| The Basketball Tournament | |
| Year: | 2022 |
| Location: |
|
| Start Date: | July 16 |
| End Date: | August 2, 2022 |
| Tournament Format: | Single elimination |
| Participants: | 64 teams |
| Stat1 Label: | Games played |
| Stat1: | 63 |
| Purse: | Championship: US$1,000,000 winner-take-all |
| Champions: | Blue Collar U |
| Runner-Up1: | Americana for Austism |
| Mvp: | C. J. Massinburg |
| Top Scorer: | C. J. Massinburg (94 pts)[1] |
| Previous: | 2021 |
| Next: | 2023 |
The Basketball Tournament 2022 was the ninth edition of The Basketball Tournament (TBT), a 5-on-5, single elimination basketball tournament with a $1 million winner-take-all prize. The tournament, involving 64 teams, began on July 16 and ended on August 2 with the championship game in Dayton, Ohio. The tournament format was similar to that of the last pre-COVID-19 edition in 2019—64 teams, each playing in one of eight regionals.
For the first time, the event had a "championship week", starting with the regional winners advancing to quarterfinals at one of two sites, Dayton and Wichita, Kansas. The quarterfinal winners then traveled to (or remained in) Dayton for the semifinals and championship game. Blue Collar U, a team primarily rostered with alumni of the Buffalo Bulls men's basketball program, won the tournament.[2]
For its 2022 edition, TBT retained its traditional 64-team format, and returned to an eight-region format, with each regional involving eight teams at a single host site (similar in format to the NCAA Division II men's and women's tournaments). Seven of the eight regional sites, plus the championship week venues, were revealed by TBT organizers on December 8, 2021.[3] The eighth regional site was revealed on May 19, 2022, as Rucker Park, an iconic outdoor venue in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem. It became TBT's first-ever outdoor venue.[4]
In a feature it calls "Run It Back", TBT organizers invited all teams that won first-round games in the 2021 edition to play in 2022. All but one of these teams accepted their bids before the organizers' initial deadline (the other one missed the deadline, but later accepted). These 31 teams, plus The Enchantment, a team consisting mostly of New Mexico alumni, were announced as the first 32 teams on January 26, 2022. The Enchantment was accepted based on New Mexico's home arena of The Pit being a regional site.[5] The remaining teams, and the regional placements for all entrants, were revealed in a selection special hosted by Chris Vosters with analysts Seth Greenberg and April Gray that aired on TBT's YouTube channel on June 22, 2022.[6]
As with previous years, all tournament games operate with the "Elam Ending", a format of ending the game without use of a game clock. Under the Elam Ending, the clock is turned off at the first dead-ball whistle with 4 minutes or less to play in the game. At that time, a target score, equal to the score of the leading team (or tied teams) plus eight, is set, and the first team to reach this target score is declared the winner of the game.[7] Thus, all games end on a made basket (field goal or free throw) and there is no overtime.
The Basketball Tournament 2022 featured games in eight locations, each of which hosted a regional. Two served as quarterfinal sites, with one of those also hosting the championship weekend (two semifinal contests and the championship game). Official regional names, if different from the location names, are indicated in the listings below the location names.
| Albuquerque (New Mexico) | Charleston (West Virginia) | Cincinnati (Xavier) | Omaha | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Pit | Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center | Cintas Center | D. J. Sokol Arena | |
| Capacity: 15,411 | Capacity: 11,519 | Capacity: 10,250 | Capacity: 2,950 | |
| Rucker Park | Syracuse | Wichita | Dayton | |
| Greg Marius Court | SRC Arena | Charles Koch Arena | UD Arena | |
| Capacity: N/A | Capacity: 6,500 | Capacity: 10,506 | Capacity: 13,435 | |
Source:[8]
TBT has a history of teams rostered primarily with alumni from specific NCAA Division I college basketball programs; 27 such teams entered the 2022 tournament. Five other teams were rostered primarily with alumni from groups of NCAA basketball programs sharing a common bond. Two mostly consist of alumni from a specific Division I conference, one is drawn from a group of historic basketball rivals, another is drawn from NCAA Division III alumni, and the last is drawn from historically black colleges and universities.
