The Basketball Tournament 2020

The Basketball Tournament 2020 was the seventh edition of The Basketball Tournament (TBT), a 5-on-5, single elimination basketball tournament. The tournament, involving 24 teams, started on July 4 and continued through the championship game on July 14, with all games held at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The winner of the final, Golden Eagles, received a $1 million prize.

Format

Initial plans for TBT 2020 called for a field of 64 teams, organized into eight regions of 8 teams, all of which would be seeded. Each regional in the 2019 edition was hosted by a competing team, with the winner of each regional received a prize equal to 25% of that region's ticket proceeds, although it was unclear whether this procedure was slated to continue in 2020. The open entry period was set as March 15 to June 15.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was announced on June 11 that the start of the event would be moved up to July 4 in a modified form, with the entire tournament taking place at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, and downsized to 24 teams with a $1,000,000 purse. It marked the first televised basketball event held in the United States since the onset of the pandemic and the suspension of all U.S. professional sports in mid-March, as the NBA did not plan to resume its 2019–20 season until July 31 (with all games hosted by the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Florida). TBT 2020 organizers put extensive quarantine and testing protocols in place, including the immediate disqualification of any team that had a player test positive. Games were broadcast via ESPN networks (with ESPN having also announced a renewal of its media rights to the tournament), and closed to the public. State governor Mike DeWine considered the event "another step forward in our state's efforts to responsibly restart Ohio".

As with previous years, all tournament games operated with the "Elam Ending", a format of ending the game without the use of a game clock. Under the Elam Ending, the clock is turned off at the first dead-ball whistle with under four minutes to play in the game. At that time, a target score, equal to the score of the leading team plus eight, is set, and the first team to reach this target score is declared the winner of the game. Thus, all games end on a made basket (field goal or free throw) and there is no overtime.

Teams Multiple teams in the tournament were expected to be comprised mostly or exclusively of alumni of a particular school, program, or a group of closely related schools. As early as October 2019, Florida State had announced plans to enter a team, and St. Bonaventure and Virginia Tech had also announced the same by the end of 2019. In January 2020, Purdue also announced plans to enter a team. By the end of February 2020, Alabama, Illinois, Marshall, Maryland, Oklahoma State, and Virginia had also announced plans to enter TBT 2020. The status of defending champion Carmen's Crew (Ohio State) was initially uncertain; the team did officially enter by early March. Other alumni teams confirmed included Syracuse, West Virginia, and Wichita State. Additionally, Luke Hancock announced that he was exploring entering a Louisville alumni team.

Ultimately, alumni teams from Clemson, Dayton, Illinois, Marquette, Marshall, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Purdue, Syracuse, and West Virginia were entered, along with teams representing the Big Ten and Mid-American (MAC) conferences. The remaining fifteen teams were not associated with a specific school or conference. The teams representing West Virginia and the MAC would later withdraw, due to each having a player test positive for COVID-19.

The tournament bracket was released on June 16, 2020.

Key: Seed Team School/program Origins of name 1 Carmen's Crew Ohio State Buckeyes School song "Carmen Ohio" 2 Overseas Elite "a collection of stars who play hoops at basketball outposts around the world" 3 Boeheim's Army Syracuse Orange Current Syracuse men's basketball head coach Jim Boeheim 4 Golden Eagles Marquette Golden Eagles School nickname 5 Eberlein Drive Street in Fraser, Michigan that co-GM Jacob Hirschmann grew up on 6 Team Challenge ALS Supporting measures to help in cure of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease 7 The Money Team Nickname of American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., who is supporting the team 8 Red Scare Dayton Flyers Name given to the Dayton student section at home basketball games 9 Big X Big Ten Conference, in which most of the team's players played 10 Peoria All-Stars City of Peoria, Illinois 11 Team Hines American basketball players Tyler and Kyle Hines, who are the team's head coach and booster, respectively 12 Brotherly Love City of Philadelphia, known as the "City of Brotherly Love" 13 Team CP3 American basketball player Chris Paul, who is serving as the team's GM 14 HEARTFIRE Arizona nonprofit HeartFire Missions, a mission trip provider 15 Armored Athlete 16 House of 'Paign Illinois Fighting Illini Champaign, Illinois—the Illinois campus is divided between that city and neighboring Urbana 17 War Tampa Variation of Auburn's battle cry, "War Eagle" (players are from Auburn and the state of Florida) 18 Power of the Paw Clemson Tigers Reference to school's nickname, the Tigers, and main athletic mark, a tiger paw 19 Men of Mackey Purdue Boilermakers Mackey Arena, Purdue's home basketball arena 20 PrimeTime Players 21 Stillwater Stars Oklahoma State Cowboys Stillwater, Oklahoma, the location of Oklahoma State University 22 Sideline Cancer Supporting measures to help in cure of cancer 23 Herd That Marshall Thundering Herd Short version of school nickname 24 D2 NCAA Division II, the division in which the schools attended by the players compete

Replacements Tournament organizers announced that any team that had a player test positive for COVID-19 would be immediately disqualified and removed from the tournament. Five teams had positive tests; all five were removed before playing in the tournament. Four of the teams were replaced, with the final removal, that of Eberlein Drive, resulting in another team being awarded a walkover.

