Rady Children’s Invitational gets N.C. State, Ole Miss for second annual event

Half the field for the 2024 Rady Childen’s Invitational has been replaced, with North Carolina State and Mississippi subbing in for Arkansas and Notre Dame.

Tournament officials made the announcement Thursday morning, adding that Brigham Young and 2024 national championship runner-up Purdue will remain part of the four-team field.

“While we are disappointed that two teams have opted out of their contracts,” Sports San Diego CEO Mark Neville said in a release, “we are so excited to welcome the SEC’s Ole Miss, and yet another team from last season’s Final Four in N.C. State.”

Contracts with the participating teams included a $200,000 buyout provision, according to a source.

Notre Dame was reported three weeks ago — along with San Diego State — as part of the eight-team field for a new Las Vegas event called the Players Era Festival that will pay $1 million into each school’s NIL collective.

New Arkansas coach John Calipari said at this week’s SEC Spring Meetings that he expected the Razorbacks to play in events in Dallas and New York during the 2024-25 season.

So the 2024 Rady Children’s Invitational field now includes two 2024 Final Four teams. Purdue (34-5) defeated N.C. State (26-15) to advance to the national championship game, where the Boilermakers were defeated by UConn.

BYU (23-11) lost to Duquesne in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars hired Phoenix Suns assistant Kevin Young as their new coach last month when Mark Pope became Kentucky’s head coach.

Ole Miss (20-12) opened the season with 13 straight victories, but missed the postseason after losing to Texas A&M in the first round of the SEC Tournament.

Oklahoma defeated USC on a last-second shot to win the inaugural tournament last year in a field that also included Iowa and Seton Hall.

The Rady Children’s Invitational is a two-day Thanksgiving week event scheduled this year for Nov. 28-29 at UC San Diego’s LionTree Arena.

Two games are played both days, with championship and third-place games on the second day. First-day matchups and tip times have not yet been announced. Two-day passes range from $80 to $140. The games will be televised on either Fox or Fox Sports 1.