Lineup, format unveiled for tourney at Acrisure Arena
Tournament organizers promised a bigger version of the college basketball tournament at Acrisure Arena that debuted last Thanksgiving, and now the pieces are in place for a 16-team, fourday college hoops feast in 2024.
Fifteen of the 16 teams involved have been confirmed and the new format has been revealed for the souped-up second year of the Acrisure Classic, played at Acrisure Arena.
The 2024 version will include 12 men’s teams and four women’s teams playing in four different four-team minitournaments. The 2023 Acrisure Classic featured just six teams: A marquee single game between Michigan State and Arizona and then a four-team tournament won by Hawaii that included Arkansas State, San Diego and UT Rio Grande Valley.
Here is everything you need to know about the 2024 Acrisure Classic from the teams, to the format, to tickets.
The teams
The 12 men’s teams will be split into three different four-team pods.
One group includes USC, San Diego State, Arizona State and St. Mary’s. That will be called the Acrisure Classic.
One group includes TCU, New Mexico, Santa Clara and a team still to be determined. That will be called the Acrisure Invitational.
The third group includes SMU, Washington State, Fresno State and Pepperdine. That will be called the Acrisure Holiday Invitational.
The four-team women’s tournament will feature Michigan State, Arizona, Cal and Vanderbilt.
Tournament director Dan Shell said he’s excited about the teams that are coming this year with teams like San Diego State, TCU, New Mexico and St. Mary’s likely to be key players in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. He added that this will continue to be an annual event and some of basketball’s elite teams are already lining up to be part of the 2025 and 2026 editions.
“This is going to be some great basketball and we’re already getting interest in future years from everyone,” Shell said.
“Duke has called. UConn has called. Kansas has called. We’re working on Gonzaga, UCLA many others. Michigan State and Arizona have given a verbal commitment to come back in 2027. The interest is there.”
The format and schedule
Each team in a four-team cluster will play a total of two games on backto-back days. There will be two firstround games and the next day there will be a championship game and a third-place game.
The women’s tournament and the Acrisure Holiday Classic group (SMU, Washington State, Fresno State and Pepperdine) will play their games on Tuesday and Wednesday of Thanksgiving week. The Acrisure Classic field (USC, SDSU, Arizona State and St. Mary’s) and the Acrisure Invitational field (TCU, New Mexico, Santa Clara and TBA) will play their games on Thursday and Friday. There will be no games on Saturday this year, barring any changes that may occur to accommodate TV broadcasts.
The first-round matchups in the three men’s tournaments have not yet been decided. The women’s tournament will start with Michigan State vs. Cal in one first-round matchup and Arizona vs. Vanderbilt in the other.
So from Tuesday through Friday, there will be four games a day for a total of 16 games with four different teams taking home championships.
Tickets and TV
Tickets are not available for purchase yet, but Shell said to expect them to be sometime in March when the country’s collective mind is on college basketball.
Last year’s Thanksgiving Day game between Michigan State and Arizona, won by the Wildcats 74-68, aired on Fox immediately following an NFL game between Detroit and Green Bay and drew 5.18 million viewers. It was the mostwatched regular-season college basketball since 2008. The TV partners for the 2024 event have not been officially solidified at this point.