Kansas and Houston Named as Possible Teams for 8-Team College Basketball Invitational
Two of the Big 12’s biggest basketball brands were mentioned in reports this week regarding a potential eight-team college basketball tournament in which the winners would take home a large sum of NIL money.
Kansas and Houston were listed as rumored teams in the tournament field alongside Alabama, Duke, FAU, Oregon, San Diego State, St. Joe’s, Syracuse, and Virginia.
According to a report from Front Office Sports, the tournament will start in the fall with up to 2 million dollars in name, image, and likeness, split among participating teams. The “Players Era” tournament will take place in Las Vegas at the MGM Arena and will expand to a field of 16 teams in 2025.
The change follows a similar path to the NBA, which introduced the first-ever in-season tournament during the 2023-2024 season.
The Cougars and the Jayhawks are two of the most storied programs in college basketball history, and it goes without saying why the pair would earn an invite. Kelvin Sampson’s squad has been sensational this season, earning a 27-3 overall record and a 14-3 conference record in their first season as members of the Big 12 Conference.
Kansas and Houston will close off the season in one of the biggest season-finales in recent Big 12 history on Saturday, March 9th, at 3:00 p.m. CT from the Fertitta Center in Houston.
