It's that time of year again ladies and gentlemen! What? You don't know? It's time for Thanksgiving and early season college basketball tournaments!

So with these very exciting events about tip-off, VAVEL US' own Tyler Bennett and Peyton Wesner have decided to do a special "Sizzling in the Spotlight" for the majority, if not all November tourneys, including the Advocare Invitational.

Quarterfinals Schedule

November 26
12:00 PM EST 
2-1 Alabama - 4-0 23. Xavier (ESPN2)

Coming In:
Alabama: 105-93 Win - Louisiana-Lafayette
Xavier: 78-66 Win - Northern Kentucky

Players to Watch:
Alabama:
Retin Obasohan (SR)
---14.0 PPG, 1.7 RPG, & 1.3 SPG.
Xavier:
Trevon Bluiett (SO)
---14.3 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 2.8 APG, & 1.0 SPG.

2:00 PM EST
2-1 20. Wichita State - 4-0 USC (ESPN2)

Coming In:
Wichita State: 76-54 Win - Emporia State
USC: 96-61 Win - Cal State Northridge

Players to Watch:
Wichita State:
Ron Baker (SR)
---20.3 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 2.7 APG, & 1.7 SPG.
USC:
Jordan McLaughlin (SO)
---20.3 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 4.8 APG, & 1.3 SPG.

6:30 PM EST
3-0 17. Notre Dame - 2-1 Monmouth (ESPNU)

Coming In:
Notre Dame: 83-57 Win - Massachusetts-Lowell
Monmouth: 82-74 Win @ Drexel

Players to Watch:
Notre Dame:
Demetrius Jackson (JR)
---20.7 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 5.0 APG, & 1.0 SPG.
Monmouth:
Justin Robinson (JR)
---24.0 PPG, 3.3 APG, & 4.3 SPG.

9:00 PM EST
3-0 Iowa @ 3-0 Dayton (ESPN2)

Coming In:
Iowa: 89-61 Win @ Marquette
Dayton: 89-61 Win - William & Mary

Players to Watch:
Iowa:
Jarrod Uthoff (SR)
---16.3 PPG, 5.7 RPG, & 2.0 SPG.
Dayton:
Charles Cooke (JR)
---15.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 2.0 APG, & 1.3 BPG.

Bennett's Bracket

Quarterfinals:
The Xavier Musketeers cracked the top 25 rankings with a massive road win over the Michigan Wolverines in the Gavitt Tip-Off Games, steamrolling the Wolverines in the process. Jalen Reynolds is a star for Chris Mack’s crew, and the team will be looking to build off their recent success and make a run in Orlando. Alabama won’t be able to keep up, and Xavier will cruise to another easy victory.
---Xavier 84, Alabama 70

The USC Trojans have played some strong basketball to open the 2015-16 season, and the duo of Jordan McLaughlin and Nikola Jovanovic have taken big strides in their development. Taking on a Wichita State team without Fred Van Vleet could lead to an upset win for the Trojans. If the Shockers want to win, they will need others to step up on offense, because Ron Baker cannot do it all himself. Today they will get just enough support to slide by the Trojans, but this game will lead to more questions than answers around Gregg Marshall’s crew moving forwards.
---Wichita State 78, USC 74
 
On paper, the showdown between the Hawks and the Fighting Irish would look like a no-brainer, in favor of Notre Dame. However, the Irish will need to be on upset alert, as Monmouth has already knocked off UCLA this season, and are capable of defeating the nation's best. Je’Lon Hornbeak has excelled since joining Monmouth, and will look to lead the Hawks to another upset. Yet, Notre Dame has too many weapons, and will drain any chances of an upset bid from the Hawks.
---Notre Dame 82, Monmouth 72
 
Both the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Dayton Flyers earned votes in the recent AP Top 25 rankings. Therefore, a good showing in the tournament from either could put them on the cusp of cracking the list. Without Dyshawn Pierre, due to suspension, the Flyers have played very good to open the 2015-16 season, while Iowa seems to have put their ugly loss in exhibition play behind them. This will be a close contest that comes down to the wire, but Dayton pulls out the win.
---Dayton 77, Iowa 75
 
Semi-Finals
---Xavier 72, Wichita State 70
---Notre Dame 80, Dayton 74
 
Championship:

The dream final in the Advocare Invitational, for many anyways, is a rematch between Wichita State and Notre Dame from last year’s NCAA Tournament. However, with Fred Van Vleet not suiting up, the Shockers get ‘upset’ by Xavier in the semi-finals. The Musketeers are a team that is full of momentum and confidence, and will give Notre Dame everything they can handle. Demetrious Jackson will come up big down the stretch for Notre Dame and lead them to a comeback victory to claim the Advocare Invitational title.
---Notre Dame 84, Xavier 81

Wesner's Bracket

Quarterfinals:
---Xavier 77, Alabama 68
---USC 72, Wichita State 70
---Notre Dame 80, Monmouth 65
---Iowa 69, Dayton 66

Semi-Finals:
---Xavier 80, USC 72
---Notre Dame 70, Iowa 69

Championship:
---Notre Dame 74, Xavier 73

Point System for Advocare Invitational
1 pt for each quarterfinal win
2 pts for each semi-final win
4 pts for correctly choosing the champion

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About the author
Peyton Wesner
Editor, that has loved and watched sports. He enjoys traveling the country to watch division one college basketball and professional baseball, basketball, and football. In addition, Peyton is a huge enthusiast of Missouri Valley Conference basketball and International League (Triple-A) baseball as he focuses about these topics and many more on his sports blog Courtside with PW at http://courtsidewpw.blogspot.com/?m=1. You can contact him through his email, [email protected], or his twitter, @courtsidewpw.