THE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT 2017
MIDWEST AND WEST REGIONS SUPER 16
Date: Saturday, July 22, 2017
Time: 11am Central thru 7pm Central
Location: Steinberg Wellness Center in Brooklyn, NY
TV: ESPN & ESPN 2
Streaming: WatchESPN
Twitter Updates: @thetournament
MIDWEST SUPER 16 (ESPN)
11am: #2 Scarlet & Gray vs #3 Always A Brave
1pm: #1 Golden Eagles vs #4 Purple & Black
WEST SUPER 16 (ESPN 2)
3pm: #2 Few Good Men vs #6 Team Challenge ALS
5pm: #1 Team Colorado vs #4 Armored Athlete
It’s a big day of basketball in Brooklyn today, as The Basketball Tournament lines up the final four teams to advance to Sunday’s regional championship games. Friday night’s action saw Overseas Elite continue their undefeated run in TBT to reach the South Region championship game. In the other South Super 16 game, Ram Nation, the squad of VCU alumni, took care of business against the #14 seeded NC Prodigal Sons, thus giving us a #1 vs #2 matchup on Sunday in that region.
We came very close to getting nothing but top four seeds in both of the regions in action today, but unfortunately for West #3 seed The Stickmen, they got dumped in the second round by Team Challenge ALS. I don’t want to specifically blame Michael Rapaport for skipping out on his team’s games in order to do sideline reporting for the Big 3 league, but hey, you can’t say there’s not a connection.
We have another near miss in the category of alumni teams. All four squads in the Midwest Super 16 are alumni squads, with Marquette (obvs), Ohio State, Bradley, and Kansas State all represented. Teams made up of former Colorado and Gonzaga are occupying the top two seeds in the West, while the other two are random amalgamation teams. Armored Athlete does have a core of former Indiana Hoosiers, though.
With Overseas Elite already to the TBT quarterfinals, eyes and attention shift to Team Colorado. TC reached the TBT title game a year ago and led OE by more than 20 points in the first half before eventually falling. It’s possible for the two teams to meet in the championship game again this season, but that will require the former Buffs greats to take care of business on two consecutive days on the campus of LIU-Brooklyn.