On June 22, Best Virginia (No. 10), a team for West Virginia alumni, withdrew after having several players test positive. They were replaced by Playing for Jimmy V, a team in support of the V Foundation. On July 1, Jackson TN UnderDawgs (No. 24) were diagnosed with a case and replaced by D2, a team of former NCAA Division II players. On July 2, Mid-American Unity (No. 20), had one of their players test positive, although he was asymptomatic. The team withdrew and was replaced by PrimeTime Players. On July 3, Playing for Jimmy V (No. 10), themselves a replacement team, had a player test positive and were subsequently disqualified. They were replaced with Peoria All-Stars. On July 5, the day before their opening game, Eberlein Drive (No. 5) was disqualified after a player tested positive, despite being asymptomatic. Their Round of 16 opponent, Brotherly Love, advanced automatically to the quarterfinals.

Squads

Schedule SessionGameTime*Matchup#TelevisionScore Round of 24Saturday, July 41 3:00 p.m.No. 9 Big X vs. No. 24 D2ESPN79–742 5:00 p.m.No. 12 Brotherly Love vs. No. 21 Stillwater Stars87–7138:00 p.m.No. 16 House of 'Paign vs. No. 17 War Tampa76–53410:00 p.m.No. 13 Team CP3 vs. No. 20 PrimeTime Players76–74Sunday, July 552:00 p.m.No. 10 Peoria All-Stars vs. No. 23 Herd That65–8064:00 p.m.No. 11 Team Hines vs. No. 22 Sideline Cancer91–9377:00 p.m.No. 14 HEARTFIRE vs. No. 19 Men of MackeyESPN279–8589:00 p.m.No. 15 Armored Athlete vs. No. 18 Power of the Paw98–91 Round of 16Monday, July 69No. 5 Eberlein Drive vs. No. 12 Brotherly LoveESPNw/o107:00 p.m.No. 4 Golden Eagles vs. No. 13 Team CP376–67Tuesday, July 7112:00 p.m.No. 6 Team Challenge ALS vs. No. 22 Sideline Cancer66–76124:00 p.m.No. 3 Boeheim's Army vs. No. 19 Men of Mackey76–69Wednesday, July 8132:00 p.m.No. 8 Red Scare vs. No. 9 Big X77–68144:00 p.m.No. 1 Carmen's Crew vs. No. 16 House of 'Paign68–76Thursday, July 9152:00 p.m.No. 7 The Money Team vs. No. 23 Herd That99–102164:00 p.m.No. 2 Overseas Elite vs. No. 15 Armored Athlete76–70 QuarterfinalsFriday, July 10172:00 p.m.No. 4 Golden Eagles vs. No. 12 Brotherly LoveESPN83–76184:00 p.m.No. 8 Red Scare vs. No. 16 House of 'Paign83–76Saturday, July 11192:00 p.m.No. 2 Overseas Elite vs. No. 23 Herd That93–76204:00 p.m.No. 3 Boeheim's Army vs. No. 22 Sideline Cancer48–65 SemifinalsSunday, July 12214:00 p.m.No. 4 Golden Eagles vs. No. 8 Red ScareESPN79–70226:00 p.m.No. 2 Overseas Elite vs. No. 22 Sideline Cancer65–67 Championship GameTuesday, July 14237:00 p.m.No. 4 Golden Eagles vs. No. 22 Sideline CancerESPN78–73

Tournament bracket

Game summaries Round of 24

Round of 16

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Championship

Championship game statistics Statistics for the title game are below. The championship basket (reaching the Elam Ending target score) was made by Travis Diener.

Key

No Uniform number* Starting lineup Pos Position led team in category

Pts Points scored Reb Rebounds Ast Assists Min Minutes played

Golden Eagles

Coach: Joe Chapman No. Pos Player Pts Reb Ast Min College 0* SF Jamil Wilson 1650 29 Marquette 1 PG Darius Johnson-Odom 1503 21 Marquette 3* SG Dwight Buycks 1535 26 Marquette 4* PG Maurice Acker 653 18 Marquette 5* SF Elgin Cook 1541 29 Oregon 11 SF Jarvis Williams 220 10 Minnesota State 12* PG Derrick Wilson 141 14 Marquette 22 SF Mo Charlo 531 9 Nevada 24 C Luke Fischer 000 4 Marquette 34 SG Travis Diener 313 19 Marquette Inactive: Andrew Rowsey

Sideline Cancer

Coach: Charles Parker Asst: Jordan Griffith

No. Pos Player Pts Reb Ast Min College 1* SG Maurice Creek 2040 34 George Washington 2* SF Jamel Artis 1762 35 Pittsburgh 3* PG Marcus Keene 654 32 Central Michigan 4 SG Four McGlynn 431 9 Towson 5* C Eric Thompson 742 30 Pacific 10 SG Remy Abell 1433 30 Xavier 12 SF Duane Johnson 000 2 East Stroudsburg 23* SF Dion Wright 510 10 St. Bonaventure Inactive: Diamond Stone

Awards

+ All Tournament Team Pos Player Team PG Darius Johnson-Odom (MVP) Golden Eagles SF Jamil Wilson Golden Eagles PG Marcus Keene Sideline Cancer SF Joe Johnson Overseas Elite SG Trey Landers Red ScareGM Billy Clapper Sideline CancerCoach Joe Chapman Golden Eagles Source:

References

The Basketball Tournament 2020

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