The Basketball Tournament 2018

The Basketball Tournament 2018 was the fifth edition of The Basketball Tournament, a 5-on-5, single elimination basketball tournament broadcast by the ESPN family of networks. The tournament involved 72 teams; it started on June 29 and continued through August 3, 2018. The winner of the final, Overseas Elite, received a two million dollar prize.

Format The tournament started with a field of 72 teams, organized into four regions of 18 teams, all of which were seeded. The 18 teams in each region consisted of: nine teams selected based on fan popularity per the tournament's website, four teams selected via at-large bids, four teams accepted via buy-in of a $5000 fee, and the returning regional winner from the 2017 tournament.

+ 2018 Regional winners Region TeamNortheast Boeheim's ArmyMidwest Scarlet & GraySouth Overseas EliteWest Team Challenge ALS

Dunk contest

The Puma Hoops Dunk Contest was held during the Super 16 round, on July 27, with six contestants. There were four celebrity judges: Dominique Wilkins, Terry Rozier, God Shammgod, and Instagram personality @dunk. The contest winner was Marcus Lewis of Illinois BC, with Derek Cooke of Team Fredette as the runner-up; they were awarded prizes of $40,000 and $10,000, respectively.

Venues The Basketball Tournament 2018 took place in eight locations. Orange dots mark the locations of the two regional pods, red dots mark regional locations, the blue dot marks the Super 16 and quarterfinal location, and the green dot marks the semifinal and finals location.

Alumni Teams Multiple teams in the tournament were comprised mostly or exclusively of alumni of a particular school. These teams are listed below.

Region Seed Team School Origins of nameNortheast1 Boeheim's Army Syracuse Orange Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim3 Golden Eagles Marquette Golden Eagles5 Gaelnation Iona Gaels6 Jack Attack Georgetown Hoyas Jack the Bulldog7 Team Arkansas Arkansas Razorbacks9 Saints Alive Siena Saints11 Hall In Seton Hall Pirates 14 Johnnies St. John's Red Storm Common nicknameMidwest1 Scarlet & Gray Ohio State Buckeyes Team colors3 Hilton Magic Legends Iowa State Cyclones Hilton Coliseum, Iowa State's home arena5 Always a Brave Bradley Braves7 Zoo Crew Pittsburgh Panthers Pitt's Oakland Zoo student section8 Bearcat Jam Cincinnati Bearcats9 Matadors Texas Tech Red Raiders School teams originally known as MatadorsSouth2 Ram Nation VCU Rams3 Memphis State Memphis Tigers Pre-1994 name of the University of Memphis5 Wake Nation Wake Forest Demon Deacons7 Blue Zoo Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders8 Monarch Nation Old Dominion Monarchs9 Hilltop Dawgs UMBC Retrievers Name derived from location10 Purple & Black Kansas State Wildcats Team colorsWest2 Team Colorado Colorado Buffaloes3 Gael Force Saint Mary's Gaels4 Sons of Westwood UCLA Bruins One of UCLA's fight songs, from the campus location in Westwood5 Forks Up Arizona State Sun Devils Pitchfork in mascot6 Few Good Men Gonzaga Bulldogs Gonzaga head coach Mark Few11 Team Utah Utah Utes14 Air Force Bomb Squad Air Force Falcons Additionally, team We Are D3, the 13th seed in the West region, consisted of alumni from NCAA Division III programs.

Schedule Games televised on ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPNU, with game replays available on ESPN3. Round Dates Region Location CommentPlay-in July 13 West Los Angeles Seeds 15–18 South Richmond, VirginiaJuly 20 Northeast BrooklynMidwest Columbus, OhioRegional June 29–30 West Spokane, Washington Hoopfest PodJuly 14–15 Los Angeles, California South Richmond, Virginia June 30–July 1 Northeast Milwaukee Big East PodJuly 21–22 Brooklyn, New YorkMidwest Columbus, OhioSuper 16 July 26–28 AtlantaQuarterfinalsJuly 29 Semifinals August 2 BaltimoreFinals August 3

Bracket All times Eastern. Source:

Northeast Region – Brooklyn, NY

Northeast Regional Final

Midwest Regional – Columbus, OH

Midwest Regional Final

South Regional – Richmond, VA

South Regional Final

West Regional – Los Angeles, CA

West Regional Final

Semifinals – Baltimore, MD

Semifinals

Championship

Awards + All Tournament Team Pos Player Team PPG F D. J. Kennedy (MVP) Overseas Elite 14.3 G Errick McCollum Overseas Elite 12.8 G Jerome Randle Eberlein Drive 21.7 G Jimmer Fredette Team Fredette 31.0 F Jamil Wilson Golden Eagles 18.0GM Matt Mitchell &Jacob Hirschmann Eberlein Drive — Source:

References

The Basketball Tournament 2018

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