There’s a new postseason tournament in men’s college basketball. The College Basketball Crown announced its inaugural 16-team field on Monday, comprised of teams that failed to reach the NCAA Tournament. The Crown, developed by Fox Sports as a rival to the longstanding NIT, will be hosted in Las Vegas from March 31 to April 6, with the championship played the day before the NCAA men’s national championship.
Here’s the 16-team field, which features no specific seedings, listed in alphabetical order:
- Arizona State
- Boise State
- Butler
- Cincinnati
- Colorado
- DePaul
- George Washington
- Georgetown
- Nebraska
- Oregon State
- Tulane
- UCF
- USC
- Utah
- Washington State
- Villanova
And here’s the bracket:
The field is set. Two weeks from today it all goes down in Vegas. 16 teams. 1 crown. Tickets available via @vividseats now – https://t.co/VjK7Uctf7B pic.twitter.com/5sxdVoFdk7
— College Basketball Crown (@CBBCrown) March 17, 2025
How the field was selected
Officially announced last April, the Crown is a collaboration between Fox Sports and AEG that features automatic bids from the Big 12, Big East and Big Ten conferences, all of which have television agreements with Fox. The three conferences each received two automatic bids, given to the top two teams that did not qualify for the NCAA Tournament and based on advanced metrics such as the NET. The other 10 bids are at-large spots chosen by the Crown’s selection committee.
It’s become a challenge in recent years to fill out the NIT and other non-NCAA Tournament postseason events as the transfer portal and name, image and likeness (NIL) have led to teams and individual players opting out of consolation tournaments. Last year, 17 programs passed on NIT invites, the most in the event’s nearly 90-year history.
The Crown, originally conceptualized as featuring only high-major programs, felt that same burden in year one. Seven leagues are represented in the inaugural field, including the American Athletic Conference and Atlantic 10. A number of power conference teams declined invitations, including some in line for automatic bids, such as Indiana, West Virginia and Ohio State, despite uncertainty regarding the contractual obligations of the six automatic bids. Rutgers, Kansas State, Penn State, Wake Forest and TCU also declined possible at-large invites.
Participation questions could still linger. The transfer portal window for men’s basketball opens on March 24, a week before the Crown tips off. A source familiar with the tournament’s stipulations for participating teams told The Athletic that rosters would need a minimum of seven scholarship players available. But it’s possible teams that accepted invites could struggle to meet the minimum by the time the tournament begins. It’s unclear if there are alternate programs on standby.
Storylines, teams and players to watch
The first thread worth following is whether any teams have to drop out.
Beyond that, Nebraska versus Arizona State features a Cornhuskers team that collapsed down the stretch in the Big Ten but is solid defensively, against an Arizona State squad that had some intriguing individual pieces this season in senior guard BJ Freeman and freshman big man Jayden Quaintance.
Villanova, which recently moved on from head coach Kyle Neptune, features the top scorer in college basketball in Eric Dixon (23 points per game). Boise State senior forward Tyson Degenhart is a first-team all-Mountain West honoree and one of the best all-around players in this tournament.
Cincinnati started the season ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll with real NCAA Tournament expectations. Those didn’t materialize during Big 12 play, but there’s talent to make a run in Vegas if enough of the roster stays together.
Game dates and locations, NIL prize
The tournament covers a team’s cost of flights, local transportation, hotel, per diem and practice time for the traveling party. There will be an NIL component to the Crown as well, though sources familiar with the tournament said those details were still being worked out.
Unlike the NIT, there are no early-round games played at home sites. The first two rounds will be played at the MGM Grand Garden Arena from March 31 to April 3, airing on FS1.
The semifinals and finals will be at T-Mobile Arena on April 5 and 6, airing on Fox, with the championship tipping off at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 6, the same day as the NCAA women’s national championship.
(Photo: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)
