TBT bracket released for Wichita State basketball alumni team games at Koch Arena
The Basketball Tournament is returning to Koch Arena for the third time next month with plenty of intrigue following Wednesday morning’s bracket reveal.
After a spirited run to the TBT quarterfinals last summer, the AfterShocks received a No. 1 seed in the Wichita regional for the first time in the program’s three-year run. The Wichita State men’s basketball alumni team will play No. 8 seed We Are D3, a squad of former NCAA Division III players, in the opening round at 8 p.m. Friday, July 22 at Koch Arena.
Alumni teams from Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and North Texas are also included in the Wichita bracket, which plays its opening round games on Friday, July 22, the semifinals on Saturday, July 23 and the championship game on Monday, July 25. Tickets to the Wichita TBT regional games are available on GoShockers.com.
Who are the other teams coming to Wichita TBT regional?
The Wichita regional is considered one of the more difficult ones in TBT, as the AfterShocks will attempt to capitalize on their home-court advantage potentially against the likes of Eberlein Drive, which received the top seed in Wichita last summer, and alumni teams from Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and North Texas.
If the AfterShocks advance past We Are D3, they would play the winner between Stillwater Stars (Oklahoma State) and Air Raiders (Texas Tech) in a Saturday semifinal game at 7 p.m.
The opening-round games on Friday, July 22 pit No. 2 seed Eberlein Drive against No. 7 seed Bleed Green (North Texas) at 1 p.m., followed by No. 4 seed Stillwater Stars against Air Raiders at 3 p.m. with Purple & Black (K-State) taking on Lone Star Legends at 6 p.m. and the AfterShocks playing We Are D3 as the nightcap.
The semifinal games on Saturday, July 23 will take place at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., while the championship game will take place at 8 p.m. on Monday, July 25. The champion of the Wichita regional will play the champion of the Omaha regional in the TBT quarterfinals at Koch Arena on Wednesday, July 27 at 7 p.m.
Who is playing on the AfterShocks?
Seven of the 10 players on the AfterShockers roster are Wichita State alumni, as the team has shifted primarily to players who graduated from the 2018-20 range.
Conner Frankamp, Rashard Kelly and Zach Brown are back for their third season with the team, while Markis McDuffie and Samajae Haynes-Jones also return following their debuts last summer. The newcomers on the team are Darral Willis, who had an injury prevent him from playing last summer, and Shaquille Morris.
The three non-Shockers are Iowa State graduate Tyrus McGee, a 6-foot-3 guard who played for the team last summer and averaged 14.9 points in Israel this past season; Tulsa graduate James Woodard, a 6-foot-3 guard who averaged 8.1 points in Germany; and UNC Greensboro graduate James Dickey, a 6-foot-10 big man who is a former Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year and averaged 8.6 points in Israel.
The team is once again being coached by former Shockers Zach Bush, J.R. Simon and Garrett Stutz, while Clevin Hannah, who played for the team last summer, is joining the staff as an assistant coach.
Who are the top players on the other teams?
Wichita State fans shattered the TBT attendance record in the AfterShocks’ debut game in 2019, then followed up with another strong showing last summer when fans were treated to a pair of dramatic Elam Ending walk-off shots by Wichita native Conner Frankamp.
Shocker fans are likely to have some help packing Koch Arena this time around, as K-State fans are eagerly anticipating the TBT debuts of former Wildcat stars Jacob Pullen and Henry Walker on Purple & Black. Purple & Black also features former K-State players in Kamau Stokes, Thomas Gipson, Martavious Irving and Justin Edwards.
Eberlein Drive is led by a pair of former NBA players in veteran Marcus Thornton, who averaged 21.3 points for the Sacramento Kings in the 2010-11 season, and Omari Spellman, who played for the Golden State Warriors in 2019. The team is also littered with players who play in top professional leagues overseas.
The Air Raiders are a first-year Texas Tech alumni team with plenty of promise, led by 2018 NBA first-round draft pick Zhaire Smith and joined by Matt Mooney, Tariq Owens and Norense Odiase, a trio of rotation players from Texas Tech’s 2019 team that reached the national championship game. The team also added Bryant’s Peter Kiss, who led the country in scoring this past season at 25.1 points.
Stillwater Stars is coached by national sports talk host Doug Gottlieb, a former Cowboy player, and features notable former Oklahoma State players in Le’Bryan Nash, Markel Brown, Jeffrey Carroll, Anthony Hickey and Brandon Averette.
What is the Wichita TBT regional schedule?
First round (Friday, July 22)
Game 1: No. 2 Eberlein Drive vs. No. 7 Bleed Green (North Texas), 1 p.m.
Game 2: No. 4 Stillwater Stars (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 5 Air Raiders (Texas Tech), 3
Game 3: No. 3 Purple & Black (Kansas State) vs. Lone Star Legends, 6
Game 4: No. 1 AfterShocks (Wichita State) vs. No. 8 We Are D3, 8
Semifinals (Saturday, July 23)
Game 5: Eberlein Drive or Bleed Green vs. Purple & Black or Lone Star Legends, 5 p.m.
Game 6: Stillwater Stars or Air Raiders vs. AfterShocks or We Are D3, 7
Championship (Monday, July 25)
Game 7: Championship game, 8 p.m.
This story was originally published June 22, 2022 at 10:58 AM.
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