College basketball rankings: Players Era gets underway in Las Vegas with nine teams in Top 25 And 1
The Players Era event features an 18-team field loaded with teams in the Top 25 And 1
By
Gary Parrish
•
1 min read
The Players Era Festival starts Monday in Las Vegas. It's an 18-team tournament (with a weird format) that pays schools millions of dollars to be there. How will the title game be decided? Will it ever be financially feasible? Is it responsible for the field of the 2025 Maui Invitational being ... lackluster?
Matt Norlander and I answered each of those questions, to the best of our ability, in Sunday's episode of the Eye On College Basketball Podcast. That part of the show lasted about 32 minutes.
Big tournament, bigger money: How the Players Era event is changing college basketball in just its second year
Matt Norlander
Regardless of how you feel about the Players Era Festival, or more specifically how you feel about how it's indirectly hurting one of the sport's cherished Thanksgiving-week traditions, it's undeniably giving us some interesting matchups. On Monday, we get three games between teams ranked in Monday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.
The first one is Iowa State (No. 12) versus St. John's (No. 14). It tips at 4:30 p.m. ET. The second one is Oregon (No. 18) versus Auburn (No. 23). It tips at 8 p.m. ET. The third one is Alabama (No. 10) versus Gonzaga (No. 13). It tips at 9:30 p.m. ET. Beyond that, in Las Vegas, there's also Tennessee (No. 22) versus Rutgers, Kansas (No. 25) versus Notre Dame, Houston (No. 2) versus Syracuse and Michigan (No. 7) versus San Diego State.
As you'll see below, Arizona remains No. 1 in the Top 25 And 1 for the fifth consecutive day thanks to a 5-0 record featuring three wins over teams in the top 15 of the Top 25 And 1 -- specifically UConn (No. 4), Florida (No. 6) and UCLA (No. 15). Simply put, right now, nobody can match that body of work.
Tommy Lloyd's Wildcats will return to the court Monday when they host Denver in a game scheduled to tip at 10:30 pm ET. You can watch it on CBS Sports Network.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Biggest Movers
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Jaden Bradley finished with 21 points and three rebounds in Tuesday's 71-67 win at UConn. The Wildcats' next game is Monday against Denver. | -- | 6-0 |
| 2 |  | Oscar Cluff finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds in Friday's 86-56 win over Texas Tech. The Boilermakers' next game is Friday against Eastern Illinois. | -- | 6-0 |
| 3 |  | Kingston Flemings finished with 18 points and five assists in Thursday's 91-45 win over Rider. The Cougars' next game is Monday against Syracuse. | -- | 6-0 |
| 4 |  | Eric Reibe finished with 16 points and six rebounds in Sunday's 72-49 win over Bryant. The Huskies' next game is Friday against Illinois. | -- | 5-1 |
| 5 |  | Richie Saunders finished with 26 points and three rebounds in Friday's 98-70 win over Wisconsin. The Cougars' next game is Thursday against Miami. | -- | 4-1 |
| 6 |  | Alex Condon finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds in Friday's 80-45 win over Merrimack. The Gators' next game is Thursday against TCU. | -- | 4-1 |
| 7 |  | Yaxel Lendeborg finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds in Wednesday's 86-61 win over Middle Tennessee. The Wolverines' next game is Monday against San Diego State. | -- | 5-0 |
| 8 |  | Cameron Boozer finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds in Sunday's 93-56 win over Howard. The Blue Devils' next game is Thursday against Arkansas. | -- | 7-0 |
| 9 |  | Ryan Conwell finished with 25 points and five rebounds in Friday's 74-64 win over Cincinnati. The Cardinals' next game is Monday against Eastern Michigan. | -- | 6-0 |
| 10 |  | Labaron Philon finished with 24 points and five assists in Wednesday's 90-86 win over Illinois. The Crimson Tide's next game is Monday against Gonzaga. | -- | 3-2 |
| 11 |  | Dillon Mitchell finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds in Thursday's 97-49 win over Bucknell. The Red Storm's next game is Monday against Iowa State. | -- | 3-2 |
| 12 |  | Tamin Lipsey finished with 23 points and six rebounds in Monday's 96-57 win over Stonehill. The Cyclones' next game is Monday against St. John's. | -- | 5-0 |
| 13 |  | Braden Huff finished with 22 points and six rebounds in Monday's 122-50 win over Southern Utah. The Zags' next game is Monday against Alabama. | -- | 6-0 |
| 14 |  | Andrej Stojakovicfinished with 20 points and four rebounds in Saturday's 98-58 win over Long Island. The Illini's next game is Monday against UT Rio Grande Valley. | -- | 6-1 |
| 15 |  | Skyy Clark finished with 22 points and two steals in Friday's 86-46 sin over Presbyterian. The Bruins' next game is Tuesday against Cal. Skyy Clark was 3 of 11 from the field on Friday's 69-65 loss to Arizona. The Bruins' next game is Tuesday against Sacramento State. | -- | 5-1 |
| 16 |  | Jeremy Fears finished with 18 points and 11 assists in Friday's 84-56 win over Detroit Mercy. The Spartans' next game is Tuesday against East Carolina. | -- | 5-0 |
| 17 |  | Jaylen Petty missed eight of the 10 shots he attempted in Friday's 86-56 loss to Purdue. The Red Raiders' next game is Wednesday against New Orleans. | -- | 4-2 |
| 18 |  | Nate Bittle finished with 24 points and seven rebounds in Monday's 87-75 win over Oregon State. The Ducks' next game is Monday against Auburn. | -- | 4-1 |
| 19 |  | DJ Wagner finished with 17 points and seven assists in Friday's 115-61 win over Jackson State. The Razorbacks' next game is Thursday against Duke. | -- | 5-1 |
| 20 |  | Caleb Wilson finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds in Tuesday's 73-61 win over Navy. The Tar Heels' next game is Tuesday against St. Bonaventure. | -- | 5-0 |
| 21 |  | Kam Williams finished with 13 points and nine rebounds in Friday's 88-46 win over Loyola Maryland. The Wildcats' next game is Wednesday against Tennessee Tech. | -- | 4-2 |
| 22 |  | Ja'Kobi Gillespie finished with 17 points and five assists in Thursday's 89-60 win over Tennessee State. The Vols' next game is Monday against Rutgers. | -- | 6-0 |
| 23 |  | KeShawn Murphy finished with 19 points and seven rebounds in Wednesday's 112-66 win over Jackson State. The Tigers' next game is Monday against Oregon. | -- | 5-1 |
| 24 |  | AJ Storr finished with 14 points and two steals in Friday's 82-60 win over Cal State Bakersfield. The Rebels' next game is Tuesday against Austin Peay. | -- | 5-0 |
| 25 |  | Bryson Tiller missed six of the eight shots he attempted in Tuesday's 78-66 loss to Duke. The Jayhawks' next game is Monday against Notre Dame. | -- | 4-2 |
| 26 |  | Pryce Sandfort finished with 21 points and three rebounds in Friday's 86-85 win over Kansas State. The Cornhuskers' next game is Tuesday against Winthrop. | -- | 6-0 |
