Tag: the basketball tournament

‘Carmen’s Crew’ wins TBT semifinal to advance to championship game

On to the ‘ship! #GoBucks

It’s beginning to feel like 2019 all over again.

The Ohio State alumni team known as ‘Carmen’s Crew’ just keeps on springing upset after upset in “The Basketball Tournament” to where it only needs to pull off one more to be crowned champions.

First, it knocked off No. 2 seed ‘Red Scare’ in its own gym, a Dayton alumni team, then took out defending champ and No. 1 seed ‘Heartfire’ in the round of sixteen to make it to the quarterfinals. Not done yet, the crew then walloped ‘Takeover BC; before taking care of business Friday night again with a 76-70 win over the Kentucky alumi team ‘My Familia’ in Philadelphia.

Carmen’s Crew led for almost the entire game and had to absorb a valiant comeback effort by the former Wildcats, doing just enough to hold things off and punch a ticket to the championship game.

The former Buckeye squad came out of the gate playing well and took a 14-10 lead into the second quarter. Carmen’s Crew began to assert itself in the second quarter and pushed things out 40-27 halftime lead.

La Familia kept things from getting out of hand and began to play better, trailing 57-48 heading into the fourth quarter, and that’s when things began to tighten up. The mostly Ohio State alums led by just four points, 68-64, when the Elam Ending kicked in, setting the target score at 76.

After some back and forth, Carmen’s Crew led 73-70 when Jamel Morris nailed a deep 3-pointer from the top of the key to seal the deal.

Carmen’s Crew will play for its second TBT title when it takes on ‘Forever Coogs’, a Houston alumni squad, on Sunday.

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Team Colorado’s lengthy TBT run ended by Houston alumni

Team Colorado’s lengthy TBT run came to a close Tuesday night

A poor first half spelled doom for Team Colorado in its The Basketball Tournament (TBT) quarterfinal matchup against Forever Coogs on Tuesday evening.

Before some fans had likely even settled in at the University of Houston’s Fertitta Center, the team comprised mostly of former CU men’s basketball players trailed 8-0 to the physically dominant Houston alumni squad. Team Colorado trailed 39-19 at the half before ultimately falling, 74-49.

Team Colorado has now been eliminated from TBT, but head coach Zach Ruebesam and Co. still have much to be satisfied with. In one of the team’s longest-ever TBT runs, the former Buffs beat Purple Reign (Kansas State alumni), AfterShocks (Wichita State) and Mass Street (Kansas) before falling to Forever Coogs.

Playing in his first TBT, Andre Roberson led Team Colorado with 17 quarterfinal points. Shane Gatling followed with 11 off the bench and D’Shawn Schwartz scored 10.

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Tempers flare in TBT matchup between rivals Kentucky and Louisville

The Basketball Tournament matchup between Kentucky and Louisville alumni ended with a near brawl after a spitting incident.

No one is surprised a battle between Kentucky and Louisville ended in drama. The longtime rivals squared off on the basketball court during The Basketball Tournament when La Familia, a team of former Kentucky players, took on The Ville, a team featuring Louisville alumni.

The result was not only the largest crowd in TBT history, with the 13,506 in attendance at Freedom Hall nearly doubling the previous record of 7,202, it also featured a near-brawl post game thanks to a spitting incident between La Familia’s Nate Sestina and The Ville’s Chinanu Onuaku.

“Emotions ran high,” said Sestina, who confirmed to ESPN that Onuaku spat at him. “That’s what this game does to people. It had been great chatter the whole game, nothing crazy, nothing personal. And then it got personal, obviously. That’s what this game is.”

The rivalry between these two programs in Kentucky dates back well before anyone playing on Monday was even alive, and the fact that two teams of alumni can still get into it like this proves how deep-seeded this rivalry goes.

The two teams scattered quite a few former college and NBA stars across the rosters, including Montrezl Harrell, Peyton Siva, and Russ Smith for The Ville and Willie Cauley-Stein and Eric Bledsoe for La Familia.

The game itself was won by La Familia, 70-61, thanks to a game winning three pointer from Andrew Harrison, who was a part of back-to-back Final Four teams at Kentucky in 2014 and 2015.

