The landscape of early season tournaments that have headlined “Feast Week” has changed rather dramatically in recent years, threatening the cache of iconic events like the Maui Invitational. There’s been a strong push from coaches away from traditional eight-team bracketed events that used to be common and toward smaller or more structured events that give teams more certainty about their schedules. And at its core, these changes are about the two things shaping everything in college sports right now: money and control.
The disruptor in the market is the Players Era Festival, which in its second year has ballooned to 18 teams after having eight in its first edition last season. The Players Era model involves paying each participating team $1 million via NIL for the players, a significant cash infusion for schools scrambling to find additional dollars to boost their rosters each spring. Compare that to Maui, where schools usually lose money due to the significant travel costs, and financially it becomes a hard sell to choose Maui even with the historic nature of the tournament.
And for some programs with elite fan bases, skipping out on early season tournaments altogether in exchange for more home games is often the best financial decision. Take UConn, for instance, whose head coach Dan Hurley said last year he would never do another three-game multiteam event. Instead of going to a tournament, the Huskies can play a marquee home game against Arizona and fill in the other two games with either lower-tier opponents or neutral/road series against other top competition. That could make UConn more money and give it more control over who and when it plays its games.
Even before the Players Era threw a wrench in things, many coaches were already tired of these eight-team bracketed events. Playing three games in three or four days with limited prep time and no control of your opponent is not an appealing proposition to most coaches, especially in events where the range in quality of opponents ranges widely.
An example is the 2023–24 Wake Forest team, which played in the eight-team Charleston Classic. Wake blew a six-point second-half lead to Utah in its tournament opener (a game that tipped well after 9 p.m. ET). By losing that game, the Demon Deacons then played Towson (which finished No. 146 in KenPom) the next day instead of Houston (No. 2). And for its third game, by being stuck in the loser’s bracket, Wake drew a middling LSU team instead of a stronger foe like St. John’s or Dayton. Was that the reason Wake was just on the wrong side of the NCAA tournament bubble that season? Perhaps not, but it didn’t help matters. And notably, the Charleston Classic has modified its format to now feature two four-team brackets with a day off in between games. The stronger of the two brackets features four high-major teams; the weaker is three mid-majors plus Boston College.
Essentially, while the Maui Invitational and Battle 4 Atlantis provide big-time exposure, they give schools neither the financial windfall nor the scheduling control they desire. Just four top-30 KenPom teams as of Friday (Vanderbilt, NC State, USC, Saint Mary’s) are playing in a traditional eight-team bracketed event. Ten top-30 teams are in Players Era, which has a modified pool play format that at least means two of your three opponents are locked in before the event starts.
So while traditional “Feast Week” isn’t dead, it’s certainly changing. If Players Era has its way, it will nearly double in size again next season to a 32-team event, further gobbling up teams in an attempt to own a small segment of the college hoops calendar. And that puts even more pressure on floundering events like Maui and Atlantis as they look to piece together competitive fields.
Event Picks
Maui Invitational
Bracket: HERE
The life injected into NC State by Will Wade and USC by Eric Musselman has given this much-maligned Maui field a bit more juice, but this is still a far cry from the loaded events of recent years. Outside of Texas playing Duke on the second day of the season, the best teams in this field have been largely untested thus far. NC State did get a push from VCU on Monday but has rolled through Wade’s first four games as head coach, and USC’s first four opponents have all ranked outside the top 100 on KenPom. Those two teams do have the talent to climb the ladder significantly in their respective leagues though, and winning in Maui would be a great early statement.
The Pick: USC over Texas
Battle 4 Atlantis
Bracket: HERE
This is largely a mid-major field this year, with six of eight teams coming from outside the power conferences. That said, those six look like serious Cinderella contenders come March, and the two power-conference teams are also off to good starts. Colorado State is undefeated and knocking on the door of the top 50 on KenPom, while VCU and South Florida are two of the most talented non-power rosters in the country. But the favorites here are Vanderbilt and Saint Mary’s, which have ripped through underwhelming competition to start the season and look like threats to go deep in March. Also on the rise? Virginia Tech, which is off to a 5–0 start thanks to the play of star Greek freshman Neoklis Avdalas.
The Pick: Saint Mary’s over Vanderbilt
Rady Children’s Invitational
Bracket: HERE
This four-team field features the defending national champion Florida Gators continuing their tricky start to the regular season with a pair of high-major tests. First, they’ll see a TCU team that has struggled out of the gates and lost starting center Malick Diallo for the year due to a knee injury in their season opener. A potential championship game vs. a very talented Wisconsin team with a dynamic offense or an older Providence team could give the Gators a run for their money, though.
The Pick: Florida over Wisconsin
ESPN Events Invitational (Magic Bracket)
Bracket: HERE
This is another reformatted event, now with a four-team “Magic Bracket” featuring top competition and two other brackets of largely mid-major competition. We’ll focus on the Magic here, one that should see plenty of NBA scouts in attendance as they get eyes on BYU freshman sensation AJ Dybantsa. The Cougars are the clear favorites here, though the other three teams (Miami, Georgetown, Dayton) are all off to positive starts. Georgetown in particular appears to be trending up in Ed Cooley’s third season with early wins over Clemson and Maryland.
The Pick: BYU over Georgetown
Players Era Festival
Bracket/Schedule: HERE
Picking a winner from this event is incredibly challenging given that there will almost assuredly be several 2–0 teams heading into the championship and consolation rounds. That might disadvantage some of the best teams in the event that have difficult games on Monday and/or Tuesday such as St. John’s (vs. Iowa State, Baylor), Gonzaga (vs. Alabama, Maryland) and Houston (vs. Syracuse, Tennessee). If Darryn Peterson is back in action, Kansas could stack up a wide victory margin with manageable matchups against Notre Dame and Syracuse.
However the Wednesday bracket shakes out, there’s plenty to look forward to Monday and Tuesday with wall-to-wall hoops. St. John’s vs. Iowa State and Gonzaga vs. Alabama headline Monday, while Houston vs. Tennessee and Michigan vs. Auburn are the standouts from Tuesday’s slate.
The Pick: Gonzaga over Kansas
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as How the $1 Million Players Era Festival Is Reshaping Feast Week.
