CAA Wins 3X3U National Championship in Minnesota

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A team made up of four studs from the CAA won the second-annual 3X3U National Championship in Minnesota.

Ask any basketball player out there what their favorite kind of ball is and I’m sure you’ll hear A LOT of them say three-on-three. Simply put, you have a lot more room to work when there are only six dudes on the court, making things extremely enjoyable. And, if you’re of the older, out-of-shape variety, you don’t have to run up and down the court (see: BIG3).

These days, three-on-three is getting more respect on a national level, too. It will be an official event at the 2020 Summer Olympics and there’s also the 3X3U National Championship, a tournament that features four-player teams from NCAA conferences played during Final Four weekend. The prize is cash so the players have to have their collegiate eligibility exhausted already.

On Sunday, the second-ever 3X3U National Championship was completed at the Mall of America in Minnesota, with earlier rounds taking place on Friday and Saturday. And, although the Big Ten won last year’s event, it was a much smaller conference that took home the 2019 prize: the CAA.

Comprised of four First Team All-CAA selections, including CAA Player of the Year Justin Wright-Foreman (Hofstra), the Colonial Athletic Association smoked the West Coast Conference team in the finals 21-13, completing the event with a perfect 7-0 record. The other players on the CAA squad besides Wright-Foreman were Jarrell Brantley (Charleston), Devontae Cacok (UNCW), and Vasa Pusica (Northeastern).

Wright-Foreman won the 3X3U National Championship MVP.

The CAA team earned over $100k during the weekend, per the official 3X3U website. In total, there was $150k up for grabs, with $1,000 going to each winning team during pool play and $2,000 to each winning team during the semifinals.

Also, the win by the CAA team gave them an entry into the 2019 USA Basketball 3×3 Open National Championship in Las Vegas next month.

It should be noted that Tate and Titus from The Ringer’s One Shining Podcast were commentators on ESPNU’s broadcast, complete with tuxedos. And, if you’re wondering what the hell happened to all the Power-5 conferences, you’ll be happy to know that none of them advanced to the quarterfinals; the Big 12 didn’t even make the Round of 16, losing to the CAA, while the ACC, SEC, Big 10, and Pac 12 were all bounced in the Round of 16.

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The ACC lost to the Southland Conference, the SEC fell to the Northeast Conference, the Big 10 lost to the MAC, and the Pac 12 got dropped by Conference USA.

Complete results can be found here.