The Basketball Tournament 2023
The Basketball Tournament 2023 was the tenth edition of The Basketball Tournament, a 5-on-5, single elimination basketball tournament with a $1 million winner-take-all prize. The tournament, involving 64 teams, began on July 19 and ended on August 3 with the championship game in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The tournament format was similar to that of the last edition in 2022—64 teams, each playing in one of eight regionals.
The event had a "championship week", starting with the regional winners advancing to quarterfinals at one of four sites, Dayton, Louisville, Wheeling, WV, and Wichita. The quarterfinal winners then traveled to Philadelphia for the semifinals and championship game. Heartfire, a team sponsored by MedImpact, won the tournament.
Format
For its 2023 edition, TBT retained its traditional 64-team format and eight-region format, with each regional involving eight teams at a single host site. Wichita is serving as host for two separate regionals.In a feature it calls "Run It Back", TBT organizers invited all teams that won first-round games in the 2022 edition to play in 2023. The remaining teams, and the regional placements for all entrants, were revealed in a selection special hosted by Andrew Zoldan with analyst Seth Greenberg that aired on TBT's YouTube channel on June 21, 2023.
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 plus eight, is set, and the first team to reach this target score is declared the winner of the game. Thus, all games end on a made basket and there is no overtime.
Venues
The Basketball Tournament 2023 featured games in eight locations, seven of which hosted a regional. The eighth hosted the championship weekend. Official regional names, if different from the location names, are indicated in the listings below the location names.| - | - | - | - | |
| Cincinnati | Lubbock | Syracuse | Dayton | |
| Cintas Center | United Supermarkets Arena | The Oncenter | UD Arena | |
| Capacity: 10,224 | Capacity: 15,300 | Capacity: 7,000 | Capacity: 13,409 | |
| Louisville | Wheeling | Wichita | Philadelphia | |
| Freedom Hall | WesBanco Arena | Charles Koch Arena | Daskalakis Athletic Center | |
| Capacity: 18,865 | Capacity: 5,406 | Capacity: 10,506 | Capacity: 2,509 | |
Teams
Source:TBT has a history of teams rostered primarily with alumni from specific NCAA Division I college basketball programs; 33 such teams entered the 2023 tournament. Three 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 2 |
| Air Raiders | Texas Tech alumni | School nickname of Red Raiders | Lubbock |
| Athletics Miami | Team sponsor Athletics Miami, a basketball facility | Dayton | |
| Austin's Own | Texas alumni | School location in Austin | Lubbock |
| B1 Ballers | Wichita 2 | ||
| Beale Street Boys | Memphis alumni | Street where school arena is located | Wichita 2 |
| Best Virginia | West Virginia alumni | West Virginia | |
| Big 5 | Philadelphia Big 5 alumni | Syracuse | |
| Bleed Green | North Texas alumni | School nickname of Mean Green | Lubbock |
| Blue Collar U | Buffalo alumni | Primary school color, plus city's blue-collar image | Syracuse |
| Boeheim's Army | Syracuse alumni | Former Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim | Syracuse |
| Broad Street Birds | Temple alumni | Street where school arena is located, Owl mascot | Wichita 2 |
| Bucketneers | ETSU alumni | School nickname of Buccaneers | Xavier |
| Carmen's Crew | Ohio State alumni | "Carmen Ohio", Ohio State's school song | Dayton |
| Challenge ALS: Florida | Combination of former teams Challenge ALS and Florida TNT | West Virginia | |
| UMass alumni | Commonwealth of Massachusetts | Syracuse | |
| DaGuys STL | Team YouTube channel, with players mainly from Greater St. Louis | Wichita 2 | |
| DawgTown | Georgetown alumni | Team mascot Jack the Bulldog | West Virginia |
| Dubois Dream | Based out of Dubois, Pennsylvania | West Virginia | |
| Eberlein Drive | Team owners' home street | Louisville | |
| New Mexico alumni | State nickname, "Land of Enchantment" | Lubbock | |
| Fort Wayne Champs | Players with connections to Fort Wayne, Indiana | Xavier | |
| Friday Beers | Armored Athlete | Dayton | |
| Gataverse | Florida alumni | Florida Gators mascot | Louisville |
| Georgia Kingz | Players with connections to the state of Georgia | Xavier | |
