It’s been about three months since the A-10 hoops season ended and it’s another five months roughly until the next begins. But thanks to a winner-take-all tournament for $2 million simply called “The Basketball Tournament“, we get a little A-10 July hoops to hold us over.
Dozens of former ballers from current A-10 teams will lace em up in this event’s fourth year of existence, competing out of four regions for a chance to play for an oversized check on ESPN. Two A-10 alumni teams will enter the competition: Majerus SLU Crew, a mostly Saint Louis alumni group competing again for the first time since 2015 and Ram Nation, a mostly VCU alumni group (as well as St. Bonaventure’s Dion Wright) playing for the second consecutive year after advancing to the “Super 16” in 2016 (full disclosure: I am the GM of that team).
Total players representing current A-10 teams: VCU (8), Saint Louis (6), Dayton (4), Saint Joseph’s (4), UMass (3), George Mason (2), La Salle (2), Richmond (2), St. Bonaventure (2), George Washington (1), Rhode Island (1)
MIDWEST REGION
Kendall Anthony (Richmond) – Jackson Underdogs
Marcus Posley (St. Bonaventure) – Midwest Dream Squad
Carl Jones Jr. (Saint Joseph’s) – Canton Bulldogs
Mike Crawford (Saint Louis) – Majerus SLU Crew
Dwayne Evans (Saint Louis) – Majerus SLU Crew
Jordair Jett (Saint Louis) – Majerus SLU Crew
Mike McCall Jr. (Saint Louis) – Majerus SLU Crew
Kwamain Mitchel (Saint Louis) – Majerus SLU Crew
Cory Remekun (Saint Louis) – Majerus SLU Crew
WEST REGION
Mike Morrison (George Mason) – The Stickmen
Sean Finn (Dayton) – Team Fredette
Brian Jesiolowski (Saint Joseph’s) – Mostly Sports
Darrius Garrett (Richmond) – Broad Street Brawlers
Devin Oliver (Dayton) – Broad Street Brawlers
Vee Sanford (Dayton) – Broad Street Brawlers
NORTHEAST REGION
Gary Forbes (UMass) – Talladega Knights
Stephane Lasme (UMass) – Talladega Knights
Ricky Harris (UMass) – FCM Untouchables
Aaron Brown (Saint Joseph’s) – Sideline Cancer
Jermaine Thomas (La Salle) – DC On Point
Ryan Pearson (George Mason) – Team Fancy
Mike Hall (George Washington) – City of Gods
Biggie Minnis (Rhode Island) – Philly Dimes
SOUTH REGION
Todd O’Brien (Saint Joseph’s) – Overseas Elite
Vernon Goodridge (La Salle) – Washington Generals
Andrews Sandoval (Dayton) – Showtime
Dion Wright (St. Bonaventure) – Ram Nation
Jordan Burgess (VCU) – Ram Nation
Eric Maynor (VCU) – Ram Nation
Jesse Pellot-Rosa (VCU) – Ram Nation
Juvonte Reddic (VCU) – Ram Nation
Brandon Rozzell (VCU) – Ram Nation
Jamal Shuler (VCU) – Ram Nation
Jamie Skeen (VCU) – Ram Nation
B.A. Walker (VCU) – Ram Nation
The TBT will tip it up this weekend with a play-in tournament in Philadelphia called “The Jamboree”. The Jamboree features 16 teams that did not collect enough fan votes to secure an automatic bid into the tournament or get chosen as an at-large team (the top-9 fan vote collecting teams from each region automatically were selected into the TBT with other spots reserved for Final 4 teams from previous years) but paid a first-come, first-serve $5,000 entry to play their way into the field.
Four Jamboree winners will advance into the final 64-team field set to tip on July 8. Regional host sites are Peoria, Il (Midwest), La Vegas, NV (West), Philadelphia, PA (Northeast) and Charlotte, NC (South). Winners from those sites will advance to Brooklyn for the “Super 16” held at LIU Brooklyn. The tournament’s Final 4 team will then advance to Baltimore, Maryland.
Regional rounds will be broadcast on ESPN3 while the Super 16 and beyond will air on ESPN and ESPN2.
The Basketball Tournament has been won the past two seasons by South Region competitor, Overseas Elite. The tourney has featured a number of alumni teams over the years including the inaugural tourney winner, Fighting Alumni, a Notre Dame alumni team that won the first tourney and the then $500k prize. This year’s tournament features alumni teams from the likes of the aforementioned SLU and VCU as well as Ohio State (featuring former NBA No.1 pick, Greg Oden), Gonzaga, Villanova, Iowa State Texas Tech, South Florida, Middle Tennessee, Utah, Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt, to name a few. Teams from La Salle and Davidson have previously competed but neither entered a group into this year’s competition.
Head to www.TheTournament.com for full team rosters and tournament details.