The Basketball Tournament 2023 was the tenth edition of The Basketball Tournament (TBT), a 5-on-5, single elimination basketball tournament with a $1 million winner-take-all prize. The tournament, involving 64 teams, began on July 19 and ended on August 3 with the championship game in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The tournament format was similar to that of the last edition in 2022—64 teams, each playing in one of eight regionals.

The event had a "championship week", starting with the regional winners advancing to quarterfinals at one of four sites, Dayton, Louisville, Wheeling, WV, and Wichita. The quarterfinal winners then traveled to Philadelphia for the semifinals and championship game. Heartfire, a team sponsored by MedImpact, won the tournament.

Format For its 2023 edition, TBT retained its traditional 64-team format and eight-region format, with each regional involving eight teams at a single host site (similar in format to the NCAA Division II men's and women's tournaments). Wichita is serving as host for two separate regionals.

In a feature it calls "Run It Back", TBT organizers invited all teams that won first-round games in the 2022 edition to play in 2023. The remaining teams, and the regional placements for all entrants, were revealed in a selection special hosted by Andrew Zoldan with analyst Seth Greenberg that aired on TBT's YouTube channel on June 21, 2023.

As with previous years, all tournament games operate with the "Elam Ending", a format of ending the game without use of a game clock. Under the Elam Ending, the clock is turned off at the first dead-ball whistle with 4 minutes or less to play in the game. At that time, a target score, equal to the score of the leading team (or tied teams) 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.

Venues The Basketball Tournament 2023 featured games in eight locations, seven of which hosted a regional. The eighth hosted the championship weekend (two semifinal contests and the championship game). Official regional names, if different from the location names, are indicated in the listings below the location names.

Cincinnati(Xavier) Lubbock Syracuse Dayton Cintas Center United Supermarkets Arena The Oncenter UD Arena Capacity: 10,224 Capacity: 15,300 Capacity: 7,000 Capacity: 13,409 Louisville Wheeling(West Virginia) Wichita Philadelphia(Championship) Freedom Hall WesBanco Arena Charles Koch Arena Daskalakis Athletic Center Capacity: 18,865 Capacity: 5,406 Capacity: 10,506 Capacity: 2,509

Teams Source:

TBT has a history of teams rostered primarily with alumni from specific NCAA Division I college basketball programs; 33 such teams entered the 2023 tournament. Three other teams were rostered primarily with alumni from groups of NCAA basketball programs sharing a common bond. Two mostly consist of alumni from a specific Division I conference, one is drawn from a group of historic basketball rivals, another is drawn from NCAA Division III alumni, and the last is drawn from historically black colleges and universities.

