The Basketball Tournament 2018: South & West Region Second Round Viewing Guide

Who’s ready for some more action in The Basketball Tournament today!

Sadly, there’s less action than there was yesterday, but that’s what happens in a lose-and-go-home tournament. You automatically have half as many games to be played in the next round.

This is the next round for every team from yesterday as the winners square off to determine who advances to Atlanta for the Super 16 from July 26-29. We had three seed line upsets on yesterday’s slate, with two of them coming in the West Region. In the South Region’s lone upset, #12 Showtime got 26 points from Marcus Posley on two hours of sleep after playing at NBA Summer League the night before to beat Wake The Nation, the Wake Forest alumni, and pick up their first TBT win in five appearances.

Over in the West, #9 CitiTeam Blazers beat #8 seed Team 23 on the strength of 26 points from Kyle Gibson and 22 points from Deion McClenton. Gibson was electric, canning six of his 10 three-point attempts, and McClenton added 11 rebounds. Albuquerque Hoops was the other upset, as the #12 seed knocked off the #5 seeded Forks Up. It was a six-on-five game in a manner of speaking, as the Arizona State alumni had just five guys play the full 36 minutes, while the New Mexico crew at least had one substitute. Scott Bamforth rained in 35 points while adding seven rebounds and six assists to send Albuquerque Hoops on to a second round game against Sons of Westwood today.

One thing to keep an eye on today is the fact that both #1 seeds in these regions got pushed a little bit in the first round. Overseas Elite, the three-time defending champs, had just a seven point lead at the start of the fourth quarter before picking up the 78-62 win over ABC2, while Team Challenge ALS used a 19-0 run in the third quarter to pull away from Fort Hood Wounded Warriors, but still only won by 8, 83-75. How do these teams, who met in the 2017 championship game, respond to their scares just 24 hours later?

Here’s your slate for the day, split up by region. There’s four games in the South Region, including the host and #2 seed Ram Nation playing in the main event at VCU’s arena, but only three games in the West thanks to Gael Force advancing to the Super 16 in the Spokane Hoopfest pod. All times Central, and all games streamed on ESPN3/WatchESPN.