The Basketball Tournament 2025 was the twelfth 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 61 teams, began on July 18 and ended on August 3. The tournament format was similar to that of the last edition in 2024 with teams playing in one of eight regionals. Twenty-six games were broadcast live on FOX, FS1, and FS2. Other games were streamed on YouTube.
Format For its 2025 edition, TBT modified its traditional 64-team format, with first round byes in the seven-team regions. Each regional will be held at a single host site (similar in format to the NCAA Division II men's and women's tournaments). The first region to sell 4000 tickets (Louisville) earned homecourt advantage throughout the tournament, with other regions receiving similar home court advantages for ticket sales.
The teams and the regional placements for all entrants were revealed on June 24, 2025.
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 2025 featured games in eight locations. Official regional names, if different from the location names, are indicated in the listings below the location names.
Indianapolis James Madison(Harrisonburg, VA) Kansas City Hinkle Fieldhouse Atlantic Union Bank Center Municipal Arena Capacity: 12,012 Capacity: 8,500 Capacity: 7,300 Lexington Louisville Wichita Memorial Coliseum Freedom Hall Charles Koch Arena Capacity: 6,250 Capacity: 18,865 Capacity: 10,506 Syracuse West Virginia(Charleston, WV) SRC Arena Charleston Coliseum Capacity: 6,500 Capacity: 11,519
Teams Source:
TBT has a history of teams rostered primarily with alumni from specific NCAA Division I college basketball programs; 23 such teams entered the 2025 tournament. One is drawn from NCAA Division III alumni.
Name College or sponsor affiliation Source of team name Region AfterShocks Wichita State alumni Wichita State Shockers school nickname Wichita All Good Dawgs Butler alumni Butler Bulldogs mascot Indianapolis Assembly Ball Indiana alumni Assembly Hall home arena Indianapolis Austin's Own Texas alumni School location in Austin Wichita Best Virginia West Virginia alumni West Virginia Boeheim's Army Syracuse alumni Former Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim Syracuse Boston vs Cancer Louisville Brown Ballers Made up of brown athletes Syracuse Carmen's Crew Ohio State alumni "Carmen Ohio", Ohio State's school song Indianapolis Challenge ALS Raising awareness for ALS Wichita Court Street Kings Ohio alumni Court Street runs through the Ohio University campus West Virginia DaGuys STL Team YouTube channel, with players mainly from Greater St. Louis Kansas City Dubois Dream Based out of Dubois, Pennsylvania West Virginia Dunkin' Dogs Louisiana Tech alumni Louisiana Tech Bulldogs mascot Lexington Eberlein Drive Team owners' home street Lexington Elite Nation West Virginia Fail Harder Indianapolis Fire Family Sovereign Bank TBL team Potawatomi Fire Wichita Florida DRC Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie Combined from Florida TNT and Team DRC from previous TBT editions. Louisville Forever Coogs Houston alumni Houston Cougars mascot Wichita Fort Wayne Champs Players with connections to Fort Wayne, Indiana Indianapolis Founding Fathers James Madison alumni James Madison University named after a Founding Father of the United States James Madison GoTime Green Machine TBL team Lebanon Leprechauns Indianapolis Green Mountain Men Vermont alumni Green Mountains run through Vermont Syracuse Happy Valley Hoopers Penn State alumni Location of the school in Happy Valley James Madison Heartfire MedImpact Arizona nonprofit HeartFire Missions, a provider of Christian medical mission trips Kansas City Herd That Marshall alumni Marshall Thundering Herd school nickname West Virginia Herkimer Originals ABA team from Herkimer, New York Syracuse JHX Hoops Kansas alumni Variation of the Kansas Jayhawks mascot name Kansas City La Familia Kentucky alumni 2009-24 Kentucky coach John Calipari's Italian heritage; also name of a UK basketball NIL collective Lexington Layne's Hope A young man with Prader–Willi syndrome Syracuse Locked In Elite Indianapolis Los Angeles Ignite TBL team from Los Angeles Louisville Love Virginia James Madison Madd Katts Louisville Magic Show James Madison No Excuses Wichita NXT Era Elite James Madison OffDaHook Kansas City Purple Reign Kansas State alumni Kansas State University school colors Kansas City Raleigh 919 Legends Raleigh, North Carolina area code 919 James Madison Red Rose Thunder ECBL team from Lancaster, Pennsylvania James Madison Richards Elite Ryan Richards Lexington Rise & Grind Syracuse Run DFW Based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area Wichita Sheffield Sharks B. Braun Team based in Sheffield, England Kansas City Shell Shock Maryland alumni Associated with the Maryland Terrapins mascot James Madison Shield 219 Valparaiso alumni Valparaiso, Indiana area code 219 Indianapolis Sideline Cancer Pancreatic cancer awareness Louisville Sikh Warriors Singh Ahluwalia West Virginia Stars of Storrs UConn alumni Charles and Augustus Storrs, establishers of the Storrs Agricultural School (now the University of Connecticut) Syracuse Stroh's Squad Bowling Green alumni Stroh Center, Bowling Green home arena Lexington Tampa Florida Pickup Basketball Players from the Tampa, Florida area Lexington Team 901 Memphis, Tennessee area code 901 Louisville Team Diesel Shaquille O'Neal's DJ name Louisville Team representing Gwinnett County, Georgia also known as "Nawf" Atlanta West Virginia Kansas City Louisville alumni City nickname Louisville War Ready Auburn alumni School battle cry "War Eagle" Lexington We Are D3 NCAA Division III alumni Syracuse X-Rayted Primetime Radiology, LLC Lexington 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 to the second-round, with no. 8 Raleigh 919 Legends upsetting Happy Valley Hoopers in the James Madison Regional.
Five no. 1 seeds advanced in second-round play; the lowest seeds to advance to the third round was no. 7 LA Ignite from the Louisville Regional and Fail Harder from the Indianapolis Regional.
One no. 1 seed advanced in third-round play: Heartfire from the Kanasas City Regional; the lowest seed to advance to the quarterfinals was again Fail Harder.
The lowest seed to advance to the semifinals was no 4. We Are D3 from the Syracuse Regional.
In the first semifinal game, Best Virginia were eliminated by Eberlein Drive, the no. 2 seed from the Lexington Regional.
In the second semifinal game, We Are D3 were eliminated by AfterShocks, the no. 2 seed from the Wichita Regional.
AfterShocks then defeated Eberlein Drive in the championship game.
Source:
Louisville Regional – Freedom Hall
Lexington Regional – Memorial Coliseum
James Madison Regional – Atlantic Union Bank Center
West Virginia Regional – Charleston Coliseum
Wichita Regional – Charles Koch Arena
Kansas City Regional – Municipal Arena
Syracuse Regional – SRC Arena
Indianapolis Regional – Hinkle Fieldhouse
Championship Week All quarterfinal, semifinal and championship games will be played at the venue with the highest ticket sales.
Semifinals
Championship
Awards + All Tournament Team Pos Player Team PG Nike Sibande AfterShocks PG Darius Adams Fail Harder SG James Reese V Best Virginia SG Gabe York Eberlein Drive PG Marcus Keene AfterShocksCoach Michael Rejniak We Are D3GM Matt Mitchell / Jacob Hirschman Eberlein Drive Source:
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