| Name | College or sponsor affiliation | Source of team name | Region | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AfterShocks | Wichita State alumni | School nickname of Shockers | Wichita | |
| Air Raiders | Texas Tech alumni | School nickname of Red Raiders | Wichita | |
| Always Us | Oregon alumni | Omaha | ||
| Americana for Autism | Team sponsor Americana, an NFT company | Rucker Park | ||
| Athletics Miami | Team sponsor Athletics Miami, a basketball facility | Dayton | ||
| B1 Ballers | Wichita | |||
| Best Virginia | West Virginia alumni | West Virginia | ||
| Big 5 | Philadelphia Big 5 alumni | Rucker Park | ||
| Bleed Green | North Texas alumni | School nickname of Mean Green | Wichita | |
| Buffalo alumni | Primary school color, plus city's blue-collar image | Syracuse | ||
| Syracuse alumni | Syracuse | |||
| Brown & White | alumni | School colors | Syracuse | |
| Bucketneers | ETSU alumni | School nickname of Buccaneers | West Virginia | |
| Cititeam | Dayton | |||
| Competitive Choice | New Mexico | |||
| Valparaiso alumni | Former school nickname of Crusaders | Omaha | ||
| DaGuys STL | Omaha | |||
| Defeat Diabetes | Xavier | |||
| Team owners' home street | Wichita | |||
| New Mexico alumni | State nickname, "Land of Enchantment" | New Mexico | ||
| Ex-Pats | Patriot League alumni | Rucker Park | ||
| Florida TNT | Players with connections to the state of Florida | Xavier | ||
| Fort Wayne Champs | Players with connections to Fort Wayne, Indiana | Xavier | ||
| Founding Fathers | James Madison alumni | West Virginia | ||
| Friday Beers | Armored Athlete | Syracuse | ||
| Fully Loaded | Alumni of AAU program Team Loaded | West Virginia | ||
| Marquette alumni | School nickname of Golden Eagles | Dayton | ||
| Gutter Cat Gang | Team sponsor Gutter Cat Gang, an NFT company[9] | Omaha | ||
| HBCUnited | HBCU alumni | Rucker Park | ||
| Heartfire | MedImpact | New Mexico | ||
| Marshall alumni | School nickname of Thundering Herd | West Virginia | ||
| Hoopville Warriors | Players with connections to Chicago | Rucker Park | ||
| India Rising | Players of Indian origin | Syracuse | ||
| Jackson Underdawgs | Players with connections to Jackson, Tennessee | Omaha | ||
| LA Cheaters | New Mexico | |||
| Lone Star Legends | Players with connections to the state of Texas, nicknamed "Lone Star State" | Wichita | ||
| Men of Mackey | Purdue alumni | Dayton | ||
| Mental Toughness | JCK Foundation | Syracuse | ||
| Mid American Unity | Mid-American Conference alumni | Dayton | ||
| TMT | Dayton | |||
| Nasty Nati | Cincinnati alumni | Nickname of the city of Cincinnati | Xavier | |
| Players from "more prestigious" universities | Syracuse | |||
| NG Saints | Abbreviation and nickname of school | Syracuse | ||
| Ohio 1804 | Ohio alumni | Year of school's founding | Dayton | |
| Omaha Blue Crew | Creighton alumni | Location and primary color of school | Omaha | |
| Once a Bronco | Boise State alumni | School nickname of Broncos | New Mexico | |
| Panamaniacs | New Mexico State alumni | New Mexico | ||
| Peacock Nation | Saint Peter's alumni | School nickname of Peacocks | Rucker Park | |
| Purple & Black | Kansas State alumni | School colors | Wichita | |
| Ram Up | Colorado State alumni | School nickname of Rams | New Mexico | |
| Red Scare | Dayton alumni | Name of Dayton student section | Dayton | |
| Sideline Cancer | Pancreatic cancer awareness | Xavier | ||
| Skip to My Lou | Rucker Park | |||
| Sweet Home Alabama | Classic Lynyrd Skynyrd song, reflecting the Alabama origins of team players | Xavier | ||
| Team AboutBillions | Brand of team sponsor Adrien Broner | Xavier | ||
| Team Arkansas | Arkansas alumni | Omaha | ||
| Team Challenge ALS | New Mexico | |||
| Team Overtime | Overtime Elite | Team sponsor Overtime Elite, a sports media company and league | Omaha | |
| Virginia Dream | Players with connections to the state of Virginia | West Virginia | ||
| War Ready | Auburn alumni | School battle cry "War Eagle" | West Virginia | |
| We Are D3 | NCAA Division III alumni | Wichita | ||
| WoCo Showtime | Wofford alumni | Wofford College | West Virginia | |
| YGC | Rucker Park | |||
| Zip Em Up | Xavier alumni | Former Xavier team motto | Xavier |
All eight no. 1 seeds advanced in first-round play; the lowest seed to advance to the second round was no. 7 Bleed Green in the Wichita Regional.
Six no. 1 seeds advanced in second-round play; the lowest seed to advance to the third round was again Bleed Green.
Five no. 1 seeds advanced in third-round play; the lowest seed to advance to the quarterfinals was no 3. Red Scare from the Dayton Regional.
Only a single no. 1 seed, AfterShocks from the Wichita Regional, won a quarterfinal match; the lowest seed to advance to the semifinals was again Red Scare.
In the first semifinal game, AfterShocks were eliminated by Americana for Autism, the no. 2 seed from the Rucker Park Regional.[10]
In the second semifinal game, Red Scare were eliminated by Blue Collar U, the no. 2 seed from the Syracuse Regional.[11]
Blue Collar U then defeated Americana for Autism in the championship game.[12]
All games played at Dayton, except for one quarterfinal (Wichita winner vs. Omaha winner) played at Wichita.
Announcers for both semifinal matches and the championship game were Bob Rathbun, Fran Fraschilla, and Angel Gray.[16]
The final points of the tournament, securing the championship for Blue Collar U, came on a dunk by Montell McRae.[17]
| Pos | Player | Team | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG | Florida TNT | |||
| PG | Red Scare | |||
| SG | bgcolor=yellow | C. J. Massinburg (MVP) | Blue Collar U | |
| PG | Blue Collar U | |||
| PF | Blue Collar U | |||
| bgcolor=lightgray | Coach | Adam Bauman | Blue Collar U | |
| bgcolor=lightgray | GM | Griffin Taylor | Americana for Autism |
The "33-Point Contest", first held in 2021, returned. In the 2022 edition, select individual players competed in each region to see who could make 11 three-point field goals the fastest, with regional winners advancing to a final round in Dayton.
Finalists (team, region):[20]
The contest and prize of $33,333.33 was won by Ryan Taylor.[21]