New 3 on 3 NCAA Tournament has a chance to become a big deal

Team Big 10 celebrated a victory. Steve Woltmann/Intersport

SAN ANTONIO -- The hottest new trend in basketball has arrived, and it’s 3 on 3 basketball. In the last two years, we have seen the emergence of Ice Cube’s Big 3 Basketball League, the announcement of 3 on 3 coming to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and over the weekend in San Antonio, the inaugural 3 on 3 National Championship debuted. The premise was simple for the first National Championship of its kind; each conference was represented by four-man rosters led by seniors who had zero eligibility left. Every game the team won, they won a thousand dollars with the National Championship team winning 50 grand. The inaugural champions came from the Big Ten being represented by Purdue, Minnesota, Indiana and Ohio State.

The games are played to 21 points in increments of 1’s and 2’s, and the game doesn’t stop after a score. After each basket, that team has to simply get behind the 3 point line, and they keep playing. The first to 21 points wins, and so the game doesn’t drag on and on, the games are played with a 12-second shot clock and a 10-minute game clock. The games are fast paced and can be a ton of fun to watch. The big question is if it will be a must-see event at future Final Four’s or if it will fizzle out.

“It’s really cool to play in the first one and I think this is something that has already gained some traction and can be around for awhile.”

That was the sentiment for Amanze Egekeze, a Senior from Belmont representing the Ohio Valley, and I tend to agree. It’s different, played in a small gym and watching kids throw a thousand dollars up in the air after a victory, is worth the price of admission alone. Coverage and participation will be the biggest challenge for this event. I was disappointed that Rob Gray wasn’t representing the American Team as he was eligible to and that is the biggest challenge that I see. These guys already played a long season and in theory, could walk away with zero dollars only getting a free trip to the site of the year’s Final Four. Money is great, but injury for potential pros is a huge red flag and from what I was told only a few NBA teams were represented by scouts anyway.

When it comes to coverage, they live streamed everything on Twitter and then ran the semifinals and finals on ESPN 2. I knew I was going to San Antonio, but until I saw a player tweet that he was playing, I had zero idea the event was happening. The crowd wasn’t massive, and neither was the media coverage. Getting the big name guys to compete will be what elevates the play, interest level of other players and overall media coverage.

I’ve grown to become a big fan of 3 on 3 basketball and believe this event could have some sustained success going forward. Overall, I would give it a B; the event was fun, competitive and entertaining. The only thing it really lacked was star power but handing out $105,000 over a three day period should surely go a long way.

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Texas hosts Clemson on Dec. 21. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

No. 4 Texas will be competing for a return trip to Atlanta when it plays at home against No. 13 Clemson in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

The winner of the Clemson-Texas first-round game on Dec. 21 will play No. 10 Arizona State in the Jan. 1 Peach Bowl in Atlanta in the CFP quarterfinals.

For Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik, who is from Austin, Texas, the game will be a homecoming.

“We recruited him hard," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Sunday, calling Klubnik “a winner. He will do whatever it takes to put his team in position to be successful.”

Added Sarkisian: “When he made the decision to go to Clemson, honestly I wasn’t surprised. Both his parents went to (Texas) A&M.”

Klubnik applauded the announcement of the game at Texas for Clemson's seventh CFP appearance.

“For him to be going to his first playoff in Austin, Texas, where he grew up, you can’t make that up,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “Pretty cool opportunity for him and his family to go compete against Texas there in Austin.”

Swinney said his only visit to the Texas stadium was to watch Klubnik play in a high school playoff game.

“We’ve never played Texas or played in that stadium,” Swinney said. “... It’s going to be amazing. It’s one of the best venues in college football.”

The Longhorns (11-2) were seeded No. 5 in the CFP following their 22-19 overtime loss to Georgia on Saturday night in the Southeastern Conference championship game in Atlanta.

Sarkisian said his players were “really excited” to see Texas land the No. 5 seed and have the opportunity to play in the Longhorns' first game against Clemson.

Texas safety Andrew Mukuba is a Clemson transfer. Sarkisian said players already were calling the matchup the “Mukuba Bowl.”

Swinney said: “I love Mukuba. I just love his spirit and love his heart. He was a really neat kid.

“I certainly wish he had been able to finish here. He did everything that was asked of him at Clemson. Made a bunch of big plays.”

Clemson (10-3) beat SMU 34-31 in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game Saturday night to land an automatic CFP berth. The Tigers are ranked No. 16 in the CFP but were given the 12th and lowest seed. As the fifth-highest ranked league champion, the Tigers do not get a bye and instead must visit Texas.

Arizona State (11-2) earned a bye by rolling over Iowa State 45-19 in the Big 12 championship game Saturday. The Sun Devils were led by running back Cam Skattebo's 170 rushing yards in their impressive win to cap their first season in the Big 12.

Peach Bowl president Gary Stokan noted the Sun Devils were picked to finish last in the Big 12.

“You proved them all wrong,” Stokan told Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham.

Arizona State players celebrated the announcement of their No. 4 seed.

Dillingham said he hopes the conference championship and berth in the CFP helps him recruit and continue to build the program.

“Hopefully this stage will help get our branding out there, and show people that we can be one of the newer brands in college football," Dillingham said. "Every 10-15 years a new brand shows up, and a new brand becomes a national brand.”No. 4 Texas will be competing for a return trip to Atlanta when it plays at home against No. 13 Clemson in the first round of the College Football Playoff.