Oklahoma Leads 8-Team College Basketball Crown Tournament in Vegas

Oklahoma, considered the best team left out of March Madness, will headline an 8-team consolation tournament in Las Vegas next month. The Sooners join seven other schools in the second annual College Basketball Crown, which offers significant prize money to participating teams.

The University of Oklahoma, widely regarded as the strongest team shut out of March Madness, has committed to participate in the College Basketball Crown’s second annual tournament in Las Vegas, organizers announced Monday.

The Sooners will take on Colorado in their opening matchup on April 1st. Seven other universities – Baylor, Creighton, Minnesota, Rutgers, Stanford, and West Virginia – have also committed to the Fox Sports-sponsored alternative tournament.

Tournament organizers unveiled the complete bracket on Monday, scheduling two sets of opening round contests for April 1st and 2nd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The final four and championship rounds will take place April 4th and 5th at T-Mobile Arena, the home venue for the Vegas Golden Knights hockey team.

This year’s tournament has been scaled back from 16 participating schools to eight following last year’s inaugural event, which saw Nebraska claim the championship along with a $300,000 NIL prize package. UCF earned $100,000 as the tournament runner-up, while Boise State and Villanova each received $50,000 for reaching the semifinals.

Multiple universities chose not to participate in this year’s event. The tournament’s selection process automatically invites the two highest-ranked teams from the Big Ten, Big 12, and Big East conferences that missed the NCAA tournament, using final NET rankings as the determining factor. All three conferences maintain broadcasting partnerships with Fox.

Notable programs including Indiana, Cincinnati, and Seton Hall – the top available schools from their respective leagues – opted out of participation. San Diego State from the Mountain West Conference also reportedly declined invitations to both the Crown and NIT tournaments.

Rutgers enters the field with the weakest NET ranking at No. 134, despite posting a 14-19 record for the season.

Oklahoma finished 19-15 after winning six consecutive games down the stretch in an attempt to secure an NCAA tournament berth, before losing to eventual SEC tournament champion Arkansas in the quarterfinal round.