Marquette’s Alumni Team Will Play The St. John’s Alumni In First Round Of 2018’s The Basketball Tournament

The Basketball Tournament released the bracket for the 2018 version of their yearly summer event on Wednesday. With the announcement, we officially know the first round matchups for the Big East pod of TBT that will take place at the McGuire Center on June 30th.

Golden Eagles, the team of Marquette alumni, are the #3 seed in the region, and will take on #14 seed Johnnies, the team of St. John’s alums. In the other first round game in Milwaukee, #6 seeded Jack Attack, consisting of Georgetown alumni, will play #11 seeded Hall In, the squad made up of former Seton Hall. As expected Jack Attack/Hall In will be the 2pm game at the McGuire Center, with Golden Eagles/Johnnies scheduled to start at 4pm. You can check out our previous article for a rundown of the rosters for each squad.

The seeds in this one are probably not truly indicative of where these teams should be seeded within the entire Northeast region. However, the pod has to be inserted into the field somewhere, and the seedings have to stay true to the rest of the bracket. Is that a little unfair to the three Big East teams that aren’t Golden Eagles, as maybe they deserved better seeds? Probably, but seeding has generally speaking not held a lot of meaning in TBT in the past.

The four #1 seeds in this year’s TBT are no surprise, as they’re the four teams that went to the semifinals last season: Boeheim’s Army (Syracuse alumni), Scarlet & Gray (Ohio State alumni), Challenge ALS, and, of course, the three-time defending TBT champions, Overseas Elite. Over their three year run, OE has won $5 million in prize money, and they’re the favorite to take this year’s $2 million prize as well. They have to be. Overseas Elite has never lost a game in TBT.

Boeheim’s Army is the #1 seed in the Northeast region, which is the region shared by the Big East pod. However, the pod is on the opposite side of the bracket from Boeheim’s Army, so none of the Big East teams would play the Syracuse guys until the regional final. I would imagine that this is somewhat disappointing to our friends over at Casual Hoya.

Here’s the full rundown of what teams are in the Northeast Region, including links to their TBT team pages.

1. Boeheim’s Army (Syracuse alumni)
2. HBC Sicklerville
3. Golden Eagles (Marquette alumni)
4. Armored Athlete
5. Gael Nation (Iona alumni)
6. Jack Attack (Georgetown alumni)
7. Team Arkansas (Arkansas alumni)
8. Team Fancy
9. Saints Alive (Siena alumni)
10. Tim Thomas Playaz
11. Hall In (Seton Hall alumni)
12. Sideline Cancer
13. DC On Point
14. Johnnies (St. John’s alumni)
15. Talladega Knights
16. Philadelphia Stars
17. South Jamaica Kings
18. Queens Struggle

The teams to watch for Marquette fans are the ones in the 7/10 and 2/15 first round matchups, as the winner of the Big East pod will play the winner of that four team pod in Atlanta for a spot in the regional final. There is a set of play-in games this year, so #15 Talladega Knights will be squaring off with #18 seed Queens Struggle with the winner playing #2 seed HBC Sicklerville in the first round. The most interesting opponent for the Big East winner might be Tim Thomas Playaz, as their roster features three guys from the current Big East membership, not to mention Villanova standout Tim Thomas as head coach.

While the Big East pod will be played out on June 30th and July 1st, the rest of the Northeast region’s first and second rounds won’t be played until July 20th through the 22nd. Whichever team wins the pod in Milwaukee will have nearly the whole month of July off before reconvening in Atlanta for the regional semifinals on July 28th.

Tickets for the games at the McGuire Center are still available, with $25 getting you in for both days of the event, or you can pay $15 for each day separately.

You can check out the full TBT bracket here, and the full set of game times for the first round right here.