The Basketball Tournament 2015 Explained

The Basketball Tournament 2015 was the second edition of The Basketball Tournament, a 5-on-5, single elimination basketball tournament. The tournament involved 97 teams; it started on July 10 and continued through August 2, 2015. The winner of the final, Overseas Elite, received a one million dollar prize.^[2] The semifinals and championship game, played at Rose Hill Gymnasium at Fordham University in The Bronx, were broadcast on ESPN.^[2] The tournament was branded as "The Basketball Tournament Presented by Jack Link's Jerky".^[3]

Format

The main tournament field started with 96 teams, organized into four regions of 24 teams each. The 24 teams in each region were 18 teams selected by fans via the tournament's website and six teams selected at-large. Four teams from each region, plus 2014 tournament defending champion Notre Dame Fighting Alumni, qualified to advance to the "Super 17" in Chicago.^[4]

The winning team (its players, coaches, general manager, and boosters) received 95% of the $1 million prize, while the remaining 5% was split amongst the team's top 91 fans (based on how many friends they had join the tournament's website).^[4]

An online bracket contest awarded $1717 to one fan.^{[5] [3]}

Venues

The Basketball Tournament 2015 took place in five locations.^[4]

Round	Dates	Region	Location
Regional	July 10–12	West	Los Angeles, California
		South	Atlanta, Georgia
	July 17–19	Northeast	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
		Midwest	Chicago, Illinois
Super 17	July 23–24	bgcolor=lightgray
Quarterfinals	July 25	bgcolor=lightgray
Semifinals	August 1	bgcolor=lightgray		New York City
Finals	August 2	bgcolor=lightgray

2014 champion Notre Dame Fighting Alumni faced the Midwest's lowest remaining seed on July 23; that game's winner, plus the other 15 regional qualifiers, all played on July 24

Bracket

FW

Forfeit win
FL	Forfeit loss

Eight teams in each region received a first-round bye, based on online fan votes.

Source:^{[6] [7]}

Midwest regional

The 2014 champions, Notre Dame Fighting Alumni, earned an automatic entry in the "Super 17" round, where they faced the lowest remaining seed in the Midwest region, Midwest Dream Squad, on July 23. Notre Dame Fighting Alumni won that game, 79–77, thus advancing in the bracket.

Northeast regional

Three teams withdrew from the tournament—Friar Nation, The Citi Team, and Team Oohway—resulting in forfeit wins for their first-round opponents.

West regional

Source:^[8]

Regional finals

Regional finals

Region	Winner	Score	Loser
Midwest	Ants Alumni	76–72	Armored Athlete
West		77–56	LA Unified
Northeast		80–76	Boeheim's Army
South		77–72	Dirty South

Source: ^[9]

Semifinals & final

Source: ^{[10] [11] [12] [2]}

Awards

MVP: D. J. Kennedy of Overseas Elite^[13]

Further reading

• News: Complete Field Of 97 Teams Announced . thetournament.com . 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150713052507/https://www.thetournament.com/news/complete-field-97-teams-announced . July 13, 2015 . Wayback Machine.
• Web site: Million To Won: Fighting Alumni Seek To Repeat . Zach . Hillesland . und.com . July 23, 2015 . July 31, 2018.
• News: CBA grad Belbey stays in hoops with Boeheim's Army . Josh . Newman . . . C6 . July 24, 2015 . July 29, 2018 . newspapers.com.
• News: The Basketball Tournament Rosters: Meet The Final 4 Teams . Tim . Keeney . . July 30, 2015 . July 29, 2018.

External links

• TBT Flashback - 2015 Championship Game via YouTube

Notes and References

1. Web site: Stats: Leaders . thetournament.com . 2015 . August 3, 2022.
2. News: Overseas Elite Brings It Home . Desmond . Connor . . . C3 . August 3, 2015 . July 29, 2018 . newspapers.com.
3. Web site: 2015 Recap . The Basketball Tournament . thetournament.com . July 29, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160217033246/https://thetournament.com/2015-recap . February 17, 2016 . Wayback Machine.
4. Web site: What is TBT? . The Basketball Tournament . 2015 . thetournament.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20150715204642/https://www.thetournament.com/about . July 15, 2015 . Wayback Machine.
5. Web site: TBT Super 17 Bracket Contest Official Rules . thetournament.com . 2015 . July 29, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180730080848/https://thetournament.com/news/tbt-super-17-bracket-contest-official-rules . July 30, 2018 . Wayback Machine.
6. Web site: TBT 2015 – Schedule . The Basketball Tournament . geniussports.com . 2015 . August 2, 2021.
7. Web site: Results from The Basketball Tournament . thetournament.com . 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150901111736/https://thetournament.com/news/results-basketball-tournament . September 1, 2015 . Wayback Machine.
8. Web site: The Basketball Tournament 2015 Scores: Sunday, July 12 . . Matt . Fitzgerald . July 12, 2015 . August 2, 2021.
9. Web site: Meet The Four Teams Playing For $1,000,000 . thetournament.com . 2015 . July 29, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150730214900/https://thetournament.com/news/meet-four-teams-playing-1-000-000 . July 30, 2015 . Wayback Machine.
10. News: Final Matchup: Overseas Elite, Team 23 . Desmond . Connor . . . E3 . August 2, 2015 . July 29, 2018 . newspapers.com.
11. Web site: Team 23'S Semifinal Win Over Ants Alumni (Photos) . thetournament.com . August 2015 . July 29, 2018.
12. Web site: Overseas Elite's Semifinal Win Over Team City Of Gods (Photos) . thetournament.com . August 2015 . July 29, 2018.
13. Web site: SQ At The Basketball Tournament's Million Dollar Final . Dylan . Turk . Drew . Margolis . thesportsquotient.com . August 24, 2015 . July 29, 2018.