The Nebraska basketball team will play the Arizona State Sun Devils in the first round of the inaugural College Basketball Crown tournament on Monday, March 31. Should they win, they’ll advance to the next round of the 16-team tournament with the hopes of eventually making the finals.
The tournament will will be held at the T-Mobile and MGM Grand Garden Arenas. The post-season tournament is also breaking ground by awarding Name, Image, and Likeness payments to the winning teams. Nebraska basketball head coach Fred Hoiberg believes that while some people might turn their nose up at the CBC Tournament, he believes playing for any championship can be good for a team. Especially one that suffered from some confidence issues this season.
Nebraska basketball stands to earn NIL money in CBC tourney
“Any time you have a chance to compete for a championship, there definitely is a benefit for your program. Our guys were unanimous about going out and playing, and that is a good sign for everything you have going with the culture of your program when your guys want to keep playing together and compete."
According to CornhuskersWire, The CBC tournament is breaking ground by awarding NIL payments to participating schools. The championship team will win a $300,000 NIL package, the runner-up will earn a $100,000 package, and the semifinalists will receive $50,000.
That’s hardly ground breaking amounts of money. But it’s also not something that the Nebraska basketball team can just turn its nose up at and ignore.