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Always a Brave team in FINAL FOUR of The Basketball Tournament

We added a 10th player this morning - Hall of Famer Phillip Gilbert is Always a Brave. Looking for a little East St. Louis voting love, too.

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend and gets all of their family members to vote!
 
Was just going to post a few days ago that this team has everyone except either Gilbert or Jerome Robinson.
Should be fun to watch this team!
 
The surge in votes for Always a Brave has boosted them into 8th place at this time-
https://www.thetournament.com/teams?region=midwest

Always a Brave has 844 votes this morning to move 1 vote ahead of the team now in 9th place. There are 3 more days to vote.

Here are the top 10 teams in the Midwest Region

Team Name..........................................................Fan Votes
PURPLE AND BLACK (KANSAS STATE ALUMNI)...............3,824
THE BLUEGRASS BOYS (KENTUCKY ALUMNI).................2,445
SPARTAN HEROES (MICHIGAN STATE ALUMNI)..............1,434
THE REGION............................................................1,285
CANTON BULLDOGS..................................................1,181
GOLDEN EAGLES ALUMNI (MARQUETTE ALUMNI)............1,066
ALL CHICAGO.............................................................899
ALWAYS A BRAVE (BRADLEY ALUMNI).............................844
ARMORED ATHLETE......................................................843
JACKSON TN UNDERDAWGS..........................................836
 
Thank you everyone for the continued interest in this venture. We are now less than 20 hours from the polls closing and as I type, Always A Brave is 10th in the Midwest Region, though we have fluctuated between 8th and 12th all day. This is likely going to go down to the wire. A couple of notes:

- Please do not try to "stuff ballot box" with fake voting. The site is being monitored very closely and inappropriate voting tactics could result in disqualification.
- With that being said, encourage eveyone you know to vote. You can use the link below to send to potential voters, or better yet, use the ones created from your own votes to build up your points.
- Walt Lemon has given his commitment, but it is contingent upon his NBA Summer League schedule (Orlando is good for us, Vegas is not). Putting him on the roster now, however, locks us into 11 players. Leaving him off for now, allows flexibility with our roster until July 1.

Always A Brave team page: https://www.thetournament.com/teams/always-brave-bradley-alumni

Voting tips:
- Click the big orange box at the top right of the page to start the registration process, which can be done in less than a minute.
- On the registration page, you will be asked for a password. It must include a lowercase, an uppercase, a numeral and a character
- Upon completion of the form, you will be sent a verification email. Open the email and click the Verify button to complete the voting process.
- A new orange box will appear. Confirm your vote and then utilized the share options provided to encourage others to vote.

Thank you!
 
The site is running slow, and goes offline intermittently likely due to a large number of people trying to cast votes tonight. The Bradley guys have fallen to 12th place in the Midwest-
https://www.thetournament.com/teams?page=1&region=midwest (currently offline)

But the 3 teams ahead of the Bradley guys are easily within reach. Anyone who has not voted- please help!

Here again are the step-by-step instructions for anyone who has been reluctant to vote-

If you have not voted yet, or if you know someone who might help by voting- go here and register-
https://www.thetournament.com/create-account?type=fan

Registration takes just a minute.
Here is how to do it:

Click on this link:
https://www.thetournament.com/create-account?type=fan

Enter your name (only a first name and a last initial will actually show on the fan list)
Then enter your email address
Then create a password for your account
Set your date of birth and gender
Then on the line for your team- type Always a Brave, or you can leave this line blank
Then click on the box saying "I Have Read And Agree To The Fan Contest Rules, Privacy Policy And Terms Of Use"
Then complete the easy CAPTCHA verification step.

You will then be sent a final verification email to the email address you entered (note that it might show up in your SPAM or PROMOTIONS file). If you have a @gmail.com account, it will probably be in the PROMOTIONS file. Click the PROMOTIONS tab at the top of your Inbox.
Open the email, and click on the button or link to complete your registration.

Then go here to the Always a Brave team site to vote-
https://www.thetournament.com/teams/always-brave-bradley-alumni

And then click on the right side where it says VOTE FOR THIS TEAM, then click the CONFIRM button.
 
lots of teams are surging - we're in the final 1/2 hour of voting..

Bradley is listed at 1,229 - 8th place - but four teams are within 20 votes behind and also surging...
GO Braves!

for those who aren't accessing the page...here are the names of our recent signups per their website



ALWAYS A BRAVE (BRADLEY ALUMNI) FANS
# Fan Name Points Prize Tier
1201 LORI S. 1
1202 ALONZO N. 1
1203 JASMINE S. 1
1204 DEREK H. 1
1205 KALAH A. 1
1206 MOLLY S. 1
1207 ERIN K. 1
1208 ARIA C. 1
1209 MAKENNA B. 1
1210 ANDY D. 1
1211 JESSE M. 1
1212 DOMINIC V. 1
1213 LEROY W. 1
1214 KAYLA J. 1
1215 MEGAN C. 1
1216 CHRISTOPHER W. 1
1217 CHRIS G. 1
1218 JEROME A. 1
1219 LUCY D. 1
1220 JEFF K. 1
1221 J L. 1
1222 ERIC O. 1
1223 LAINY S. 1
1224 ASIA S. 1
1225 PETE B. 1
1226 LEANN P. 1
1227 ZACH B. 1
1228 ERIC D. 1
1229 TAMIKA W. 1
 
