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The Basketball Tournament (Carmen's Crew = 2019 and 2024 Champions)



Another former Ohio State star is set to miss at least part of the 2020 The Basketball Tournament. Forward Jae'Sean Tate was set to take part in next month's TBT as a member of Big X but, according to Adam Jardy of The Columbus Dispatch, will not take part in at least the first game of the tournament after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Tate is the second lost player for Big X in as many days. It was announced on Monday that former Ohio State point guard Keyshawn Woods had to withdraw from the TBT due to exposure to coronavirus.

According to Jardy, Tate could still take part in the second round and beyond, assuming Big X advances, if he tests negative later this week.

“I felt fine, and then I started to get a dry skin rash on my chest,” Tate told The Dispatch. “It started to hurt to shower, because my skin was so sensitive. And I lost my smell and my taste, so I decided to get tested.”

Tate, who recently returned from Australia where he plays professional basketball this season, first tested positive on June 13, five or so days after he first noticed symptoms. According to The Dispatch, Tate again tested positive eight days later. Following the two-week window, Tate took a third test required to take part in the TBT and that also returned a positive result. A fourth test also came back positive on Monday.
 
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At different points over the past couple of months, it has seemed like Big X – the No. 9 overall seed in this summer’s tournament – would have the feel of a modern Ohio State alumni team. It was building a roster that could serve as a new-age foil to Carmen’s Crew, which features a slew of former Buckeyes who wrapped up their college careers a decade ago. They’re even set to potentially meet in the quarterfinals.

“All of those guys, we have a pretty good relationship with, whether it's a group chat or playing in the gym all the time,” CJ Jackson said on Wednesday. “So, obviously that would be an exciting matchup.”

Instead, both due to coronavirus positive tests and NBA dreams, Big X will open play against No. 24 Jackson TN Underdawgs at 3 p.m. on Saturday with only two former Ohio State players – Jackson as a point guard and Dakich as a player-coach – rather than what looked to be as many as six Buckeyes.

Keyshawn Woods was supposed to return as a guard who would team up with Dakich and Jackson in the backcourt. However, a positive coronavirus test just ahead of the tournament will keep him out for the entirety of it.

Both Kaleb and Andre Wesson were slated to play on Big X, too. Dakich had recruited them, and they were “in from the beginning,” he said. However, they chose to focus on preparing to start their professional careers. Kaleb is on the borderline of being an NBA draft pick, and Andre intends to play professionally, too.

“Unfortunately, it just didn't work out with those two,” Dakich said. “They wanted to focus on getting ready for their professional careers, and obviously I fully support that. It would have been big, obviously, to have those two, but they've got to do what's best for them.”

Around the time they were taken out of the equation, Big X announced the addition of Jae’Sean Tate.

But because Tate tested positive for coronavirus in early June, he’s being held out of The Basketball Tournament until he passes a coronavirus test that he’ll take on Thursday. Dakich expects to get Tate’s test result back on Friday, and if he’s negative for COVID-19, he’ll be able to rejoin Big X in the second round to face Trevor Thompson and the Red Scare.
 
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From around the hardwood...

The Basketball Tournament expert picks — Two teams are on everyone’s list

ESPN staff

All five of the TBT experts that ESPN assembled picked Carmen’s Crew to make The Basketball Tournament’s Final Four. However, the analysts weren’t required to pick an eventual champion, and only three did; all selecting the four-time TBT champions Overseas Elite to take home one for the thumb.

With the additions of Joe Johnson and Pooh Jeter, they should be loaded for their quest to avenge their only loss in tournament history to the OSU alums last year. However, with William Buford, Aaron Craft, David Lighty, Deshaun Thomas, Jon Diebler, and more, don’t sleep on the home-town team.
 
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2) Big X (9) vs D2 (24)
Saturday, July 4, 3:00 p.m. EST (ESPN)
jackson_dakich.jpg

Andrew Dakich (left) and CJ Jackson (right)
While it first looked like the makings of a second Ohio State alumni team, Big X has gone through rapid roster changes over the past two weeks and now looks like a more holistic representation of the Big Ten conference, with a few non-B1G players sprinkled in to spice it up.

The Big X roster originally included Jackson and Dakich, as well as both Andre and Kaleb Wesson, Jae’Sean Tate, and Keyshawn Woods. Unfortunately, the Wessons pulled out of the tournament to focus on pro opportunities, Woods withdrew due to illness, and Tate will miss at least one game after testing positive for COVID-19 (he tested positive before his team traveled to Columbus, so he will have a chance to come back if Big X makes a lengthy run). While it is no longer an Ohio State dominated team, Big X carries two Buckeyes, three Badgers and two Spartans.

