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We took a break from doing an in-depth rundown of what was going on in The Basketball Tournament for the past few days as focusing on previewing the Golden Eagles games was much more important. But the Illinois Regional takes a day off for rest today, so WE’RE BACK to talk about the final two games of the Columbus Regional.
Let’s go! All times Central, of course.
6pm: #6 Blue Collar U vs #10 Category 5, ESPN
Blue Collar is a Buffalo alumni team with a bunch of guys off the Bulls team that came into Milwaukee ranked and got to experience The Markus Howard Show. Here, though, they’ve come up with an 88-82 win over The Nerd Team in the first round and they followed that up with a 93-83 win over Zip ‘Em Up, the Xavier alumni, in the second round. They’ve had to get through some tight contests, but they did get through them to end up here. Wes Clark is leading the way for BCU at 21 points per game, with C.J. Massinburg and Nick Perkins both adding at least 10 per contest, too. Massinburg has been good for 3.5 assists, while Clark’s seven rebounds per contest through two top the charts.
Across the court for this one is Category 5, the Miami alumni team. They knocked off Wolf Blood, the NC State alums, in the first round in a 74-65 contest. The second round was a much bigger upset, as they downed #2 seed Red Scare, the Dayton alumni, who reached TBT’s semifinals a year ago. Rion Brown has been big on the scoresheet at 18.0 points/game, but the star of the show is Davon Reed. He’s only second in scoring in terms of average at 13.0 per game, but he’s tied for the team lead in rebounding with Brown (8.0/game) and he tops the show in assists at 3.5/game. Reed’s 1.5 blocks per game is nothing to joke about, either.
8pm: #1 Carmen’s Crew vs #5 The Money Team, ESPN
There are only two teams in this year’s tournament that have won TBT before. Obviously, the Marquette guys are one. Carmen’s Crew, the 2019 champs, are the other. They beat Mid American Unity, 77-65, in the first round, and they followed that up with an 80-69 win over Men of Mackey, the Purdue alumni team, in the second round. William Buford is leading the Ohio State alumni team at 16.5 points per game through two contests, while David Lighty (12.5/game) and Kosta Koufos (11.0/game) have been good contributors, too. Buford’s 8.5 rebounds per game are the best on the team as well, while Lighty has to share the team lead in assists with Shannon Scott at 3.5 helpers per game.
The Money Team is, as you might expect, the squad sponsored by Floyd Mayweather. They have, unfortunately, won two games in this year’s TBT. Their first round win was relatively easy as they downed The Region 86-71, although that game was close at the half. TMT followed that up with a 93-76 demolition of TBT vets Team Hines. Jeff Ledbetter carried the show against Hines, going 8-for-11 from long range to propel The Money Team to the victory last time out. Still, averages being what they are, Ledbetter (16.5/game) has to look up at Jarrod Jones and his 17.5 points per game so far in this tournament for the team lead. Jones is also tied for the team lead in rebounding with Peyton Aldridge at 6.0 per game, while Jordon Crawford has been redonkulous in the passing game at 7.5 assists per game for Mayweather’s crew.