Hree's the national ESPN schedule


THURSDAY 7/21: RD OF 16 GAME 1 @ 1P (ESPN3), RD OF 16 GAME 2 @ 3P (ESPN3), RD OF 16 GAME 3 @ 7P (ESPN2), RD OF 16 GAME 4 @ 9P (ESPN2)

FRIDAY 7/22: RD OF 16 GAME 5 @ 1P (ESPN3), RD OF 16 GAME 6 @ 3P (ESPN3), RD OF 16 GAME 7 @ 7P (ESPN2), RD OF 16 GAME 8 @ 9P (ESPN2)

SATURDAY 7/23: QUARTERFINAL 1 @ 12P (ESPN2), QUARTERFINAL 2 @ 2P (ESPNU), QUARTERFINAL 3 @ 6P (ESPNU), QUARTERFINAL 4 @ 8P (ESPN2),

SATURDAY 7/30: SEMIFINAL 1 @ 5P (ESPN), SEMIFINAL 2 @ 7P (ESPN)

TUESDAY 8/2: $2 MILLION, WINNER-TAKES-ALL CHAMPIONSHIP IN PRIMETIME (ESPN)
 
Always a Brave ended as the 25th highest vote total nationally and 8th highest in the Midwest, but they're still adding votes. They're now up to 1,279

ALWAYS A BRAVE (BRADLEY ALUMNI)
MIDWEST REGION
FAN RANKINGS
1279 VOTES

btw - each of the Final Four from 2015 automatically get in again this year so some teams like these guys who won last year are already qualified.
http://thetournament.com/teams/overseas-elite

Zach Andrews' team from last year, TEAM 23, is also automatically in but I wish he were playing for us this year!
http://thetournament.com/teams/overseas-elite
 
now some teams are having their vote totals reduced...and we have moved past the team that was previously ahead of us and
Always a Brave now sits in 7th place - all alone - in the Midwest.. 1,288
 
Always a Brave's vote total continues to rise. It is now at 1,294, and they are still in 7th place in the Midwest-
https://www.thetournament.com/teams?region=midwest

The top 11 teams in each of the 4 regions are labelled as "Pending Review", so I suspect that means those 11 are, for now, the teams that are in the tournament, pending a review of their votes, along with the 4 regional champions from last year.
 
Here is the latest. I do want to thank everyone for their support and votes. This venture promises to be a lot of fun and offers a great opportunity for the Hilltop Hoopin' Summer Slam July 11.

------

Always A Brave TBT Update

Voting has concluded to determine the 11 automatic entries from each of the four regions for the 2016 The Basketball Tournament and unofficial indications are Bradley Basketball's alumni team, Always A Brave, will be part of this summer's 64-team, winner-take-all field.

According to voting totals frozen at 11:00 a.m. CT Wednesday, Always A Brave ranked seventh in the Midwest Region, which would give the team automatic entry into the field. Official tournament invitations will not be extended until June 8, however, as the tournament organizers review and confirm the voting totals.

Preparing for its third year of competition, The Basketball Tournament is an open-application, 5-on-5, single-elimination, winner-take-all basketball tournament that will feature 64 teams competing for a $2 million cash prize. Each of last year's four regional champions were granted automatic entry this year and 11 teams in each region will be determined by online fan voting that concluded at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday. Three teams in each region will be invited as at-large selections and the 16th team in each region will be determined through a week of fundraising on behalf of Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Assuming the voting totals are confirmed, Always A Brave will compete in the TBT Midwest Regional July 16-17 in Chicago. Other teams expected to join Always A Brave in the Midwest Regional include alumni teams from Kansas State, Kentucky, Michigan State and Marquette. According to the published voting totals, Always A Brave ranked ninth among 34 squads that registered as alumni teams.

The Always A Brave roster will include 10 former Bradley players: Tony Bennett (2004-06), Jeremy Crouch (2003-07), Will Franklin (2005-07), Phillip Gilbert (2000-04), Sam Maniscalco (2007-11), Patrick O'Bryant (2004-06), Daniel Ruffin (2003-08), Matt Salley (2006-08), Marcellus Sommerville (2003-06) and Andrew Warren (2006-11). The 11th roster spot is being held for Walt Lemon, Jr. (2010-14), whose commitment to the team is contingent upon his NBA Summer League opportunities. The team will be coached by current Bradley Basketball Director of Operations Rick Karius and former Bradley player and assistant coach Chuck Buescher.

The Always A Brave team will be featured during the inaugural Hilltop Hoopin' Summer Slam fan festival and alumni game July 11 on the Bradley campus. The event will begin with a family-themed barbecue on the Alumni Quad, which will be open to the public and will include food vendors, music and numerous games and activities involving the entire Department of Athletics. The event will move indoors to Renaissance Coliseum at 7 p.m. for the men's basketball alumni game, which will be open to all former players but also will spotlight the Always A Brave TBT team. Admission to the alumni game will be $5 with tickets going on sale this summer.
 
With the most recent adjustment in vote totals.... we are now in 6th place with 1,331

Just a rough idea how the votes went for ALWAYS A BRAVE

April 7 - 0
April 8 - 100
April 11 - 259
April 12 - 300
April 17 - 346
April 23 - 467
May 9 - 515
May 12 - 590
May 19 - 676
May 26 - 782
May 27 - 824
May 28 - 844
June 1 - 1197
June 1 - 1229
June 1 (noon) 1288
June 2 - 1325
June 3 - 1331

it took us four weeks to get our first 500 votes...
but in just the final one week - we added 600 votes!
Remember - that one team that had surged ahead of us a week ago - Real Chicago' ....they finished with 648, so we blew them away by 700 votes down the stretch
 
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