The Basketball Tournament Overview & FAQ

A lot of you may have seen that The Basketball Tournament is starting this weekend (and has already started and ended for four teams), but many of you may not know what the heck we are talking about and why it is important.

Well we here at BSD are here to ease any of your concerns and answer any questions that you may have about it.

Ned wrote a longer article detailing the overall format back in April, but I’m going to do this in more of a bullet form article for ease. Be sure to read his article if you want more in-depth parameters to it.

What is The Basketball Tournament?

It is a 72 team, single-elimination tournament made up of any and all players not currently under an NBA contract. The winning team gets $2 million dollars that is split between the members on the team and the top fans who supported the team during sign-ups.

Why is it important to Wake Forest fans?

For the first time, Wake Forest has entered an alumni team into The Tournament, and will feature some of your favorite players from the past 15 years. We detailed every single player in a series earlier in the spring, but the roster is comprised of: Justin Gray, Eric Williams, Travis McKie, Ty Walker, Coron Williams, Josh Howard, CJ Harris, Anthony Gurley, and LD Williams. The team will be coached by Mike Lepore, and Gary Clark will serve as the general manager.

Where can I watch the Deacs play???

All the games will be broadcast on the ESPN network platform. Wake The Nation is a five seed in the South Region and will take on the twelve seed Showtime on Saturday at 12:40 on ESPN3. If you are in the Richmond area then you can buy tickets and attend the game at the Siegel Center (VCU’s homecourt). If Wake wins on Saturday then it will play the winner of the 4/13 game on Sunday at 11 AM.

Should the Deacs advance to the Sweet 16, it will likely take on Overseas Elite, the number one seed in the South and the three-time defending champion of The Basketball Tournament. That game would take place on July 26th in Atlanta, GA at either 7PM or 9PM an air on ESPN2.

A complete schedule can be found here with times, networks, and locations, while a complete bracket is below:

Are there any weird rules?

I am so glad you asked that question, because there are a few things you need to be aware of, particularly the ending. The game is broken down into four (4), nine (9) minute quarters, with a ten minute halftime. Each player gets six (6) fouls (NBA rules), and on the fifth (5) foul of each quarter a team gets two shots at the free throw line on any non-shooting shot.

Here is where it gets fun though —- The Basketball Tournament has adopted The Elam Ending for all of its games this year.

What is The Elam Ending???

The Elam Ending is a brilliant change to how the game of basketball ends. I will go directly to the rules itself to detail this:

At the first stoppage at or under 4:00 of the 4th quarter, the game clock stops and timed play ends. At this juncture, a target score shall be set, equal to the leading team’s score plus seven (7). After returning from the media timeout, play shall resume without a game clock but with the shot clock, until one team matches or exceeds the target score.

i. Example: Team A leads Team B 70-63 at the first stoppage under 4:00. The game clock is turned off while the shot clock remains on. The target score is set to 77. The first team that reaches 77 wins the game.

This eliminates the foulfest at the end of games, and guarantees there will be a game-winning shot in every single game. I am extremely excited to see this implemented and hope that it will drive other organizations to adopt it in the future.

Other than that, everything else is basketball as you know it!

Ned will have a preview of the Wake The Nation - Showtime game up on Friday so you will have a good idea of what to expect and who is on the other team. We will cover this just like we would a normal Wake Forest basketball game, meaning previews, game threads, and recaps.

I’m pumped to see guys don the Old Gold and Black again, and Puma has some awesome jerseys for Wake to wear as well, which are low-key better than what Nike has for the actual team!!!