Ferris State Basketball To Be Showcased In The Basketball Tournament On ESPN This Weekend
Big Rapids, Mich. - Ferris State University men's basketball will be showcased live across the globe this coming weekend as hoops returns for the first time nationally since the COVID-19 pandemic with The Basketball Tournament (TBT) slated to air across the ESPN family of networks.
FSU head coach Andy Bronkema will serve as an assistant coach for Team D2, which is comprised of former NCAA Division II all-stars and also includes a former Bulldog player in DeShaun Thrower (Muskegon). They are slated to take the floor against the Big X team on Saturday, July 4, at 3 p.m. (ET) on ESPN. The $1 million winner-take-all event takes place July 4-14 and will be televised live in 197 countries around the world.
In the past, the TBT has been a 64-team, single-elimination event open to the world's top standouts and competitive teams with the championship week held in Dayton, Ohio. However, due to the pandemic, this year the event was limited to the top 24 teams and is being played at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Orginally, Team D2 was not selected among the top 24 teams, but was one of three standby teams also held in quarantine in the event a team could not play. Team D2 was chosen to replace the #24 seed Jackson (Tenn.) Underdawgs on Thursday as they had a player test positive for COVID-19.
Notable names on the Team D2 roster along with Thrower include former Findlay standout Taren Sullivan along with Ashland's Wendell Davis. The roster will also include talented alums from several other notable NCAA Division II programs.
The TBT is now in its seventh campaign and the winning team takes home $1 million this year. GMs negotiate with each team member over his/her share of the final prize.
Last year, in 2019, a total of 59 players with NBA experience participated. In addition, 34 players have gone on from the TBT to sign deals with NBA teams. Teams are seeded based on each team's talent, chemistry and reliability. Games also utilize the Elam Ending, which eliminates the game clock at the end of play and sets a Target Score.
The associate head coach at Queens University, Grant Leonard put together a team for the first time in the event last year and the D2 squad shocked the field by dominating the Bluegrass Boys, a squad of former Kentucky alumni by a 77-62 score. The team is expected to be even stronger this year and Leonard has molded the roster to fit the tournament style.
Supporters can become fans of the team by logging onto thetournament.com. Fans can also follow the D2 team on twitter @D2Unheralded or @D2unheraldedTBT.
Bronkema led Ferris State to the 2018 NCAA Division II National Championship, earning consensus National Coach of the Year recognition, as the Bulldogs matched the all-time NCAA Division II record in a remarkable 38-1 campaign during the 2017-18 season. FSU has advanced to the NCAA Tournament five of the last six years under his direction and won 20 games or more six-straight years.
Meanwhile, Thrower capped off an outstanding collegiate career as a two-sport star for the Bulldogs a year ago and went on to play professionally this past season for the Windsor Express. Along with being on FSU's national championship men's basketball squad as one of the country's top players, he also started in the defensive backfield for Ferris State's 2018 football team that reached the national championship game and finished with a 15-1 record, tying the all-time mark for D2 victories. Prior to his FSU career, he was the 2014 Michigan Mr. Basketball winner as a prep standout at Muskegon.
More information on The Basketball Tournament and Team D2 can be found at this link:
TheTournament.com