Video: Alabama basketball freshman Derrion Reid wins dunk contest with trick shot
Alabama basketball freshman Derrion Reid won Friday night’s dunk contest at the Final Four reveal with the help of mascot Big Al.
Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats is eyeing four championships for the Crimson Tide this season. One of them is set to come from the Players Era Festival.
In order to have a winner at all, let alone one who could win money, the controversial tournament that promises players and programs more than $59 million in NIL funding had to make some changes to its schedule on Tuesday.
In turn, with less than two weeks until the first tipoff of the 2024-25 season, Alabama’s schedule looks a little different.
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The Crimson Tide is down to 30 games on the season after the Players Era canceled Alabama’s meeting with Notre Dame, originally set for Nov. 30 at 12 p.m.
It would’ve been the first time that the program has met the Fighting Irish since Notre Dame forced a first-round NCAA Tournament upset on a sixth-seeded Alabama team back in 2022.
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Alabama will still compete against Houston on Nov. 26 and Rutgers on Nov. 27 in tournament play as planned.
The difference is that games on Nov. 26 and Nov. 27 are now group play. In the reformatting of the tournament, participating colleges were split into two divisions, named Power and Impact. Alabama, Houston, Notre Dame and Rutgers make up the Impact division, while the Power division consists of Creighton, Oregon, San Diego State and Texas A&M.
Note, a team’s placement means nothing more than that it will have the chance to win $9 million, whereas prior formatting wouldn’t have allowed a winner at all.
How will Players Era championship finalists be determined?
Teams will still play on Nov. 30, too. Only they’ll be playing in hopes of reaching the championship game. Three other games – for seventh, fifth and third place – will take place earlier that day, per basketball analyst Jeff Goodman.
Saturday qualifiers will be determined after Wednesday, when groups will be ranked first through fourth. Head-to-head records take precedence for seeding. Then, it’s determined by total point differential (capped at 20 points per game), followed by total points scored and fewest points allowed. Division top seeds meet in the championship as remaining teams fill in the third-, fifth- and seventh-place games accordingly.
What’s the new Players Era Festival schedule?
Tuesday, November 26
San Diego State vs. Creighton − 1 p.m. CST
Oregon vs. Texas A&M −2:30 p.m.
Houston vs. Alabama − 7 p.m. CST
Rutgers vs. Notre Dame − 9:30 p.m. CST
Wednesday, November 27
Oregon vs. San Diego State − 3 p.m. CST
Texas A&M vs. Creighton − 5:30 p.m. CST
Rutgers vs. Alabama − 9 p.m. CST
Notre Dame vs. Houston − 11:30 p.m. CST
All Tuesday and Wednesday games will be streamed on TBS and Max.
Saturday, Nov. 30
7th Place Game (Opponents TBD) − 12 p.m. CST
5th Place Game (Opponents TBD) − 2:30 p.m. CST
3rd Place Game (Opponents TBD) − 6 p.m. CST
Championship (Opponents TBD) − 8:30 p.m. CST
Seventh-place and fifth-place games will stream on truTV and Max. The championship game and third-place game will air on TNT and Max.
All games will be played at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Emilee Smarr covers Alabama basketball and Crimson Tide athletics for the Tuscaloosa News. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.
