Notre Dame Men’s Basketball in the Players Era Festival

On By Littum

After an encouraging 4-0 start, Notre Dame men’s basketball let the air out of the balloon. For now.

The Irish lost to Elon 84-77 on Friday, falling to a team that was picked 12th in the Coastal Athletic Association.

“Our defense let us down today,” Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry said after the match.

However, the Irish have a chance to put the air back in the balloon this week as they head into the heart of their non-conference schedule. They flew to Las Vegas on Sunday for the Players Era Festival, a first-of-its-kind “NIL-powered” multi-team event (MTE), where they will face three quality opponents.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Players Era Festival.

Game details for Notre Dame in the Players Era Festival

  • Team: Notre Dame (4-1, 0-0 ACC) vs. Rutgers (4-1, 0-0 Big Ten), no. 6 Houston (3-1, 0-0 Big 12) and TBD
  • Possible third opponents: San Diego State, no. 21 Creighton, RV Oregon and no. 20 Texas A&M
  • Dates: Tuesday, November 26 (Rutgers); Thursday, November 28 (Houston); Saturday, November 30 (TBD)
  • Times: 10:30 PM ET (Rutgers); 12:30 PM ET (Houston); TBD
  • Location: MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada
  • Television: TBS
  • Radio: 960 WSBT-AM in South Bend

This is how the ‘NIL powered’ Players Era Festival works

Tournament format

Eight teams head to Las Vegas for the MTE and they are divided into two groups of four. Notre Dame’s “Impact Group” also includes Rutgers, Houston and Alabama. The other group, the “Power Group”, contains Oregon, San Diego State, Texas A&M and Creighton.

Each team plays two of the other three teams in its group, with Game 1 on Tuesday and Game 2 on Wednesday. After Game 2, each group will be seeded 1-4 based on record, with the tiebreakers being 1) Head-to-head, 2) Point difference, with a maximum of plus or minus 20 points per game. game, 3) Total points scored and 4) Total points allowed.

On Saturday, no. 1 seed in Impact Group meeting no. 1 seed in the Power Group in first place. Seed no. 2 and each group will go head to head in third place, and so on and so forth.

NIL aspect

This is why Notre Dame withdrew from its original MTE, the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego.

Each team will receive $1 million in name, image and likeness money to participate in the Players Era Festival, with an additional $500k for the champion.

If it sounds like pay for play, it is, and yes, pay for play is still technically against NCAA rules. But the Players Era Festival gets around that and is NCAA compliant. According to The Associated Press, “players must perform at auxiliary events (all week in Las Vegas) to receive NIL money.”

Matchup notables

Rutgers

• The Scarlett Knights are coming off their own shocking loss. Rutgers traveled to Kennesaw State as a 12.5-point, 12.5-point favorite and lost 79-77 after a last-second turnover by the freshman forward Ace Bailey.

• Despite the gaffe — which ended a game in which the Scarlett Knights trailed by as many as 21 early in the second half — Bailey has been everything Rutgers thought he would be when it signed him as the unanimous no. 2 player in the country. The 6-foot-10 forward is averaging 19.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game so far.

• Bailey joined combo guard Dylan Harper – the almost unanimous no. 3 player in the 2024 class (ESPN has him at No. 4) – in an absolutely fantastic recruiting class for the Scarlett Knights. Harper is the son of Ron Harperwho won three NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls, and brother of the former Rutgers star Ron Harper Jr. He is averaging 19.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game this season.

• Notre Dame and Rutgers share a later problem: rebounding. The Scarlett Knights were out-rebounded 54-33 and allowed 20 offensive boards at Kennesaw State.

Houston

• As always, Houston’s defense is phenomenal. The Cougars are allowing fewer points per game. game (50.8) than anyone in the nation, nearly 3 full points ahead of the no. 2 (Providence at 53.6).

• The Cougars also have an extremely balanced offensive attack, with eight players averaging between 7.5 and 11.8 points per game. match. They are also a veteran team, led by senior forward J’Wan Robertsjunior guard Emanuel Sharp and graduate student guard LJ Cryer.

• Cryer is an elite three-point shooter who has never shot below 38 percent from beyond the arc in a season since his freshman year. However, Sharp makes threes at a truly unheard of rate. He is 11-of-15 so far this season, good for 73.3 percent.