TBT The Basketball Tournament Information

[arxpert]

https://tbtlive.thetournament.com

Free Live Streaming here on their official site.

16 games today
16 games tommorrow

The Mid Summer Classic Big Dance

Winner Takes All for $1 Million.

Hopefully the NCAA / NIL provides a Cash Prize for the Big Dance someday so there are less conflicts of interest and more effort toward winning for everyone all around.

I explored the 64 rosters. I didn't see any Arizona players this year. Gabe York played last year. Kyle Fogg is the GOAT of TBT. Ryan Luther has been in it. Derrick Williams once played I believe too. Mike Bibby played as well in the way past.

The Tournament has come a long way. It is on the Fox Family of Networks this year, but that link is a simple email address / password signup and you can stream the games free. I am testing it and have the 3 current games up at the same time. Very high quality and toggling options for variable qualities depending on your internet speed which is very nice.

They put a lot of effort into it this year with whatever backing they have gotten. The quality of games thus far through half of the first games have been competitive. I think it will be a good competition the whole way.

Love the Elam Ending. Best Idea to come into Basketball in a very long time. NBA is using some of the concept in Summer League for Overtime "race to 7 points", but the real idea is whatever the score is once the first whistle is blown 2 minutes or under, you create a Target Score of 7pts higher than the highest value and whoever reaches that number first wins.

So if you are up 10pts, you need to score 7 to win. If you are down 20pts you have to score 17pts. We have seen plenty of 17-6 type runs happen at every level. TBT has had some gigantic comebacks like 27+ pt in the Elam before. So don't "clown it" automatically!

It is a fundamentally an amazing idea and rules have been tweaked to stop foul abuse similar to the transition take foul approach where you can't cheese the ending as easily.

College could definitely stand to go to 4 10min quarters no matter what, but I wouldn't be mad if they used the Elam Ending instead of just dribbling the air out the ball wasting clock.

Every Elam Ending has to occur on a made basket. So in essence they are all Game Winning Shots technically and there is still a shot clock, just not a game clock.

Ok, I've said my peace.

Onward and Up

Beardown

[arxpert]

16 point comeback in the Elam Ending already.. Wow!

[arxpert]

7pts

I meant add 8 points for the Elam Target Score*****

The NBA is Race to 7pts for OT in Summer League.

[|ᴘ|ʀ|ʏ|ᴍ|ᴇ|]

Didn't like the Elam Ending when they first added it. Figured maybe it would grow on me over time. Years later, still don't like it lol I think half the reason is because I got tired of hearing the phrase "Elam Ending" beaten into my skull constantly on every broadcast.

[arxpert]

Didn't like the Elam Ending when they first added it. Figured maybe it would grow on me over time. Years later, still don't like it lol I think half the reason is because I got tired of hearing the phrase "Elam Ending" beaten into my skull constantly on every broadcast.

I view it as functionally the best innovation added to the sport since the 3pt line, but it is not realistic for the NBA as the players are way too good. They would have to make it into Overtime rules and a Race to 23 or 24 points for it to be realistic at that level. Maybe in honor of Jordan/Kobe or something like that.

Everyone likes a buzzer beater, but they don't happen that often statistically speaking. The Elam makes every game win on a game winning shot no matter what. I think that is the prevailing point.

As always, to each their own. I would rather be battered by the phrase Elam Ending for a few weeks than be forced to hear about Clark vs Reese when it isn't even a competition at all and in my fact based opinion, Clark is obviously the paradigm shifting singularity of Women's Basketball.

[|ᴘ|ʀ|ʏ|ᴍ|ᴇ|]

I don't even think the concept is bad. I probably would have had a far more positive reception of it had it simply been referred to as Target Score.

By the way, does Arizona have a TBT team yet or are our players still mercenaries?

[arxpert]

By the way, does Arizona have a TBT team yet or are our players still mercenaries?

I have long called for Arizona to have "Zona Zoo" as a team in this, but most of our players that would be viable are too good for this event.

All Time Legendary Great Wildcat of Arizona Ryan Luther is playing for Zoo Crew, 2 Seed in the Pitt Region. He transferred in from Pitt back in the olden days in a land before time.

