Players Era headlines list of Thanksgiving-week offerings on the college basketball slate

Rick Barnes didn’t have long to enjoy 17th-ranked Tennessee’s lopsided win against Rutgers.

Not with No. 3 Houston awaiting as part of a loaded field at the Players Era, the headlining event in a national schedule filled with college basketball tournaments and marquee matchups as part of a beloved Thanksgiving-week tradition in the sport.

“We’ve got a month or so before we get into conference play,” Barnes said after an 85-60 win in Las Vegas. “And get a chance to really leave here and know which direction you need to move with your team.”

Indeed, this is a measuring-stick week for AP Top 25 teams.

The Players Era has grabbed center stage with eight ranked teams in its 18-team field, an event that quickly rose to prominence since last year’s launch by guaranteeing at least $1 million in name, image and likeness money to what was then eight participating teams.

There also are ranked teams playing in the longer-running Maui Invitational in Hawaii and Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas, as well as at the Fort Myers Tip-Off in Florida. There’s also a marquee nonconference matchup in Chicago for Thanksgiving Day.

Here’s a look around the country for this week’s holiday festivities:

Players Era

The event will feature a pair of ranked-versus-ranked matchups with Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars taking on Barnes’ Volunteers. There’s also a matchup between seventh-ranked Michigan and No. 21 Auburn.

Meanwhile, No. 8 Alabama (against UNLV), No. 12 Gonzaga (Maryland), No. 14 St. John’s (Baylor) and No. 15 Iowa State (Creighton) also are in action .

The championship and third-place game take place Wednesday; consolation games are set for Wednesday and Thursday.

Maui Invitational

N.C. State climbed two spots to No. 23 in the poll as the lone ranked team in the eight-team field, arriving in Hawaii after a fast start to Will Wade’s coaching tenure.

Yet the Wolfpack opened the three-day tournament in Lahaina with a loss to Seton Hall, dropping N.C. State into the consolation bracket to play Boise State followed by a third game against an undetermined opponent.

Fort Myers Tip-Off

The event’s headlining “Beach Division” schedule features No. 11 Michigan State and No. 16 North Carolina. The Spartans open play against East Carolina, while the Tar Heels face St. Bonaventure. Then the Spartans and Tar Heels meet in the round-robin schedule.

Both already have marquee wins this year. The Spartans have beaten Kentucky and Arkansas, while the Tar Heels have a win against Kansas.

Battle 4 Atlantis

The eight-team event at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas got a late addition of a ranked team with Vanderbilt jumping into the poll at No. 24.

The Commodores face Western Kentucky in that three-day event’s opening game. The tournament also features one of the leading vote-getters among unranked teams in Saint Mary’s and preseason Atlantic 10 favorite VCU.

Big-city pairings

Fourth-ranked Duke continues a demanding nonconference schedule — one going all the way back to the preseason — by facing No. 22 Arkansas in Chicago in the Thanksgiving Classic. It marks Duke’s third matchup against a power-conference opponent after opening the season with a win against Texas, followed by beating then-ranked Kansas.

The Blue Devils next will host reigning NCAA champion and 10th-ranked Florida in the ACC/SEC Challenge, visit Michigan State (Dec. 6) and face No. 20 Texas Tech in New York (Dec. 20) before opening Atlantic Coast Conference play.

No. 5 UConn and No. 13 Illinois will meet in New York’s Madison Square Garden. Both teams are coming off losses, the Huskies at home to now-No. 2 Arizona and the Illini to Alabama.