The Basketball Tournament (TBT) — an annual winner-take-all bracket with a $1 million prize — got underway for the 11th year on Friday. John Paul Jones Arena was originally slated to be one of eight host sites for the opening rounds of the tournament, but the Charlottesville regional was pivoted at the last minute to Harrisonburg.
While the site change to Harrisonburg came at the expense of a Virginia Cavaliers’ alumni squad that had been monikered ‘Embrace the Pace’ and was to be led by UVA legends
Kyle Guy and Kihei Clark, the ’Hoos still have some representation in TBT 2025.
Former ’Hoo Ben Vander Plas — who averaged 7.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game for Virginia in 2022-23 — starred for the ‘Court Street Kings’ during their two-game run this weekend in the West Virginia region.
The Court Street Kings, an Ohio University alumni team (where BVP spent most of his collegiate career before transferring to UVA), took care of business in their opening round TBT matchup with a 74-62 win over ‘The Nawf’ on Friday. BVP poured in a team-high 15 points (6-11 FG) for the Kings and sealed the game with a strong game-winning transition bucket — TBT uses the ‘Elam Ending’ where the clock is turned off down the stretch and a target score is set.
Ben Vander Plas takes it coast-to-coast for the WIN! @CourtStKingsTBT earn their first ever TBT win. pic.twitter.com/3PgIP7uq47
— TBT (@thetournament) July 18, 2025
The Kings’ run would come to an end on Sunday as they fell to ‘Elite Nation’ 88-85. Vander Plas delivered another strong showing, however, with 16 points (6-13 FG), six rebounds, and four steals.
Ben Vander Plas is HEATING UP!!
— TBT (@thetournament) July 20, 2025
He's got two s in a row and 9 POINTS halfway through Q1 @CourtStKingsTBT are BATTLING with Elite Nation on YouTube right now... pic.twitter.com/DiBQidZDNE
Elsewhere in The Basketball Tournament, Kyle Guy’s ‘Fail Harder’ squad pulled a pair of upsets to advance to Monday night’s Indianapolis regional final. While Guy — who recently joined Nevada men’s basketball’s coaching staff — isn’t playing, he serves as the GM of Fail Harder, who is making its second TBT appearance.
In a first-round matchup against second-seed ‘Assembly Ball’ (Indiana’s alumni squad) on Saturday, Guy’s seventh-seeded squad pulled a 89-76 upset behind 21 points and nine assists from former University of Indianapolis point guard Darius Adams.
Fail Harder kept its Cinderella run going on Sunday night with an 80-77 upset of third-seed ‘All Good Dawgs’ (Butler alumni) thanks to another stellar performance by Adams (24 points, seven rebounds, five assists).
JORDAN WALKER WINS IT FOR FAIL HARDER ON THE TIP IN DUNK!!!!!@STEPHENSONLANCE PICKED HIM UP AFTER!!!!
— TBT (@thetournament) July 22, 2025
WHAT AN ELAM ENDING AND WHAT AN ELAM ENDER!!!!
TBT!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/THB5YuJlMA
Guy’s squad will look to keep the magic going in their quest for $1 million on Tuesday night at 8:00 PM EST on FS2 against reigning TBT champion Carmen’s Crew (Ohio State alumni).
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