ASU basketball will face Nebraska in College Basketball Crown tournament

Arizona State men’s basketball will face Nebraska on March 31 in the first round of the College Basketball Crown tournament.

ASU joins the event of 16 non-NCAA Tournament teams playing in a bracket in Las Vegas.

FOX and FS1 will air all of the games, with the early rounds taking place at MGM Grand Garden Arena and the semifinals and championship game at T-Mobile Arena.

The starts March 31 and runs through April 6. It has an NIL component and promises to give players playing time in front of pro scouts.

The College Basketball Crown includes two automatic qualifiers from each of the Big 12, Big Ten and Big East. A committee picked the rest of the field.

ASU and Nebraska are joined by Boise State, Butler, Cincinnati, Colorado, DePaul, Georgetown, George Washington, Oregon State, Tulane, UCF, USC, Utah, Villanova and Washington State.

ASU basketball gets Nebraska in first round of College Basketball Crown

The Sun Devils (13-19) and Cornhuskers (17-14) tip off at 5:30 p.m. MST on Monday, March 31. The winner would advance to face either Georgetown or Washington State.

Arizona State big man Jayden Quaintance — if he’s healthy after ending the regular season with a knee injury — plus fellow freshmen Joson Sanon, Amier Ali and Trevor Best could use the experience to build on a season that went south in some part due to injury.

The College Basketball Crown event is expected to draw scouts, which could also help departing older players like senior forward Basheer Jihad build stock before turning pro.

The quick summary of Nebraska’s 2024-25 season

The Cornhuskers peaked at the start of the Big Ten season, beating then-No. 15 UCLA to improve their record to 12-2.

A six-game losing streak began there, and a 5-1 stretch after that was followed by a five-game skid that knocked Nebraska out of the Big Ten Tournament altogether.

Nebraska was led by 6-foot-7 senior guard Brice Williams, who averaged 20 points, 2.8 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game.

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