryn Peterson (Kansas), Nate Ament (Tennessee), and Chris Cenac Jr (Houston). Michigan, a projected top 10 team, has the number 1 ranked Transfer In Yaxel Lendeborg among one of the best rosters in the country. All in all, we are looking at multiple teams that could be cutting the nets down at the end of their conference season, and at the end of the NCAA Tournament. This will be like March in November.
Another very intriguing aspect to the field is the insane level of coaching that we will see from the various programs. The Head Coaches that will see have a staggering 24 Final Fours, 5 National Championships, and 4,725 total wins. Rick Pitino and Bill Self are already in the Hall of Fame and guys like Rick Barnes, Mark Few, Kelvin Sampson and Bruce Pearl are undoubtably heading there one day. Scott Drew will forever be known as the coach who did the impossible by winning a National Championship at Baylor, and Dusty May and Brian Dutcher took Non Power 5 schools to Final Fours. The Players in this event are special and the Coaches are Superstars in their own right.
On the Women’s side we are looking at 4 of the top programs in the nation, all of which won a championship of some kind last season. South Carolina won the SEC Tournament Championship last season, Texas won the SEC regular season Championship last season, Duke won the ACC Tournament Championship last season, and UCLA won the Big 10 Tournament Championship. Furthermore, 3 of the 4 teams, Texas, UCLA, and USC were in the Women’s Final Four a season ago. Long and short, the event is loaded.
When you combine the level of talent, the draft prospects, the Hall of Fame Coaching, and Sin City, it’s hard to say this event isn’t the best MTE in College Basketball History.
