The Basketball Tournament Announces 60 Teams In The 2017 Field

Voting is closed and the at-large picks have been made. The 2017 edition of The Basketball Tournament now stands at 60 teams. The final four teams for the winner-take-all $2 million single elimination tournament will be decided on June 17th and 18th in Philadelphia in the first ever TBT Jamboree.

Golden Eagles, the team of Marquette Golden Eagles alumni, made it into the Midwest Region by way of your votes. GE had the second most votes in the region behind Hilton Magic Legends, a team of Iowa State alumni. Wesley Matthews and Travis Diener will be back on the bench to coach for general manager Dan Fitzgerald. The team will be made up of returning TBT stars Dwight Buycks, Darius Johnson-Odom, Davante Gardner,Jerel McNeal, Joe Chapman, Maurice Acker, and Dwight Burke, with Trent Lockett, Trend Blackledge. and Juan Anderson signing up to take a run at that cash money prize.

Here’s the rundown on the 14 non-MU teams already in the Midwest Region.

Hilton Magic Legends (Iowa State Alumni)

Total Number of Players: 9
Notable Players: Korie Lucious, Marcus Fizer (Coach)

Jackson TN Underdawgs

Total Number of Players: 12
Notable Players: Jarvis Varnado

Scarlet & Gray (Ohio State Alumni)

Total Number of Players: 9
Notable Players: Aaron Craft, Jon Diebler, David Lighty, Dallas Lauderdale, William Buford, and Greg Oden (who might not play)

Mid American Unity

Total Number of Players: 11
Notable Players: None

Midwest Dream Squad

Total Number of Players: 9
Notable Players: Sean Dockery, Derrick Rose (Booster)

Fort Wayne Champs

Total Number of Players: 9
Notable Players: Ron Howard, Trey McKinney Jones, Adam Woodbury

Banner Boys (UW-Milwaukee Alumni)

Total Number of Players: 11
Notable Players: **shrug**

Purple And Black (Kansas State Alumni)

Total Number of Players: 9
Notable Players: Jacob Pullen, Jamar Samuels, Curtis Kelly

HBC

Total Number of Players: 9
Notable Players: None

The Region

Total Number of Players: 9
Notable Players: None

Canton Bulldogs

Total Number of Players: 9
Notable Players: None

Majerus SLU Crew (Saint Louis Alumni)

Total Number of Players: 9
Notable Players: Jordair Jett

Illinois Hoopville Warriors

Total Number of Players: 9
Notable Players: None

Always A Brave (Bradley Alumni)

Total Number of Players: 12
Notable Players: Patrick O’Bryant, Daniel Ruffin, Shaun Livingston (Booster)

Always A Brave is the defending Midwest Region champion after beating Golden Eagles in the Elite Eight of the tournament last year. On top of that, AAB is also hosting the first two rounds of this year’s TBT at Bradley University, their alma mater. Kind of a sweet deal for those guys.

There’s a bunch of notable squads in the other 45 teams to be officially added to the field. First and foremost, there’s Overseas Elite, the two time defending TBT champions. 16 of the teams in the other regions are alumni teams like Golden Eagles, including Supernova (Villanova), Boeheim’s Army (Syracuse), Zoo Crew (Pittsburgh), Tampa Bulls (USF), and Few Good Men (Gonzaga). The Wasatch Front is a Weber State alumni squad, but it’s their coach, Damian Lillard, that will draw the most attention. My most favorite alumni team is probably Ole Hotty Toddy, not because I particularly care about Ole Miss, but because the deeper they go, the more we get to watch Marshall Henderson play basketball.

The most fascinating at-large team? The Washington Generals, playing out of the South Region. Yes, it’s that Washington Generals, the longtime nemesis of the Harlem Globetrotters, looking for their first win as a team in 46 years with TNT NBA analyst Kenny Smith working as their GM.

As mentioned above, there’s still one final team to be added to the Midwest Region before the bracketing takes place. That team will come out of the Jamboree, which will be held in Philadelphia on June 17th and 18th. Four teams in each of the four regions will post $5,000 each and play in a two day tournament for the 16th and final spot in their respective region. As of right now, there are no teams entered to take part in the Midwest Region’s Jamboree. It’s a first come/first served type of scenario, so hopefully those four spots get filled up fast.

Golden Eagles’ first round game will be on July 15th in Peoria, Illinois, at Renaissance Coliseum, and if they win, they’ll play again on the 16th. Tickets are on sale, and you can click right here for more info on that.