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2018 Always a Brave- a #5 seed in the TBT-Midwest Regional- Columbus July 21 at 7:15 am CDT

Serbiansniper34 said:
It looks like the format is a little different this year for the TBT. Teams get in based off of the number of "supporters" they have rather than the amount of votes that they get. Here is the link for people to sign up.

https://thetournament.com/teams/always-brave-bradley-alumni/fan/5706578aaddce964945743
Click to expand...

It looks like if you have created an account last year or in previous years, you can log in with that email address and password. Then you can click to be a supporter. Otherwise, create new accounts.
 
Last summer the feeling was that it was such a success, that Bradley wanted to do it again this year, but I don't know if they submitted a bid. There were a lot more venues that were interested in hosting this year.
 
Nothing has been posted in awhile. The team is still ineligible, have they decided not to participate? If they are participating can we keep this up top?
 
The Always a Brave team has only 82 total votes so far this year, and ranks 26th in the Midwest Region at this moment. And a good number of those votes are from my family, and most of them were registered the first few days of voting.
That is hundreds fewer votes than they have had in previous years, and more than 500 votes short of where they need to be to voted it into the tournament. Only the top 9 teams in fan votes (by June 1st) get into the tournament. We are only a little over a week before that June 1st deadline.
http://thetournament.com/teams?region=midwest

There are still a couple other ways they might get into the tournament- 4 teams in each region can buy a slot, and 4 more from each region will be granted an at-large slot, though there it's not clear what criteria are used to name the at-large teams.

By the end of April last year, we already had a full roster of players certified, and we were getting frequent updates by the General Manager (Bobby Parker), and seeing a strong push to get more people to vote.
But this year, we have not seen any updates about the team.
Plus, as of now, the team does not have any players certified-
http://thetournament.com/teams/always-brave-bradley-alumni

So it looks like maybe they won't make the Tournament this year. There is just a week before the end of voting, and they have no players on the team, and over 500 votes short of qualifying. Maybe they are planning on buying a slot or getting an at-large bid?
 
Thanks DC, I saw the same thing so I was assuming that was the case. However, I figured I would get confirmation in case I missed something.
 
sam hannam said:
I have supported Always a Brave in the past. Is it possible to change my support to Peoria Allstars this year?
Click to expand...

You have until June 1st to pick a team. However, if you already picked Always a Brave, I can't see any way to revoke your vote and pick a different team.
 
It looks like I was a little premature in assuming the Always a Brave team may not be participating in the 2018 version of The Basketball Tournament.
As of 2 days ago (see my post from 5/22/18 above- post #8 ), there were no players listed on their team page, and the team was more than 500 votes away from being eligible with just 1 week left in the fan voting.

But the Always a Brave team page has been updated, and now shows 3 eligible players-
https://www.thetournament.com/teams/always-brave-bradley-alumni

And there is an article on the Peoria Journal Star website reporting that the team is planning to get together again this year, and that they may get an "at-large" bid to participate in the Midwest Regional, held July 20-22 this year in Columbus, Ohio.
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/20180524/peoria-teams-set-to-play-again-in-basketball-tournament
 
Donte Thomas is officially added to the Always a Brave team-
https://thetournament.com/players/donte-thomas

Donte joins the other 5 players officially registered and qualified with more to come-
https://thetournament.com/players/donte-thomas

Officially on team-
Donte Thomas (first year with Always a Brave)
Zach Andrews (first year with Always a Brave)
Patrick O'Bryant
Tony Bennett
Daniel Ruffin
Matt Salley

Other players expected to be on the team-
Marcellus Sommerville
Will Franklin
Walt Lemon
J.J. Tauai (was reportedly going to play last year, but didn't)

Head Coach- A.J. Guyton
Asst. Coach- Chuck Buescher


Last year's team also included Taylor Brown, David Collins, Andrew Warren, Jerome Randle, and Lawrence Wright (who did not play due to an injury)
There is no word whether any of these players might join the team again this year.
 
Da Coach said:
The Always a Brave team awaits word on whether they will get an at-large bid to The Basketball Tournament.

A few more players have been added-
Auston Barnes
Jimmy Gavin
Walt Lemon
Will Franklin
Marcellus Sommerville
J.J. Tauai

Players previously announced-
Donte Thomas
Zach Andrews
Patrick O'Bryant
Tony Bennett
Daniel Ruffin
Matt Salley
https://thetournament.com/teams/always-brave-bradley-alumni
Click to expand...

Should be fun group to watch. Excited to have Zach back!! We definitely have some size this year!!
 
Looks like Always A Brave failed to qualify via the fan vote, so they will need to be selected as an at-large team in the Midwest region (4 will be selected). The field and bracket are being revealed later today. Hopefully given past success they will be given strong consideration.
 
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