The Kentucky squad advances to the quarterfinals of TBT, hoping to secure a championship and the $1M prize. They’ll take on the winner of Forever Coogs (Houston alumni) and Team Colorado (Colorado alumni) who square off at 9:00 PM ET on Tuesday, July 30. The game will be broadcast on FS1.

How to watch Team Colorado’s quarterfinal TBT game vs. Forever Coogs

Here’s where you can watch Team Colorado’s quarterfinal game vs. Forever Coogs tonight:

Led by Andre Roberson, D’Shawn Schwartz and a few pickups from outside CU’s alumni base, Team Colorado has engineered an impressive run in The Basketball Tournament (TBT).

The squad of mostly former Buffs men’s basketball players took down Purple Reign (Kansas alumni) and AfterShocks (Wichita State alumni) in the first two rounds before upsetting second-seeded Mass Street (Kansas alumni) last Wednesday, 84-81. No. 5 seed Team Colorado will next face No. 2 Forever Coogs (Houston alumni) in the quarterfinals on Tuesday evening at the University of Houston’s Fertitta Center.

The Basketball Tournament is a single-elimination event that awards a $1 million prize to the winning team.

Here’s what you need to know about Team Colorado’s quarterfinal TBT game against Forever Coogs:

Game Time: Tuesday, July 30 at 7 p.m. MT

Location: Fertitta Center (Houston, Texas)

TV Channel: Fox Sports 2

Live Stream: fuboTV (try it free)

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Carmen’s Crew moves on to semifinals of TBT in dominating fashion

On to the semifinals! #GoBucks

Carmen’s Crew is moving on to the semifinals of The Basketball Tournament. The Ohio State alumni team gave a dominating performance in a 90-74 win over Takeover BC. The team led by as many as 40 at one point and never trailed during the game.

Takeover BC came into the contest as one of the hottest teams playing in the TBT. The backcourt duo of AJ English and Desi Washington were combining for over 44 points per game, but not on this night. The Buckeye team held Washington to 19 points and English to just 4 points, cutting the dynamic duo’s average almost in half.

This is the deepest run Carmen’s Crew has made in the tournament since winning the whole thing in 2019. With an extremely deep squad, there is a different leading scorer almost every night. Andre Wesson led the way in the quarterfinal game with 16 points and eight rebounds.

Carmen’s Crew will play either the Kentucky alumni team or the Louisville alumni team on Friday, August 2, at 9 p.m. ET in Philadelphia.

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Kentucky and Louisville continue their basketball rivalry Monday night

The alumni squads of Kentucky and Louisville face each other Monday Night.

College baseball season has ended, and college football season is a month away. Kentucky basketball season is still a few months out as well, but fans of the two schools will still get to face off on Monday night as alumni squads face off in The Basketball Tournament (TBT).

Sixty-four teams began playing for a one million dollar prize, and TBT is now down to just eight squads. La Familia beat the 305 Ballers to open things up, then followed that by beating The Nawf in round two. Then, in the round of 16, they earned a 95-66 victory over Herd That, a Marshall alumni team.

Related: Kentucky jersey numbers and who wore them before

The Ville, Louisville’s alumni team, began the tournament by knocking of Unkighted. They got a two point win over Sideline Cancer in the second round before beating Team DRC to make it to the final eight.

The match-up between the two teams is scheduled to tip off at 9:00 PM ET on Monday night. It can be seen on Fox Sports 1.

Carmen’s Crew defeats defending champions to advance in TBT

Dayton Regional Champs! #GoBucks

Carmen’s Crew is your regional champion in The Basketball Tournament. The Ohio State alumni team took down the defending champion, Heartfire by a score of 74-70 to move on to the quarterfinals of the tournament. The team was led by Kaleb Wesson with 18 points, followed by Jared Sullinger’s 11 to pave the way.

Carmen’s Crew got up early leading by 11 at halftime. But the defending champs wouldn’t go down easily and clawed their way back to take a lead with less than five minutes to play in the game. Carmen’s Crew would take the lead back shortly after with a layup from Keyshawn Woods, setting the Elam Ending target score at 73. The first team to reach that total would move on.

With the OSU alumni team leading 71-70, Jamel Morris hit a three-point dagger to get Carmen’s Crew above the needed 73 points and move the team to the next round.