| Gutter Cat Gang | Team sponsor Gutter Cat Gang, an NFT company | Louisville | |
| Happy Valley Hoopers | Penn State alumni | Location of the school in Happy Valley | Syracuse |
| HBCUnited | HBCU alumni | Lubbock | |
| Heartfire | MedImpact | Arizona nonprofit HeartFire Missions, a provider of Christian medical mission trips | Wichita 1 |
| Herd That | Marshall alumni | School nickname of Thundering Herd | West Virginia |
| India Rising | Players of Indian origin | Dayton | |
| In the Lab | In The Lab, a basketball content creation company | Lubbock | |
| Jackson TN Underdawgs | Players with connections to Jackson, Tennessee | Louisville | |
| Juco Products | Players with connections to Junior colleges | Wichita 1 | |
| LA Cheaters | Drew League | Wichita 1 | |
| Living the Dream | Wichita 1 | ||
| Mass Street | Kansas alumni | Short for Massachusetts Street, the main street through the central business district of the school's home of Lawrence | Wichita 1 |
| Men of Mackey | Purdue alumni | Purdue home court Mackey Arena | Dayton |
| TMT | Team sponsor Floyd "Money" Mayweather | Xavier | |
| Nasty Nati | Cincinnati alumni | Nickname of the city of Cincinnati | Xavier |
| Players with connections to Gwinnett County, Georgia | Louisville | ||
| Players from "more prestigious" universities | Syracuse | ||
| The Program NYC, a youth basketball initiative | Xavier | ||
| Purple & Black | Kansas State alumni | School colors | Wichita 2 |
| Purple Hearts | Gun violence awareness | Lubbock | |
| Ram Nation | VCU alumni | School nickname of Rams | West Virginia |
| Ram Up | Colorado State alumni | School nickname of Rams | Wichita 2 |
| Red Scare | Dayton alumni | Name of Dayton student section | Dayton |
| Rhode Island alumni | School mascot Rhody the Ram | Dayton | |
| Rise & Grind | Lubbock | ||
| Shell Shock | Maryland alumni | Maryland Terrapins school mascot | Louisville |
| Show Me Squad | Missouri alumni | Missouri state nickname "Show Me State" | Wichita 1 |
| Sideline Cancer | Pancreatic cancer awareness | West Virginia | |
| Team Arkansas | Arkansas alumni | Wichita 2 | |
| Team Colorado | Colorado alumni | Dayton | |
| Team DRC | Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie | Xavier | |
| Team Gibson | Team sponsor Taj Gibson | Syracuse | |
| Team Overtime | Overtime | Team sponsor Overtime, a sports media company | Dayton |
| Louisville alumni | City nickname | Louisville | |
| Vegas Rebellion | UNLV alumni | Vegas Rebels school mascot | Wichita 1 |
| Virginia Dream | Players with connections to the state of Virginia | Syracuse | |
| War Ready | Auburn alumni | School battle cry "War Eagle" | Louisville |
| We Are D3 | NCAA Division III alumni | Wichita 1 | |
| Zip Em Up | Xavier alumni | Former Xavier team motto | Xavier |
| Zoo Crew | Pittsburgh alumni | Oakland Zoo student section | West Virginia |
''Note: team names are per the TBT bracket; some names have slight variation on TBT website pages.''
Tournament bracket
Seven of the eight no. 1 seeds advanced in first-round play, with no. 8 India Rising upsetting Red Scare in the Dayton Regional.Five no. 1 seeds advanced in second-round play; the lowest seed to advance to the third round was no 6. Nasti Nati from the Dayton Regional.
Two no. 1 seeds advanced in third-round play; the lowest seed to advance to the quarterfinals was again Nasti Nati.
No no. 1 seeds won a quarterfinal match; the lowest seed to advance to the semifinals was no 4. Herd That from the West Virginia Regional.
In the first semifinal game, Herd That were eliminated by Heartfire, the no. 2 seed from the Wichita 1 Regional.
In the second semifinal game, Friday Beers were eliminated by Bleed Green, the no. 2 seed from the Lubbock Regional.
Heartfire then defeated Bleed Green in the championship game.
Source:
Dayton Regional – UD Arena
Championship Week
Quarterfinals games were played at Wichita, West Virginia, Dayton, and Louisville. All semifinal and championship games were played in Philadelphia.Eric Collins, Fran Fraschilla, and Ashley ShaAhmadi were the announcers for both semifinal matches and the championship game.
Awards
| Pos | Player | Team |
| PG | Jordan Stevens | Bleed Green |
| PG | Jon Elmore | Herd That |
| SG | Jarron Cumberland | Nasti Nati |
| PG | Marcus Hall | Heartfire |
| PF | Julian Gamble | Friday Beers |
| Coach | LaPhonso Ellis | Heartfire |
| GM | AJ Mahar | Friday Beers |
Source: