The First 60 Teams Accepted into The Basketball Tournament 2017

In 11 days The Basketball Tournament (TBT) comes to Philadelphia. Although, before any of the games start, the field has to be announced. Today, TBT announced the seeding of it’s 60 regional based teams. At this point, for those who have been following along, the teams announced may not be a total surprise.

Field of 60 announced tomorrow!! ? Who's ready?! #TBT2017 #DecisionDay pic.twitter.com/E7JNvtAn9O — TBT (@thetournament) June 5, 2017

This will be a whole new world you’ve stumbled upon. Along with the 60 teams that have already won their ticket to the tournament, 16 other teams will compete for the four remaining spots. With Upwards of two million dollars on the line, nobody wants to miss out on their chance.

ATL "Hoops4Hunger" is the 2nd applicant in the South Region of the Jamboree! #TBT2017 #TBTJamboree pic.twitter.com/JkN8PS2FFm — TBT (@thetournament) June 4, 2017

The showdown in Philly consists of a two-day tournament on June 17 & 18 at Philadelphia University. Tickets are still available for the Jamboree and the tournament ahead. While this is a five on five games of hoops, some rule changes may make the games more intriguing. One, in particular, is the addition of the Elam Ending that will be used for the first time this year. In an effort to speed up the games crunch time instead of slowing it down at the first dead ball after the 4-minute mark, the game clock shuts off. At that point, a Target Score is determined. Whichever team gets to the Target Score first wins. The Target Score is determined by adding 7 points to the leading team’s score at the time of the dead ball.

Along with rule changes, some well-known athletes have either given their support to teams or are directly involved. Most notably, Damian Lillard will be coaching the Weber State team, his Alma mater. Lillard, however, will another cog in the system for Weber because when the playing starts there’s only so much he can do to help. There are five different roles for each TBT team and due to the nature of the selection process, each one plays a key role.

Regional games start July 8th in Philadelphia and Charlotte and will continue to Las Vegas and Peoria, IL. Those rounds will determine who will travel to New York for the Super 16 that will be aired on ESPN networks July 20-23. Thus leading us to the semi-finals and the championship in Baltimore from August 1-3.

We’ll see you there!

#Basketball #DamianLillard #TheBasketballTournament