Stakes are raised in Vegas as Aggies participate in Players Era Festival
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
For the Aggies, they’re hoping what happens in Vegas will be remembered in March.
The Players Era Festival presents opportunities for No. 20 Texas A&M (4-1) to impress the selection committee, bolster their postseason resume with signature wins and rise to the forefront of NIL in college basketball.
Buzz Williams and the Aggies play Oregon at 3:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday, No. 21 Creighton at 5:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday and a third game against an opponent yet to be determined on Saturday.
“I think it’s pretty neat, especially us being one of the first teams to be in this type of tournament,” A&M guard Zhuric Phelps said last week. “It’s a great opportunity. We just want to go in there, be us and just win.”
Nestled in the heart of Feast Week, the inaugural Players Era Festival is a first-of-its-kind tournament that provides the best college basketball teams from around the country the opportunity to compete for NIL earnings.
“Everything we do is about delivering value to the players, and our guiding principles continue to be paying the players fair market value for their NIL and creating captivating content for fans,” Players Era CEO Seth Berger said. “We have $9 million in NIL opportunities outside of competition for this year’s festival.”
Eight teams will compete for more than bragging rights and resume-building wins.
In addition to each team receiving $1 million in NIL opportunities for participating in ancillary events, the tournament’s top four teams will receive $1 million in additional NIL opportunities, with $1.25 million for the runner-up and $1.5 million for the champion.
“The people that are running it, I met in my first year as a college coach,” Williams said of the tournament last week. “Only because of my relationship was Texas A&M invited, and I did everything but burn Vegas down so that we could be invited.
“You’ve never heard me talk about NIL, but it is a part of the landscape, and we have to figure out a way to be competitive. In order for us to have the roster, we had to play in the event.
A&M is in the four-team “Power” group with Creighton, Oregon and San Diego State.
The “Impact” group is comprised of No. 6 Houston, No. 9 Alabama, Rutgers and Notre Dame
After two group games, the sides will be seeded based on record and head-to-head tiebreakers. The “Power” and “Impact” groups will cross over and play their matching seed on Saturday’s Championship Day.
In an early test against another Big Ten team, Buzz Williams and his Aggies will take on Oregon on Tuesday.
The Ducks are 5-0 and led by seven-footer Nate Bittle, who is averaging 16.2 points and 10.2 rebounds per game while shooting 87.5 percent from the free-throw line.
The stakes and the players get a little bit bigger in their next matchup when A&M plays Creighton and 7-foot-1 Ryan Kalkbrenner on Wednesday.
The Blue Jays are 4-1 this season, and Kalkbrenner — the National Player of the Year frontrunner — is averaging 21.4 points and 9.0 rebounds per game while shooting 87.2 percent from the field.
After handling Ohio State’s 7-foot-1 Aaron Bradshaw, A&M will have its hands full in Vegas, matching up with Bittle and Kalkbrenner in back-to-back games.
“We’re still just taking it one day at a time,” forward Henry Coleman III said after A&M’s win over Southern on Wednesday. “We’re just going to keep working. We’re really not focused on what’s going to happen on Tuesday. We have to be right where our feet are.”
Neutralizing the big fellas will help the Aggies turn Sin City into Win City and stack signature wins to build their NCAA Tournament resume.
As Williams continues to step up the non-conference scheduling, the Aggies have played in more high-profile tournaments than ever. Two years ago, they played two Quadrant 4 games against Murray State and Loyola Chicago at the Myrtle Beach Invitational.
Now, the Aggies will have three straight Quad 1 and Quad 2 games that could be cornerstone wins three months from now.
When the selection committee judges A&M’s full body of work in March, what happens in Vegas this week could be crucial to improving their seeding.
