NCAA Football
College Basketball Over Thanksgiving Headlined By Top Teams And Tournaments In Battle 4 Atlantis And Maui Invitational
Source
forbes.com
The college basketball season hits the early season tournament trail with Thanksgiving providing a feast of tournaments before you dig into the turkey. The headliners and top teams are playing in the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis, and in Hawaii for the Maui Invitaitonal.
Along with those tournaments top teams and odds to win, many other college basketball tournaments will provide plenty of watch and wager action ahead of the holiday and over Thanksgiving.
Combined with college football rivalry games and 12-team playoff push along with the NFL Thanksgiving feast, fans and bettors dig into all the fixings and wall-to-wall college basketball.
The Week 3 Associated Press (AP) Top 25 College Basketball Poll was released Nov. 18 heading into holiday tournaments and Thanksgiving.
FanDuel Sportsbook provides feast week betting odds for the most watched and wagered college basketball tournaments. Daily game odds and futures refresh periodically and are subject to change, including on props and live betting. Bet types, odds and betting terms along with select tournaments and odds to win. Game day odds and other tournaments, matchups and odds updated as provided by FanDuel and leading online sportsbooks.
The Battle for Atlantis will be a most watched and wagered tournament Nov. 27-29. Top-ranked teams Gonzaga, Arizona and Indiana headline a field of eight teams.
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd spent 20 years as an assistant at Gonzaga under Mark Few from 2001-21 prior to taking his current post in Tucson.
"I hope it's in the Championship Game, not in the double loser consolation game," Lloyd said Monday on the College Hoops Today Podcast when asked about a potential meeting in the Bahamas with the Bulldogs. "I'm sure our paths are going to cross at some point, but we're on our path and they're on their path. I love those guys like family."
Then next month Atlantis Paradise Island is host to the biggest poker tournament in history. The World Series of Poker (WSOP) $50 million guarantee Super Main Event No-Limit Hold’Em tournament with a $25,000 entry fee draws top poker pros and celebrities to the Bahamas.
The other most watched and wagered college basketball tournament from more than a dozen in November as part of the turkey treat is the Maui Invitational Nov. 25-27. Current Top-10 teams Connecticut, Auburn, Iowa State and North Carolina head a field of eight teams. All opening round and consolation bracket games are televised on ESPN2/ESPNU. Semifinals and championship game on ESPN.
The Myrtle Beach Invitational tips off ahead of Thanksgiving week starting Nov. 21 at xx in Conway, SC.
The Charleston Classic tips off on Nov. 21 at TD Arena in Charleston, SC.
The Boardwalk Battle tips off on Nov. 21 at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, FL.
The inaugural Players Era Festival is during Thanksgiving week in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. It includes a field of eight with top-ranked teams Houston, Alabama, Creighton, Texas A&M and Rutgers plus Oregon, San Diego State and Notre Dame. The event is offering $1 million to each of the eight colleges participating with the money going to their Name, Image and Likeness collectives. The game schedules and matchups are televised on TBS and MAX the opening two days with the semifinals and championship game on TNT.
Following Wednesday's Players Era games on Nov. 27, each group will be ranked first through fourth, and after head-to-head record, seeding will be determined by total point differential in group games (capped at 20 points per game), then total points scored and fewest points allowed. The top seeds from each division will face off in the championship game, with the rest of the standings filling out the third, fifth and seventh-place matchups.
There are more than 15 additional in-season bracketed college basketball tournaments through November and Thanksgiving week that feature four-team tournaments.
That includes the 2nd Vegas Showdown played at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday, November 26. The doubleheader features perenial powers No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 12 Duke at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN followed by Furman vs. Seattle. As part of the Vegas Showdown, on the weekend following the doubleheader in Las Vegas, Seattle will play Duke in Durham, N.C., and Furman will play Kansas in Lawrence, KS.
Ahead of next week’s Thanksgiving tournaments, a big-game battle takes place in Tucson on Friday, Nov. 22. The No. 12 Duke Blue Devils battle No. 17 Arizona Wildcats in a rematch of last season’s Wildcats road win on Duke’s home court.
Daily college basketball betting news, picks and props provide fans more watch and wager action as the 2024-25 season moves forward with additional engagement, entertainment and interest in college basketball.
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