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The Basketball Tournament, 2026 version

Da Coach

Da Coach

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The Basketball Tournament is back in 2026 for a 13th year. However, there are significant changes to the format. This year, instead of the 61 teams involved in the 2025 TBT or the 64 teams for several prior years, there will only be 16 teams - 8 "Alumni Teams" and 8 "Non-Alumni Teams". And the "Winner Take All" prize money is increased back to $2 million, where it was prior to Covid in 2020, instead of the $1 million it has been for the last 6 years.
First round matchups are Best-of-Three. Then Rounds Two, Three, Four and the $2 Million Championship will be single-elimination.
There are several other changes, including who the teams are, how they are selected, and what venues are chosen for the games.
In the Alumni bracket, all 8 teams apparently have already been chosen. Louisville and Kentucky got bids. But last year's winners, the AfterShocks (Wichita State alumni), did not. The other 6 teams in the Alumni bracket are being kept secret.
In the Non-Alumni Bracket, 4 teams have been selected, and 4 slots remain available.
In this press release, they name 2 of the Non-Alumni teams- TeamBIG.io, led by two-time NBA All-Star and UCLA legend Baron Davis, and Black Sheep, led by two-time MLB All-Star Dee-Strange Gordon.
Press release- https://tbthoops.com/announcement/t...t-doubles-winner-take-all-prize-to-2-million/
Website- https://tbthoops.com/

After what they call record viewership and attendance for the 2025 TBT, it seems illogical to me to make all these changes, especially limiting the number of teams to just 16.
Does this new format appeal to anyone?
This new format is confusing and far less appealing to me as a viewer, and I doubt I'll be watching.
 
To be honest I getting sick of the whole college experience.If it's not new players it is new coaches.I know it goes with the territory but my excitement level is going down year after year.
 
carter said:
To be honest I getting sick of the whole college experience.If it's not new players it is new coaches.I know it goes with the territory but my excitement level is going down year after year.
Click to expand...
I have gone from being a college basketball fan to solely a Bradley fan. I used to watch 2-3 games every weekend, now it's none. I get together with a couple of old friends to watch the first weekend of the NCAA tourney, but that's more for the friendship than the games. Don't know if my love of the game could get worse, but if that abomination of a team at LSU is allowed it just might.
 
The 2026 version of The Basketball Tournament started this past Sunday, and as noted in the top post in this thread, the format of the tournament has been radically changed. Initially they planned to have only 16 teams, instead of 60+ in previous years-
Initial info page- https://tbthoops.com/announcement/t...t-doubles-winner-take-all-prize-to-2-million/
But now they have revised the field down to just 14 teams and divided into 2 Brackets- Alumni Bracket and Non-Alumni Bracket (catchy name :)).
Updated info page- https://tbthoops.com/
It is no longer on ESPN, and I can't find any information about TV coverage or streaming on their website.

Bracket/Standings- https://tbthoops.com/2026-bracket/
Schedule/results- https://tbthoops.com/tbt-2026-schedule/

The TBT website has also been radically downgraded. They no longer have much information about the teams, no rosters, and no bios. The schedule/results page has minimal information about the completed games or the upcoming games. It also does not have any information about which current or upcoming games are on TV or what network or streaming platform they appear on, if any. And the schedule only goes through Friday of this week (July 24), even though the tournament runs through Saturday, August 2nd.
 
In one of the Alumni bracket semifinals, JHX Hoops (Kansas alumni) vs. Aftershocks (Wichita State alumni) got into a brawl with 2:45 left in the 2nd quarter, and Aftershocks leading 23-22. Both team benches emptied and were involved. The officials have spent the last 10 minutes reviewing video and have not yet decided what they will rule. They could eject most of the players from either or both teams.
 
The brawl started when a player from each team fought over a rebound, and the Wichita player threw the Kansas player down out of bounds. Players from both teams then rushed to intervene. There was a lot of pushing and pulling, but I didn't see any punches thrown, though there may have been some.

After a long delay, the officials conferred with representatives of both teams and threw several Kansas and Wichita players out of the game.
In the end, 9 players were ejected and each team played the rest of the game with 6 players.
https://tbt.prestosports.com/sports/mbkb/2026/boxscores/20260727_tng3.xml

The game is on FS1.
 
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The Kansas alumni (JXH Hoops) beat the Wichita State alumni (Aftershocks) 64-59 to advance to the final against the Kentucky alumni on Wednesday night.-

There was more fighting between the two teams after the game ended-
www.x.com/travisheying/status/2081961821435498724

The 2nd quarter incident (see above posts) resulted in 9 players getting ejected and each team played the rest of the game with just 6 players-

Most of the problems were caused by the sore loser Wichita State guys, taking after their former coach Gregg Marshall.
More video from the incident just before halftime-
www.x.com/KWCHRachelH/status/2081924957655699480

Here is one of the low-class Kansas players dancing and blowing kisses to the Wichita State fans after the game-
www.x.com/KWCHTejay/status/2081946301411774519
 
The 2026 version of The Basketball Tournament (it's 13th year) just ended. The championship game featured the winners of the Alumni Division, La Familia (alumni from Kentucky) versus the Non-Alumni Division winners, Davis Steel, formerly known as Eberlein Drive. Eberlein Drive is a Kentucky-based team that has competed every year of the tournament, the only team to compete in all 13 tournaments. They have always had good success, including multiple Final Fours, but the closest they have come to the Winner-Take-All top prize were a pair of 2nd place finishes in 2018 and 2025.

The 2026 Championship - Davis Steel 67 La Familia 59-
Box score- https://tbt.prestosports.com/sports/mbkb/2026/boxscores/20260802_96h9.xml

Short video of the Elam Ending- www.x.com/thetournament/status/2083992169690353785

The Eberlein Drive/Davis Steel team takes home the $2 million top prize.

Champions, Davis Steel, and their roster- https://tbthoops.com/teams/davissteel/
As far as I can tell, none of the Davis Steel had any past Missouri Valley Conference connections.

2nd place finisher La Familia (Kentucky alumni) roster- https://tbthoops.com/teams/la-familia-kentucky-alumni/

Tournament Bracket- https://tbthoops.com/2026-bracket/
 
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