2026-27 Men’s College Basketball Early Season Tournaments

USC won the Maui Invitational last Thanksgiving week, but a late-season collapse saw the Trojans miss the NCAA Tournament. | Marco Garcia-Imagn Images

Since teams are now able to schedule up to 32 regular-season games with no multi-team event exemption/requirement—starting with this season—this page will focus solely on bracketed and other multi-day/multi-game events (think Players Era). Since there’s no need to set up scheduling arrangements masquerading as exempt tournaments, there’s no longer a need for me to track what every single D1 program is doing.

Teams may also participate in more than one tournament per season!

* = pending realignment on 7/1/2026

Rainbow Classic

Nov. TBA: Honolulu (Rocco Miller)
Format TBD

Cal State Fullerton (Big West)
Hawai’i (Mountain West*, host)
Portland (WCC)
1 TBD

Charleston Classic

Thurs. and Fri, Nov. 26 and 27 (probable): Charleston, S.C.
2 games, traditional brackets (Rocco Miller)

Dayton (Atlantic 10)
Minnesota (Big Ten)
Oklahoma State (Big 12)
Utah (Big 12)
Virginia Tech (ACC)
3 TBD

Players Era 8

Pre-Thanksgiving: Las Vegas
Format TBD

Auburn (SEC)
Florida (SEC)
Houston (Big 12)
Kansas (Big 12)
Notre Dame (ACC)
Rutgers (Big Ten)
UNLV (Mountain West)
West Virginia (Big 12)

Maui Invitational

Mon.–Wed., Nov. 23–25: Lahaina, Hawai’i
3 games, traditional bracket

Arizona (Big 12)
BYU (Big 12)
Clemson (ACC)
Colorado State (Pac-12*)
Mississippi (SEC)
Providence (Big East)
VCU (Atlantic 10)
Washington (Big Ten)

Players Era 16

Thanksgiving week: Las Vegas
Format TBD

Alabama (SEC)
Baylor (Big 12)
Creighton (Big East)
Gonzaga (Pac-12*)
Iowa State (Big 12)
Kansas State (Big 12)
Louisville (Big 12)
Maryland (Big Ten)
Miami (Fla.) (ACC)
Michigan (Big Ten)
Oregon (Big Ten)
St. John’s (Big East)
San Diego State (Pac-12*)
TCU (Big 12)
Tennessee (SEC)
Texas Tech (Big 12)

Acrisure Series

Thanksgiving week: Palm Springs, Calif.
Format TBD (Jon Rothstein, x2, x3)

Arizona State (Big 12)
Cal Baptist (Big West*)
Colorado (Big 12)
Fordham (Atlantic 10)
Fresno State (Pac-12*)
Grand Canyon (Mountain West)
Loyola Marymount (WCC)
Nevada (Mountain West)
Oregon State (Pac-12)
San Diego (WCC)
San Francisco (WCC)
Santa Clara (WCC)
Seattle (WCC)
South Carolina (SEC)
Stanford (SEC)
Tulsa (American)
UC Irvine (Big West)
UC San Diego (Big West)
USC (Big Ten)
Utah State (Pac-12*)
Washington State (Pac-12)

ESPN Events Invitational

Thurs. and Fri, Nov. 26 and 27 (probable): Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Format TBD

Cincinnati (Big 12) (Russell Heltman, Sports Illustrated)
Others TBA

Battle 4 Atlantis

Thurs. and Fri, Nov. 26 and 27 (probable): Paradise Island, Bahamas
2 games, traditional brackets (Rocco Miller)

Bracket 1

Memphis (American)
Penn State (Big Ten)
Wake Forest (ACC)
Xavier (Big East)

Bracket 2

Marquette (Big East)
Texas A&M (SEC)
Virginia (ACC)
1 TBD

Rady Children’s Invitational

Thurs. and Fri, Nov. 26 and 27: San Diego
2 games, traditional bracket

Georgetown (Big East)
Saint Mary’s (WCC)
Texas (SEC)
UCLA (Big Ten)

Hawai’i Thanksgiving Week Event

Nov. TBA: Honolulu (Rocco Miller)
Format TBD

Fresno State (Pac-12*)
Hawai’i (Mountain West*, host)
Sacramento State (Big West*)
1 TBD

The Dallas Tournament

Fri.–Mon., Dec. 18–21: Frisco, Texas
Formats TBD (Rocco Miller)

Colorado State (Pac-12*)
Florida Atlantic (American)
George Washington (Atlantic 10)
Loyola Chicago (Atlantic 10)
Nevada (Mountain West)
San Francisco (WCC)
Tulsa (American)
Utah State (Pac-12*)

Hawai’i Holiday Event (Diamond Head Classic?)

Dec.. TBA: Honolulu (Rocco Miller)
Format TBD

Hawai’i (Mountain West*, host)
3 TBD