The Basketball Tournament field is set and it includes over 50 former NBA players and a host of big name boosters, head coaches and general managers.
Teams come from all over, including a squad formed by ‘Bball Breakdown’, The Morris twins combing their powers to form ‘Team FOE’ based out of their hometown Philadelphia and a litany of alumni from a number of division one programs including Michigan State, Kentucky, Villanova, Gonzaga, Boston College and a VCU alumni team headlined by former NBA big man Larry Sanders in what could possibly be the start of his comeback to the NBA.
Other former NBA talents competing in ‘The Tournament’ include former Sacramento Kings greats Mike Bibby and Jason Williams teaming up for the first time ever on ‘Pedro’s Posse’, Austin Daye and Dan Dickau on the Gonzaga Alumni team, ‘A Few Good Men’ and even famed YouTube sensation and NBA impersonator Brandon ‘BdotAdot’ Armstrong is fielding a team.
In a press release courtesy of The Basketball Tournament and their broadcast partner ESPN, TBT founder and CEO Jonathan Mugar said the following, courtesy of Jeff Goodman.
The field had 97 teams a year ago, but TBT founder/CEO Jonathan Mugar decided to pare it to 64 this year in an effort to make it more competitive and also eliminate bye rounds.
“The teams from top to bottom are a lot stronger this year,” Mugar told ESPN. “And they understand how to build a team for TBT. You really need dedicated team players who can handle maximum pressure.”
“This year’s field is better than ever before,” said TBT Founder/CEO Jon Mugar. “And that’s a good thing, since each of our teams now finds itself 6 wins away from $2 million. Our winner-takes-all championship August 2 on ESPN will truly be the ultimate game 7.”
“We’ll have a cross-section,” Mugar said. “That’s what we envisioned when we started this: all types of teams coming from all types of backgrounds. It’s an open tournament. I knew the play would be good, but I never envisioned a scenario where a potential second-round matchup could be a team of ex Kentucky players versus a team with former Michigan State players. It’s phenomenal.”
The regionals will be held in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Charlotte. The Super 16 will take place at Philadelphia University from July 21-23, and the semifinals and championship game will be at Fordham University in New York for the second consecutive year. The semis will be on July 30, and the championship on Aug. 2. Both will be televised on ESPN along with some of the Super 16 games on the ESPN family of networks.
You can check out the full field of teams here on TBT’s website.