I haven't seen anyone else this year with Zona ties. Last year there were some mercenaries around most notably Gabe York.

TBT allows for players to join up along the way. We may see some players who finish up Summer League and don't have anything to do join up with some team that advances through. Joe Johnson did that one year and came up short doing it.

Through the years I've seen Mike Bibby, Derrick Williams, York, Luther, Mark Lyons played and also the GOAT of TBT is Kyle Fogg. I'm sure there were some others I am forgetting.

If there was a team to put together it would probably need to be guys between 23-40 years old. So if you think about it, the best possible players would be guys like Parker Cartright Jackson, Brandon Ashley, Kyle Fogg, Gabe York, Zews. But they all have bigger foreign deals going on.

Some older players like Momo Jones, Derrick Williams, Solomon Hill could try, but I think they would have a tough time keeping up. Ohio State has Jared Sullinger playing for them. He is only 32 years old. Willy Cauley Stein and Eric Bledsoe are playing for Kentucky's team. Montrezl Harrell is playing for Louisville's.

I think we have some guys who could do it in theory, but it would be Miller Era folk overall. Ryan Luther chose his native team. Ryan Williams? Justin Coleman? Kobi Simmons? I mean, some of the talent I would think mostly doesn't have too much going for them in terms of nostalgia.

Grant Jerrett doesn't really move the needle.

Chance Comanche might get the needle (very F'ed up story)

He-Man Akot and South Sudan seemed busy beating up on Team USA today, but would he and Doutrive even consider it? Lol.

Brandon Williams and Gabe York would be 2 guys I would start with if I were boosting for the team and trying to find some Arizona guys. I would also call up Stanley Johnson since he is basically out of the league and still young. This is the type of Tournament for him. Derrick Williams and Solomon Hill definitely would play out decently in this format if they had the younger Guards with them.

If Fogg wanted to make a GOAT return of course he would be the Captain, but he was with Overseas Elite for all those titles and that team had it's glory. I would think they would reunite if Fogg came back.

But overall I think Zona Zoo should have a team and presence in this tournament. It's just a 2-3 week commitment at most. In between the end of Summer League and Foreign offseasons.

I think TBT is really a nice celebration of Nostalgia and then mixed with some Ringers and also D2 and D3 Teams/Players who have some chemistry and want to make some extra money.

So to the point of --->

If the following teams can have an Alumni team in this year's Dance, then why can't we?

Kentucky
Kansas
UConn
Dayton
North Texas
VCU
Colorado
Pitt
Kansas State
Louisville
Marshall
Arkansas
St Louis
Wichita State
West Virginia
Ohio State
Houston
Purdue
Cincinnati
Valparaiso
New Mexico
Auburn
Xavier
Wofford
Boise St
Bellamarine

Unless I forgot one, that's 26 out of 64 teams.

In prior years - teams now currently defunct for this year's dance - TBT Champion Buffalo, legit the team that knocked Ayton out, UCLA, Oregon, Syracuse, Marquette, Bradley, Notre Dame, Memphis, Miami, Florida (which evolved into Florida TNT but not an alumn based)... etc

Why can't we have one?

Well, even with my analysis... I just think our talent is too good and above playing for around 65-100k for winning 6 games in a row. It is Winner Take All and most teams have sponsors/boosters, but plenty of guys have to pay their travel expenses for this.

Caveat: If you sink the Elam Ender wearing Puma shoes, you win an extra $1000. So up to $6,000 is in play on a personal level for each player (and across all the teams).

Also there's a 3pt Competition at the end during the Final 4 Weekend festivities that I think last year the winner got $33,333. It's first to make 11 3pt shots or something like that the quickest for their contest.

So if you are a great shooter and your team loses, you still can earn about half as much as your "cut" of the grand prize anyway. That's been a new thing over the past couple years, but someone like Fogg would have mopped up on that too probably.

OWNWARD AND UP PRYME

Beardown

[arxpert]

Add Indiana to the current list**

[arxpert]

Also forgot Penn State has a team. Currently taking it to UConn's.