Maryland Men's Basketball Returning to 2026 Players Era Festival
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We're still five months away from Maryland men's basketball returning to the court, with a good chunk of the roster just being decided in the past few weeks.
However, part of the upcoming calendar was supposedly set, with another extended trip to Las Vegas on the 2026 non-conference calendar.
The Players Era Festival, which featured a pool of 18 teams during 2025, previously advertised that all of those teams - including the Terrapins - would be back again this November as part of a 32-team event.
That was until a recent report that Syracuse, another team from last year’s tournament, would be pulling out of the competition.
Maryland On SI was unable to receive confirmation of a return from Maryland Athletics directly, but a report from CBS Sports' Matt Norlander indicates the Terps are indeed heading back to Vegas - but in a slightly different manner.
Instead of a 32-team bracket, this year’s Festival will be split into two separate events: a 16-team during Thanksgiving week, which Maryland will be a part of, and an eight-team bracket the week prior.
The "Players Era Sixteen" features two other Big Ten programs - Michigan and Oregon - as well as Alabama, Baylor, Creighton, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Kansas State, Louisville, Miami, San Diego State, St. John's, TCU, Tennessee, and Texas Tech.
Exact matchups will be announced later this month, according to Norlander. Each team will receive a guaranteed payout, averaging around $1 million but differing between some programs.
Maryland went 1-2 in Vegas last year, with a victory over UNLV and losses to No. 8 Gonzaga and No. 12 Alabama.
It seems unlikely that the Terps would play either the Zags or Bama again in the initial two matchups, and they wouldn't face conference opponents either. That leaves a wide assortment of intriguing options on the table.
Buzz Williams has a vastly different roster compared to his first Terps squad. Only four players from last year's team - namely center Pharrel Payne and guard Andre Mills - are returning to College Park.
The group instead features six experienced transfers and four freshmen, including five-star Baba Oladotun. Williams narrowly missed out on adding another five-star to the mix, so there's still one spot left to fill over the summer.
The rest of the MBB non-conference slate has yet to be announced. Stay tuned for updates as more games are confirmed.
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Mike joined Maryland On SI with over four years of sportswriting experience. He started off his career in Syracuse on the Orange football beat, where he was featured on CBS Sports' Cover 3 Podcast and local ESPN sports talk radio. After that, he had a brief stint reporting on Major League Baseball before returning to college sports.
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