Name College or sponsor affiliation Source of team name Region AfterShocks Wichita State alumni School nickname of Shockers Wichita 2 Air Raiders Texas Tech alumni School nickname of Red Raiders Lubbock Athletics Miami Team sponsor Athletics Miami, a basketball facility Dayton Austin's Own Texas alumni School location in Austin Lubbock B1 Ballers Wichita 2 Beale Street Boys Memphis alumni Street where school arena is located Wichita 2 Best Virginia West Virginia alumni West Virginia Big 5 Philadelphia Big 5 alumni Syracuse Bleed Green North Texas alumni School nickname of Mean Green Lubbock Blue Collar U Buffalo alumni Primary school color, plus city's blue-collar image Syracuse Boeheim's Army Syracuse alumni Former Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim Syracuse Broad Street Birds Temple alumni Street where school arena is located, Owl mascot Wichita 2 Bucketneers ETSU alumni School nickname of Buccaneers Xavier Carmen's Crew Ohio State alumni "Carmen Ohio", Ohio State's school song Dayton Challenge ALS: Florida Combination of former teams Challenge ALS and Florida TNT West Virginia UMass alumni Commonwealth of Massachusetts Syracuse DaGuys STL Team YouTube channel, with players mainly from Greater St. Louis Wichita 2 DawgTown Georgetown alumni Team mascot Jack the Bulldog West Virginia Dubois Dream Based out of Dubois, Pennsylvania West Virginia Eberlein Drive Team owners' home street Louisville New Mexico alumni State nickname, "Land of Enchantment" Lubbock Fort Wayne Champs Players with connections to Fort Wayne, Indiana Xavier Friday Beers Armored Athlete Dayton Gataverse Florida alumni Florida Gators mascot Louisville Georgia Kingz Players with connections to the state of Georgia Xavier Gutter Cat Gang Team sponsor Gutter Cat Gang, an NFT company Louisville Happy Valley Hoopers Penn State alumni Location of the school in Happy Valley Syracuse HBCUnited HBCU alumni Lubbock Heartfire MedImpact Arizona nonprofit HeartFire Missions, a provider of Christian medical mission trips Wichita 1 Herd That Marshall alumni School nickname of Thundering Herd West Virginia India Rising Players of Indian origin Dayton In the Lab In The Lab, a basketball content creation company Lubbock Jackson TN Underdawgs Players with connections to Jackson, Tennessee Louisville Juco Products Players with connections to Junior colleges Wichita 1 LA Cheaters Drew League Wichita 1 Living the Dream Wichita 1 Mass Street Kansas alumni Short for Massachusetts Street, the main street through the central business district of the school's home of Lawrence Wichita 1 Men of Mackey Purdue alumni Purdue home court Mackey Arena Dayton TMT Team sponsor Floyd "Money" Mayweather Xavier Nasty Nati Cincinnati alumni Nickname of the city of Cincinnati Xavier Players with connections to Gwinnett County, Georgia Louisville Players from "more prestigious" universities Syracuse The Program NYC, a youth basketball initiative Xavier Purple & Black Kansas State alumni School colors Wichita 2 Purple Hearts Gun violence awareness Lubbock Ram Nation VCU alumni School nickname of Rams West Virginia Ram Up Colorado State alumni School nickname of Rams Wichita 2 Red Scare Dayton alumni Name of Dayton student section Dayton Rhode Island alumni School mascot Rhody the Ram Dayton Rise & Grind Lubbock Shell Shock Maryland alumni Maryland Terrapins school mascot Louisville Show Me Squad Missouri alumni Missouri state nickname "Show Me State" Wichita 1 Sideline Cancer Pancreatic cancer awareness West Virginia Team Arkansas Arkansas alumni Wichita 2 Team Colorado Colorado alumni Dayton Team DRC Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie Xavier Team Gibson Team sponsor Taj Gibson Syracuse Team Overtime Overtime Team sponsor Overtime, a sports media company Dayton Louisville alumni City nickname Louisville Vegas Rebellion UNLV alumni Vegas Rebels school mascot Wichita 1 Virginia Dream Players with connections to the state of Virginia Syracuse War Ready Auburn alumni School battle cry "War Eagle" Louisville We Are D3 NCAA Division III alumni Wichita 1 Zip Em Up Xavier alumni Former Xavier team motto Xavier Zoo Crew Pittsburgh alumni Oakland Zoo student section West Virginia Note: team names are per the TBT bracket; some names have slight variation on TBT website pages.

Tournament bracket Seven of the eight no. 1 seeds advanced in first-round play, with no. 8 India Rising upsetting Red Scare in the Dayton Regional.

Five no. 1 seeds advanced in second-round play; the lowest seed to advance to the third round was no 6. Nasti Nati from the Dayton Regional.

Two no. 1 seeds advanced in third-round play; the lowest seed to advance to the quarterfinals was again Nasti Nati.

No no. 1 seeds won a quarterfinal match; the lowest seed to advance to the semifinals was no 4. Herd That from the West Virginia Regional.

In the first semifinal game, Herd That were eliminated by Heartfire, the no. 2 seed from the Wichita 1 Regional.

In the second semifinal game, Friday Beers were eliminated by Bleed Green, the no. 2 seed from the Lubbock Regional.

Heartfire then defeated Bleed Green in the championship game.

Source:

Lubbock Regional – United Supermarkets Arena

Wichita 1 Regional – Charles Koch Arena

Wichita 2 Regional – Charles Koch Arena

Xavier Regional – Cintas Center (Cincinnati)

Syracuse Regional – The Oncenter

Louisville Regional – Freedom Hall

West Virginia Regional – WesBanco Arena (Wheeling)

Dayton Regional – UD Arena

Championship Week Quarterfinals games were played at Wichita, West Virginia, Dayton, and Louisville. All semifinal and championship games were played in Philadelphia.

Eric Collins, Fran Fraschilla, and Ashley ShaAhmadi were the announcers for both semifinal matches and the championship game.

Semifinals

Championship

Awards

+ All Tournament Team Pos Player Team PG Jordan Stevens Bleed Green PG Jon Elmore Herd That SG Jarron Cumberland Nasti Nati PG Marcus Hall Heartfire PF Julian Gamble Friday BeersCoach LaPhonso Ellis HeartfireGM AJ Mahar Friday Beers

Source: References

External links