The Basketball Tournament 2018: Super 16 Day 1 Viewing Guide

Welcome back to the 2018 edition of The Basketball Tournament. It’s been a short layoff since Sunday’s second round games in the Northeast and Midwest regions, but Georgia State University is primed and ready to host the Super 16 round over the next three days.

First up tonight is a doubleheader to determine the Quarterfinalists coming out of the South Region. The headliner is, of course, Overseas Elite, who have now run their TBT winning streak to 21 straight games. On some level, winning 21 straight games in any regard is almost more impressive than the fact that they’ve won three straight TBT titles. As could be somewhat expected from a team that had to make a massive comeback to win one of their three title games, Overseas Elite has not been running through competition so far this year, posting margins of victory of just 16 in the first round and 10 in the second. Justin Burrell was the firepower in game #1, scoring 24 points to lead the way, while a balanced attack led them to victory in their second outing.

It will be #4 seed Louisiana United attempting to shutdown the three-time champs tonight. LU has gotten scoring from a variety of places in this tournament, with at least four players scoring in double digits in both games. United is capable of explosions, running off a 23-0 run against Showtime in the second round. If they can find that kind of magic against OE, they may be able to assemble enough of a performance to dethrone the kings of TBT.

In the first game of the night, it will be #2 seed Ram Nation facing off against #6 seed Team DRC. Ram Nation is, of course, the squad of VCU alumni. After a 14 point win in the first round, they did not have an easy time in the second round, knocking off Atlanta Dirty South by just five, 76-71. Reggie Williams was their high scorer in that one with 20, but Ram Nation’s biggest strength might be their bench. 12 guys got on the floor for the VCU squad in that game, which has to be one of the biggest TBT rosters in history.

DRC made their way to the Super 16 thanks to a bucket by Darius Washington to hit the Target Score against Memphis State. That’s quite the weird sentence to type, as Washington rather famously attended Memphis. In any case, Washington and former South Florida Bull Dominique Jones are the two names to watch for on the DRC roster, as they both filled it up like crazy in both of DRC’s TBT games so far this summer.

Both games tonight will be televised on ESPN2 and will also be streamed on WatchESPN.

Tonight’s Schedule (all times Central)

6pm: #2 Ram Nation vs #6 Team DRC
8pm: #1 Overseas Elite vs #4 Louisiana United