Matt Norlander, who is in Vegas, will be bouncing between the two arenas that are hosting the Players Era Championship this year. Check back often for updates and insider info. This is his Monday notebook.LAS VEGAS — The Players Era Championship has caused more conversation, buzz, criticism and intrigue than anything else so far this season.Some of that is because it’s got some obvious flaws. We’ll start with the biggest flaw. Tuesday, the No. Iowa State, No. 15, beat Creighton in a 78-60 victory. The Cyclones now have a 2-0 record in the tournament after winning an exciting battle with No. 14 St. John’s on Monday.
In the hours immediately following this victory, neither they nor their opponent know when or where they will play on Wednesday. The 18-team format of Players Era is not built on a bracket. If you don’t use bracket play and you don’t know all of the matchups, then you have to rely solely on game scores for the remainder of the schedule. The primary tiebreaker for determining the winner is the average margin of victory. This has a 20-point cap to prevent teams from scoring wildly. Iowa State’s margin of victory is 9.5 after two games. Will that be enough to put the Cyclones in Wednesday’s championship game — where the winning team will be awarded $500,000? We don’t yet know. We do know that it is already behind 2-0 Kansas with a MOV of 10.5 after beating Notre Dame by 21 points and Syracuse by 21.
Fans who came to Las Vegas for the game are aware of its unusual format. A fan of Iowa State in Section 220 shouted to ISU’s Milan Momcilovic as the final seconds passed on Tuesday: “YOU MUST MAX IT!” “SHOOT IT!” He knew that one more basket would mean the difference between winning the first place game and playing in the third place game. Momcilovic chose not to shoot. I had a walk-and talk with Cyclones Coach TJ Otzelberger following the win, to discuss the unusual and criticized tiebreaker scenarios that were in play. Otzelberger’s claim that he owes the start of his career to Creighton Coach Greg McDermott (who was then in his first year as a coach at Iowa State) made the situation even more confusing on Tuesday.”Going in, you’re aware that this ,”… is going to be a bit deferential.
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2025-11-25 23:39:41