To fill those holes, Big X added former Butler star Kellen Dunham and St. Louis alum and All Atlantic-10 selection Javon Bess. They also have former Wisconsin Badgers Vitto Brown, Khalil Iverson, and Trevon Hughes on the team, and recent Michigan State big man Nick Ward.

After going 1-1 each of the past two seasons, Big X will start TBT by facing D2. They were called in on short notice Wednesday night to fill in for the Jackson (TN) Underdawgs after they had a player test positive for COVID-19, and therefore withdrew from the tournament, per TBT rules. D2 is made up of all former Division-II stars, and was the most recent addition to the bracket. If Big X wins, they advance to face 8th-seeded Red Scare, the Dayton alumni team.

 
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July 5
  • No. 23 Herd That 80, No. 10 Peoria All-Stars 65
  • No. 22 Sideline Cancer 93, No. 11 Team Hines 91
  • No. 19 Men of Mackey 83, No. 14 Heartfire 79
  • No. 15 Armored Athlete 98, No. 18 Power of the Paw 91
July 6
  • No. 5 Eberlein Drive (Disqualified due to positive COVID-19 test) vs. No. 12 Brotherly Love (Will automatically advance)
  • No. 4 Golden Eagles 76, No. 13 Team CP3 67
July 7
  • No. 6 Team Challenge ALS vs. No. 22 Sideline Cancer, 2 p.m. (ESPN)
  • No. 3 Boeheims Army vs. No. 19 Men of Mackey, 4 p.m. (ESPN)
July 8
  • No. 8 Red Scare vs. No. 9 Big X, 2 p.m. (ESPN)
  • No. 1 Carmens Crew vs. No. 16 House of Paign, 4 p.m. (ESPN)
July 9
  • No. 7 The Money Team vs. No. 23 Herd That, 2 p.m. (ESPN)
  • No. 2 Overseas Elite vs. No. 15 Armored Athlete, 4 p.m. (ESPN)








 
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Unlike last year, when Carmen’s Crew won a 64-team tournament played in various cities across several weeks, this year’s TBT features a bracket of just 24 teams and is being played in entirely one city – as luck would have it, Carmen’s Crew’s home city of Columbus – over the course of just 10 days. Players and coaches have been forced to quarantine and stay within a “bubble” for the duration of their time in the tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

That said, some things for Carmen’s Crew haven’t changed. The core of its roster remains a group of former Ohio State teammates who played together for the Buckeyes in the early 2010s. Jared Sullinger and Evan Turner are back to coach the squad, and so are most of the players from last year’s title-winning squad, including William Buford, Aaron Craft, Jon Diebler and David Lighty.

Dallas Lauderdale is returning to the court after serving an assistant coach last year and Otterbein alumnus Jeff Gibbs and Illinois alumnus Demetri McCamey are also back to play with the team for another year, while former Buckeyes Deshaun Thomas and Lenzelle Smith Jr. are joined by former Washington forward Pape Malik Dime as new additions to the roster.

Altogether, Carmen’s Crew believes it enters this year’s tournament with an even better roster than it had last year.

“Our first unit’s tough. Our second unit’s tough,” said Turner. “I think sometimes last year or whatever, we would go through games where we may have eight or nine minutes of no scoring or like kind of dull basketball, and I don’t see that happening this year. Our second unit did a great job defensively, but I think here, the first unit and the second unit are going to have equal amount of firepower.”
 
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Unlike last year, when Carmen’s Crew won a 64-team tournament played in various cities across several weeks, this year’s TBT features a bracket of just 24 teams and is being played in entirely one city – as luck would have it, Carmen’s Crew’s home city of Columbus – over the course of just 10 days. Players and coaches have been forced to quarantine and stay within a “bubble” for the duration of their time in the tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

That said, some things for Carmen’s Crew haven’t changed. The core of its roster remains a group of former Ohio State teammates who played together for the Buckeyes in the early 2010s. Jared Sullinger and Evan Turner are back to coach the squad, and so are most of the players from last year’s title-winning squad, including William Buford, Aaron Craft, Jon Diebler and David Lighty.

Dallas Lauderdale is returning to the court after serving an assistant coach last year and Otterbein alumnus Jeff Gibbs and Illinois alumnus Demetri McCamey are also back to play with the team for another year, while former Buckeyes Deshaun Thomas and Lenzelle Smith Jr. are joined by former Washington forward Pape Malik Dime as new additions to the roster.

Altogether, Carmen’s Crew believes it enters this year’s tournament with an even better roster than it had last year.

“Our first unit’s tough. Our second unit’s tough,” said Turner. “I think sometimes last year or whatever, we would go through games where we may have eight or nine minutes of no scoring or like kind of dull basketball, and I don’t see that happening this year. Our second unit did a great job defensively, but I think here, the first unit and the second unit are going to have equal amount of firepower.”


Fuck it, win it again. Looking forward to tomorrow's game.
 
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