A group of VCU legends will join forces this summer to represent VCU Ram Nation in this year's "The Basketball Tournament" for a chance at a $2 million prize and an appearance on ESPN (PS. THIS IS NOT AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE. THIS IS REAL).
CONFIRMED PARTICIPANTS[/HEADING=3]
CONFIRMED PARTICIPANTS[/HEADING=3]
Eric Maynor (Team Booster)
Joey Rodriguez (Player/Coach)
Brandon Rozzell
Bradford Burgess
Jamie Skeen
B.A. Walker
Jesse Pellot-Rosa
Michael Anderson
Talks are underway with other former Rams for a roster that will likely max out at 10 players. NBA players are ineligible and participation conflicts with the NBA Summer League calendar, so could limit other Rams' ability to compete.
[caption id="attachment_17467" align="alignright" width="300"]<a href="https://www.vcuramnation.com/2016/04/former-vcu-legends-reunite-to-compete-for-2-million-in-this-years-tbt/errick-mccollum-wins-tbt/" rel="attachment wp-att-17467"><img class="size-medium wp-image-17467" src="https://www.vcuramnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Errick-McCollum-wins-TBT-300x154.png" alt="Overseas Elite won last year's TBT and a $1 million prize. This year's tournament prize money has doubled to $2 million." width="300" height="154" /></a> Overseas Elite won last year's TBT and a $1 million prize. This year's tournament prize money has doubled to $2 million.[/caption]
The Basketball Tournament or "TBT" (www.thetournament.com) is in its third year of existence, having seen its prize money double all threes years since a group of Notre Dame Fighting Irish alumni won the inaugural tournament and $500,000 in 2014. Overseas Elite, a combination of overseas professional players, won last season's tournament for the first $1 million prize.
Last season featured VCU grad Jamal Shuler who competed with his agency team, AMR, but this will be the first VCU alumni team to enter the field.
The tournament is open to all teams but only the top-64 vote-getters based off fan votes gain entry. That number is down from last year's 96-team field.
Past teams have included former NBA players and a growing trend of alumni squads. This year's field will included alumni units from the likes of Kentucky, Ohio State, Memphis, Saint Louis, Syracuse and Notre Dame to name a few.
Fan voting will launch today and go through June 1 followed by a tournament tip-off date of July 9. VCU will compete out of this year's South Region located in Charlotte, NC.
Should team Ram Nation advance they would move on to Philadelphia with ESPN televised contests followed by a Championship round in New York starting July 30.
WE NEED YOUR VOTE![/HEADING=3]
Go here: <a href="https://www.thetournament.com/teams/ram-nation-vcu-alumni">https://www.thetournament.com/teams/ram-nation-vcu-alumni</a> ...register as a fan, throw us a vote and recruit fellow Ram fans to do the same! We can't compete if we don't get enough votes to get us in the field of 64 (although with the support of Ram Nation, I'm confident that is very attainable and quite likely if Ram fans do what Ram fans always do)!
Go here: <a href="https://www.thetournament.com/teams/ram-nation-vcu-alumni">https://www.thetournament.com/teams/ram-nation-vcu-alumni</a> ...register as a fan, throw us a vote and recruit fellow Ram fans to do the same! We can't compete if we don't get enough votes to get us in the field of 64 (although with the support of Ram Nation, I'm confident that is very attainable and quite likely if Ram fans do what Ram fans always do)!
