The Basketball Tournament Picks (TBT) & Predictions: Monday (7/20)
The Basketball Tournament (TBT) continues on Monday at 7:00 p.m. ET with Game 2 between La Familia and The Ville at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. There’s also a Game 1 matchup between The Enchantment and defending champion Aftershocks at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas, at 9:00 p.m. ET. You’ll find our top The Basketball Tournament picks below.
The bracket and rules are different this season. We have eight alumni teams facing each other in four best-of-three series. We’ll also see alumni teams from Seton Hall and Syracuse, and Kansas and Kansas State getting underway for Game 1 on Tuesday. It’s a winner-take-all prize of $2 million this season, double last season’s amount.
There are eight non-alumni teams, and they’ll meet in a separate bracket in Las Vegas. The winner of the non-alumni bracket will travel to the winner of the alumni bracket’s home court for a championship game on Sunday, August 2nd. Let’s build our bankroll with our best TBT picks and predictions for Monday, July 20th.
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Monday’s Best The Basketball Tournament Picks & Predictions
(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
La Familia (+110) at The Ville (-130) | O/U 148.5 (-110/-110)
La Familia (1-0) protected its home court at historic Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky, on Saturday afternoon, posting a 72-68 victory in the Elam Ending over The Ville (0-1), as the under (150.5) cashed. As such, La Familia leads the best-of-three series 1-0. The last time these teams met, La Familia earned a 70-61 win in the 2024 TBT quarterfinals.
The series shifts to Freedom Hall in Louisville for Game 2, and suddenly The Ville has its back to the wall. The Ville took a 21-17 lead into the first quarter, but a cold-shooting second quarter saw them outscored 24-12, leaving them playing from behind into the second half.
La Familia went with a starting five of Willie Cauley-Stein, Chris Coffey, Andrew Harrison, James Mainor-Bell and Darryl Morsell, the non-alumni who played for Maryland’s “Shell Shock” team in 2025. Morsell had the game-winning dunk in the Elam Ending, and he ended up with a game-high 17 points, while Harrison went for 14 points.
La Familia shot 41% (23-of-56) from the field and 41.2% (7-of-17) from behind the three-point line, while struggling a bit at the free-throw line (73.1%, 19-of-26). Cauley-Stein was limited to just 16 minutes and only three points, making his only shot. Sean McNeil stepped up with 12 points in 28 minutes, and La Familia had four players in double digits.
For The Ville, it was outrebounded by three points despite the presence of Montrezl Harrell, while both teams committed 11 turnovers. The Ville shot 42.3% (22-of-52) from the field, but it was just 21.4% (6-of-28) from downtown. Its 75% free-throw rate (18-of-24) was slightly better.
Harrell had 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting, while Chris Jones led the way with 16 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. David Johnson also chimed in with 12 points, while Jaylen Johnson came off the bench for seven rebounds, an assist and a block, while chipping in with four points in 14 minutes.
Russ Smith, who doubles as the coach, had nine points on 4-of-11 shooting in 18 minutes off the pine. Malik Williams was a surprise addition after playing in the NBA Summer League with the Chicago Bulls. He had two points in 22 minutes, but misfired on his only two shot attempts while blocking three shots.
Looking ahead to Monday’s Game 2, The Ville has its back to the wall. It needs a win to avoid being eliminated before this tournament has really gotten started. I like the home side to get the job done, and we’ll stick with the under, as that wasn’t really tested in Game 1. The sportsbooks slid the total down by two full points as a result of Game 1.
Picks: The Ville -1.5 (-110) & Under 148.5 Points (-110)