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We can now say it is official: The Men of Mackey will take part in The Basketball Tournament> This year’s event will take place at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio July 4-14 behind closed doors. The fully quarantined tournament is one of the first U.S. sports events happening in the COVID-19 era.
THE #TBT2020 BRACKET IS HERE
— TBT (@thetournament) June 16, 2020
Live basketball officially returns on Fourth of July! pic.twitter.com/yKFi9u4qOb
The Men of Mackey, coached by Ryne Smith and featuring Ryan Cline, Grady Eifert, Isaac Haas, Evan Boudreaux, Rapheal Davis, Jon Octeus, P.J. Thompson, and Frank Gaines will face Heartfire in a tough 14/19 seeding matchup. Heartfire will be coached by former Valparaiso coach Homer Drew and features Breden Dawson, Brandon Wood, and several Baylor players.
If Purdue wins they would face long-time tournament powerhouse Boeheim’s Army, a Syracuse alumni team that has always done fairly well in this event. Defending Champion Carmen’s Crew (Ohio State) is the No. 1 seed and Four-time champion Overseas Elite is the #2 seed.
The Men of Mackey will play on the ESPN family of networks on Sunday, July 5th, with their second round game slated for Tuesday, July 7. Their quarterfinal game would be Saturday, July 11, the semifinals would be the next day and the championship on Tuesday, July 14. All games are on one of the ESPN networks.