Carmen’s Crew will now take on No. 7 seed, Team Takeover in Louisville on Monday, July 29 at 7:00 p.m. ET.

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Team Colorado engineers late comeback in TBT win over Kansas alumni

Down goes Kansas!

In another drama-filled affair, Team Colorado rallied from down 11 late to upset Mass Street (Kansas alumni) on Wednesday evening in the third round of The Basketball Tournament.

Former Buffs D’Shawn Schwartz, Andre Roberson and crafty guard pickup Joshua Adams all played key roles late for Team Colorado, which trailed 76-65 with under six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. After cutting Mass Street’s lead to seven once the Elam Ending target score of 84 went into effect, Team Colorado put down the defensive clamps before Schwartz sunk a game-winning floater.

The 84-81 win sets Team Colorado up with a quarterfinal matchup against Forever Coogs (Houston alumni) in Houston on Tuesday.

Mayhem ensued when No. 5 seed Team Colorado completed the comebacker victory over second-seeded Mass Street at Wichita State’s Charles Koch Arena:

En route to winning the TBT’s Wichita region, Team Colorado beat Purple Reign (Kansas State alumni) in the first round and AfterShocks (Wichita State alumni) in the second.

Team Colorado now needs three more wins to secure the single-elimination tournament’s $1 million winner-take-all prize.

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Carmen’s Crew gets by Red Scare to advance in TBT

On to the next round! #GoBucks

The Ohio State alumni team affectionately known as Carmen’s Crew pulled off a mild upset on Monday night against the No 2 seed Dayton alumni team Red Scare, 71-60 to advance to the round of 16 in The Basketball Tournament.

Even more impressive is that Carmen’s Crew won inside the University of Dayton arena in front of a pro Red Scare crowd.

It was a nip and tuck affair heading into halftime with Carmen’s Crew taking a five-point lead into the break. Scoring was awfully difficult midway through the third quarter with both teams struggling to shoot the ball. It was Carmen’s Crew that was finally able to find some offense and take control of the contest, even moreso when Scott Thomas hit a desperate three-pointer at the buzzer to give the team an 52-41 lead heading to the fourth quarter.

From there, Carmen’s Crew and the Red Scare traded buckets without much separation or closing of the gap until the Elam Ending target score of 69 was set at the under four-minute mark.

Then, with the mostly OSU gang just one point away from sealing the deal, Andre Wesson nailed a wide-open three to end the game and send Carmen’s Crew into the round of 16.

The team will next take on No. 1 seed, defending champion Heartfire on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. ET.

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War Ready falls to Herd That in second round of The Basketball Tournament

Wendell Green Jr. and company fell after leading the contest end-to-end until the late minutes of the third quarter

War Ready’s run at a TBT championship ended on Sunday afternoon, as the team full of Auburn alumni fell to the No. 1 seed in its region, Herd That 63-59.

Herd That, who is coming off of a semifinals appearance in last year’s event, is composed of mostly Marshall alumni. The contingent of former Thundering Herd have been a staple of “The Basketball Tournament” since  2018, although the team has only reached the quarterfinals twice. That didn’t stop Auburn’s Alumni from nearly taking down the experienced Herd.

[autotag]Wendell Green Jr.[/autotag] and company led the contest end-to-end until the late minutes of the third quarter. Even after surrendering the lead, the Tigers led Herd That 55-49 heading into the “Elam Ending”, which creates a winning target score of 8 points higher than the leading team’s current score.

Unfortunately for War Ready, the bunch ran out of steam in the games final minutes, resulting in yet another disappointing finish in the tournament. The 22-year-old Green led the way for the Tigers with 19 points, while forward Toarlyn Fitzpatrick was the only other War Ready player to contribute double figures. Fitzpatrick, who actually played his college basketball at South Florida, finished 1 rebound shy of a 13-point double-double.

As for Herd That, five players were able to contribute at least eight points. Star forward Jacorey Williams led the way with 13 on an impressive 6/9 from the field.

While another quick exit from War Ready at TBT is disheartening, head coach Marc Hughes has shown year after year he will do whatever it takes to get War Ready back in the fold next summer.

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