LAS VEGAS – Welcome to a new era of college basketball tournaments – the Players Era Festival.

The Players Era, in just its second year, has a stacked field of 18 teams playing in the best Feast Week tournament, each earning as much as $1 million and potentially more with $1 million awarded to the tournament champion after playing three high-level games.

Gonzaga, which watched from afar while playing in a loaded Battle 4 Atlantis last November in the Bahamas, is one of those 18 teams. The Zags just might be one of the 32 teams a year from now, reportedly the Players Era’s target number next November, though that’s not set in stone.

“It’s just the new reality of college basketball,” Gonzaga athletic director Chris Standiford said about 30 minutes prior to the 12th-ranked Zags’ taking on

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