The College Basketball Crown postseason tournament will return to Las Vegas for its second season in condensed fashion.
There will be a few less jewels in next year’s College Basketball Crown.
Fox Sports and Anschutz Entertainment Group confirmed that their men’s college basketball postseason tournament will return to Las Vegas for a second season on Tuesday, albeit in condensed fashion: next year’s field will feature only eight teams after 16 partook in last spring’s debut edition.
Quarterfinals will be held on Apr. 1 and 2 at MGM Grand Garden Arena while the semifinals and championship game will move to T-Mobile Arena on Apr. 4 and 5, respectively.
“We launched the College Basketball Crown to create more opportunities for elite competition during the thrilling college basketball post-season and we saw an incredible response from fans, conferences, and players for the inaugural tournament,” Fox Sports executive vice president Jordan Bazant said in a release. “We look forward to building on that momentum this spring by delivering high stakes matchups between top teams throughout the competition on Fox and FS1.”
The College Basketball Crown is the latest tournament introduced to the college basketball postseason, one intended to keep Fox Sports involved in “March Madness.” It is one of several de facto consolation brackets for those who miss out on the NCAA Tournament, next to the National Invitational Tournament and the College Basketball Invitational.
Despite the reduced field, Big East, Big Ten, and Big 12 Conference—all of whom primarily broadcast their games on Fox Sports networks—will still receive two automatic bids, afforded to the top-ranked teams that miss out on the NCAA Tournament. A selection committee will decide the final two schools.
Though the Crown drew decent ratings in its debut, a reduced field will likely create more competitive matchups that Bazant referred to in his statements: last year’s 16-team field featured six teams with non-winning records, none of whom made it past the second round, after several major schools turned down invitations. That could work to the advantage of the NIT, which featured only four teams from power conferences (three from the ACC, one from the Big 12).
Nebraska is the defending champion of the College Basketball Crown, taking a 77-66 decision from Central Florida in the debut championship game.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
