The Basketball Tournament 2026
| 2026 | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Basketball |
| Location |
|
| Dates | July 18, 2026–August 2, 2026 |
| Established | 2014 |
| Administrator | Jonathan Mugar |
Tournament formats | |
| Participants | 14 teams |
| Defending champions | AfterShocks |
| Purse | US$2,000,000 winner-take-all |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Davis Steel |
| Runner-up | La Familia |
| Tournament statistics | |
| MVP | Gabe York |
| Games played | 26 |
The Basketball Tournament 2026 was the thirteenth edition of The Basketball Tournament (TBT), a 5-on-5, basketball tournament with a $2 million winner-take-all prize. The tournament, involving 14 teams, began on July 18 and ended on August 2. Twenty games were broadcast live on FOX, FS1, and FS2. Other games were streamed on YouTube.
Kentucky alumni team La Familia won the alumni bracket and hosted the non-alumni champion, Davis Steel on their home court Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky. Davis Steel won the tournament 67–59, claiming the $2 million prize for the first time since competing in 13 tournaments.[1]
Format
The tournament featured a bracket for the 8 alumni teams. The first round was a best of three series and the remaining rounds a standard single elimination format. The teams and the bracket placements for alumni entrants were revealed on May 21, 2026.[2] The non-alumni teams were divided into two 3-team groups for round robin play, then seeded into a single-elimination bracket.
Alumni rounds were played at campus sites around the country with most teams hosting at least one game. The non-alumni rounds took place at M Resort Spa Casino in Las Vegas. The alumni and non-alumni semifinal winners faced each other in the championship round at the alumni champion's home court.[3]
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.[4] Thus, all games end on a made basket (field goal or free throw) and there is no overtime.
Venues
- Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan, Kansas (Purple Reign)
- Charles Koch Arena, Wichita, Kansas (AfterShocks)
- Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky (The Ville)
- Lee Arena, Topeka, Kansas (JHX Hoops)
- M Resort Spa Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada (Non-alumni games)
- Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, Kentucky (La Familia)
- The Oncenter, Syracuse, New York (Boeheim's Army)
- Walsh Gymnasium, South Orange, New Jersey (Hall In)
Teams
TBT has a history of teams rostered primarily with alumni from specific NCAA Division I college basketball programs; 8 such teams entered the 2026 tournament.
| Name | College affiliation | Source of team name |
|---|---|---|
| AfterShocks | Wichita State alumni | Wichita State Shockers school nickname |
| Boeheim's Army | Syracuse alumni | Former Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim |
| The Enchantment | New Mexico alumni | "The Land of Enchantment" official nickname for New Mexico |
| Hall In | Seton Hall alumni | Play on the phrase "all in" using the university's name |
| JHX Hoops | Kansas alumni | Variation of the Kansas Jayhawks mascot name |
| La Familia | Kentucky alumni | 2009-24 Kentucky coach John Calipari's Italian heritage; also name of a UK basketball NIL collective |
| Purple Reign | Kansas State alumni | Kansas State University school colors |
| The Ville | Louisville alumni | City nickname |
| Name | Sponsor affiliation | Source of team name |
|---|---|---|
| Knueppel Crew | Kon Knueppel and his father | |
| Heartfire Elite | Airo | Combination of previous teams Heartfire, Elite Nation, and The Shine |
| Davis Steel[a] | Owners Ashley & Adam Davis | Davis tubing and fencing company |
| Gotham City Bockers | Founder Philip B. McDonald, M.D. | Nicknames of New York City and another form of New York Knickerbockers |
| The Mecca | Long Beach, California | |
| Red Rose War Ready | Porter's Pool & Spa, Ripley, WV | Combination of previous teams Red Rose Thunder and War Ready |
- ↑ partnership of previous team Eberlein Drive and Davis Sports Corp.
