Top 5 Early-Season College Basketball Tournaments To Keep An Eye On In 2014-15

A top-four Duke team is the anchor here. The Stanford Cardinal and UNLV Rebels are likely tourney teams and good “name” schools, but neither are the powerhouses of years past. The winner of that semi gets Duke in a good barometer for both clubs and a decent game for November. Also, the tournament benefits an extremely worthy cause.

The guaranteed four semifinalists are four very likely NCAA tournament programs from big conferences: No. 23 Syracuse, No. 10 Texas, Iowa and Cal. A potential championship game of two ranked programs in Texas and Syracuse ought to have a lively crowd and show a good clash of styles. The tournament helps the Wounded Warrior Project as well.

The location is always the biggest draw. No. 2 Arizona and No. 16 San Diego State are the only ranked teams right now in this year’s eight-team field. Kansas State and Pittsburgh are in the top 30, but aren’t huge draws nationwide. You’re going to watch anyway because this is now a Thanksgiving Week tradition. Anything but an Arizona title would be an upset.

There are only two ranked teams in this eight-team bracket, but what pedigrees! No. 5 Kansas and No. 18 Michigan State are two of the best, and are conveniently on opposite sides of this bracket. It’s a big deal if those two clash in the title game, and a bigger deal if they don’t. That’s why this tourney gets ranked ahead of Maui.

There are four ranked teams here. No. 3 Wisconsin and No. 7 Florida will likely meet up in the semifinals. Top 30 UCLA and No. 19 Oklahoma is a quarterfinal matchup, with the victor probably getting No. 6 North Carolina. That winner will get the survivor of Wisconsin/Florida for the title. Lots of tournaments claim to be a “NCAA tournament preview,” but this could legitimately be pushed as a “Final Four preview.”