Maryland men's basketball expected to participate in Players Era Tournament "for the long term"

Ahmed Ghafir
49 minutes ago
2 min read

Maryland men's basketball did not fare well in their first appearance in the Players Era Tournament, opening with a seven-point win vs. UNLV before losing to a pair of top-15 teams in Gonzaga and Alabama by a combined 72 points.

The expectation was that Maryland would return to Las Vegas in 2026 as head coach Buzz Williams hopes for better results, but Maryland is now expected to remain part of the tournament until at least 2028.

“When we started Players Era, he was one of the first coaches that we wanted to get in,” tournament founder and CEO Seth Berger told The Diamondback, adding the Terps will remain involved "for the long term."

“We’re proud to partner with Buzz and Maryland.”

Maryland quickly replaced Texas A&M in the 2025 Players Era Festival once Buzz Williams was announced as head coach in April, giving the program an immediate connection to what has shaped up to become the premier November MTE with plans to expand the pool of teams in 2026.

"I know some of the people that are involved in how the tournament started," Williams told local media ahead of the road swing. "That was a portion of the way that we were able to participate in the first one last year. And then when I was hired here, that was the beginning of the conversation for us to play in it this year. I think it's 18 teams this season. I think next season, 32 teams are already contracted. I think it's like so many other things - the model of what this is completely changed, and so it's hard to know if that's going to be the wave of the future. I think that just kind of depends upon tournament organizers and some of the decision makers and all of the other ones. But for sure, this has become at a very fast rate, one that you want to play in. Partly for the finances, but partly for the Quad One-A opportunities involved in it.”

Related Links