Source:[5]
Alumni bracket
| Round 1 (best of 3) July 18–24, FOX/FS1/FS2 | Quarterfinals July 26–27, FOX/FS1 | Semiinals July 29, FS1 | |||||||||||
| The Ville | 68 | 82 | 57 | ||||||||||
| La Familia | 72 | 62 | 63 | ||||||||||
| La Familia | 70 | ||||||||||||
| Boeheim's Army | 66 | ||||||||||||
| Boeheim's Army | 82 | 81 | |||||||||||
| Hall In | 52 | 76 | |||||||||||
| La Familia | 78 | ||||||||||||
| JHX Hoops | 65 | ||||||||||||
| JHX Hoops | 61 | 84 | 62 | ||||||||||
| Purple Reign | 80 | 80 | 55 | ||||||||||
| JHX Hoops | 64 | ||||||||||||
| AfterShocks | 59 | ||||||||||||
| AfterShocks | 98 | 68 | 73 | ||||||||||
| The Enchantment | 77 | 74 | 67 | ||||||||||
Non-alumni groups
| Group A | DVS | KCW | GCB | |
| 1 | Davis Steel (2–0) | 86–59 | 79–76 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Knueppel Crew (1–1) | 59–86 | 77–64 | |
| 3 | Gotham City Bockers (0–2) | 76–79 | 64–77 |
| Group B | HRT | RED | MEC | |
| 1 | Heartfire Elite (1–1) | 72–75 | 90–84 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Red Rose War Ready (1–1) | 75–72 | 64–68 | |
| 3 | The Mecca (1–1) | 84–90 | 68–64 |
After group play, the teams were seeded in a 6-team single game elimination bracket with the top seeds getting a bye for the first round.
| Round 1 knockout July 26–27, FS1 | Round 2 knockout July 28, FS1 | Round 3 knockout July 30, FS1 | ||||||||||||
| A1 | Davis Steel | 83 | ||||||||||||
| A3 | Gotham City Bockers | 63 | B2 | Red Rose War Ready | 67 | |||||||||
| B2 | Red Rose War Ready | 65 | A1 | Davis Steel | 71 | |||||||||
| B3 | The Mecca | 69 | ||||||||||||
| B1 | Heartfire Elite | 80 | ||||||||||||
| A2 | Knueppel Crew | 69 | B3 | The Mecca | 84 | |||||||||
| B3 | The Mecca | 76 | ||||||||||||
Semifinals
July 29, 2026 7:00 p.m. EDT |
| JHX Hoops 65, La Familia 78 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 10–15, 20–22, 7–21, 28–20 | ||
| Pts: B. Preston 15 Rebs: B. Preston 9 Asts: F. Mason III 3 EE: 12 |
Pts: A. Goodwin 28 Rebs: C. Coffey 8 Asts: A. Goodwin, D. Morsell 3 EE: 9 | |
| Alumni bracket championship | ||
FS1 |
July 30, 2026 4:00 p.m. PDT |
| Davis Steel 71, The Mecca 69 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 21–12, 20–18, 16–24, 14–15 | ||
| Pts: G. York 16 Rebs: Nate Watson, G. York 5 Asts: G. York 6 EE: 8 |
Pts: C. Ware 20 Rebs: T. Carter 8 Asts: L. Peters 3 EE: 7 | |
| Non-alumni bracket championship | ||
Championship
August 2, 2026 1:00 p.m. EDT |
| Davis Steel 67, La Familia 59 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 17–9, 15–17, 20–14, 15–19 | ||
| Pts: T. Taylor 24 Rebs: N. Watson 10 Asts: A. Clemmons, G. York 4 EE: 8 |
Pts: A. Goodwin 19 Rebs: W. Cauley-Stein 13 Asts: D. Morsell 5 EE: 12 | |
| Tournament championship | ||
Awards
| Pos | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|
| SG | Gabe York | Davis Steel |
| PG | Archie Goodwin | La Familia |
| C | Willie Cauley-Stein | La Familia |
| PG | Zeke Mayo | JHX Hoops |
| SG | Marvelle Harris | The Mecca |
| Coach | Jon Hood | La Familia |
| GM | Stephen Almquist | The Mecca |
References
- ↑ "Davis Steel Captures TBT $2 Million Championship, Ending 13-Year Quest for the Title". TBTHoops.com. Retrieved August 3, 2026.
- ↑ Stanley, Freddy (May 21, 2026). "TBT Announces Two-Year Extension with Fox Sports for New-Look $2 Million Tournament". The Basketball Tournament. Retrieved May 22, 2026.
- ↑ Stanley, Freddy (May 19, 2026). "Kansas and Kansas State Alumni Teams to Face off on the Road to $2 Million". Retrieved May 22, 2026.
- ↑ Selig, David. "What is the Elam Ending?". sun-sentinel.com. Retrieved May 22, 2026.
- ↑ "Teams – The Basketball Tournament". Retrieved May 22, 2026.