Eight different schools in New Jersey play Division 1 college basketball in some form. Rutgers, Princeton, Seton Hall, Monmouth, Saint Peter’s, NJIT, Rider, and Fairleigh Dickinson. The spirit of regional rivalries is high since Rutgers and Seton Hall are set to square off at the Prudential Center on Saturday. Coincidentally, recently formed in-season tournaments, such as the NBA Cup and the Players Era Tournament, have been taking place over the past couple of weeks.
Both the Rutgers game against Seton Hall and the several in-season tournaments happening at the same time got me thinking. Why don’t the New Jersey Division I college basketball programs come together and have a New Jersey college basketball tournament? A lot of New Jersey schools already play each other in the non-conference slate anyway, and it would add a lot of excitement to regional basketball.
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An idea similar to this is not a foreign concept to college basketball. Just one hour away in Philadelphia, schools from the city/ nearby area compete in what is known as the “Big Five Classic,” a tournament where all the schools from the area compete against each other for the trophy that bears the tournament’s name. The schools that usually compete in this tournament are Villanova, Drexel, Penn, La Salle, Saint Joseph’s, and Temple.
Many of the schools that compete in this tournament are from different conferences, showing that a similar tournament of New Jersey schools is possible, as it would not affect each school’s individual schedule that much, since many of them start off each season with long out-of-conference slates anyway.
Even in a world of NIL, where teams from New Jersey might want to go to tournaments that can boost their budget, there is still room for a tournament like this. In Rutgers’ case this season, they played five non-conference teams before their trip to Las Vegas, and will play three more before Big Ten play resumes. The Pirates had a similar situation of availability before and after their Maui Invitational schedule.
On top of all of that, New Jersey does have an arena that is capable of hosting a championship game for this tournament, the Prudential Center. Rutgers and Princeton could host group stage games, so New Jersey basketball fans could get to experience all three of the state’s biggest arenas.
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A tournament of this type would go a long way toward boosting college basketball interest throughout the state and restoring meaning to the state’s regional college basketball rivalries. The state has the facilities to host something like this, and the teams have availability in their non-conference schedule to accommodate this as well, so a tournament like this can be implemented without having a major disruption for the teams involved.
Let us hear your thoughts about this in the comments below!
