The Basketball Tournament (TBT) rolls on Tuesday, as a pair of best-of-three series gets underway. Boeheim’s Army, which is Syracuse Orange alumni, takes on Hall In, which is Seton Hall Pirates alumni, giving us an old school Big East battle at 7:00 p.m. ET. At 9:00 p.m. ET, JHX Hoops, which is Kansas Jayhawks alumni, takes on Purple Reign, which is Kansas State Wildcats alumni. You’ll find our top The Basketball Tournament picks below.
As a reminder, the bracket and rules are different this season. We have eight alumni teams facing each other in four best-of-three series. 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 Tuesday, July 21st.
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Tuesday’s Best The Basketball Tournament Picks & Predictions
(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
Boeheim’s Army (-285) at Hall In (+230) | O/U 147.5 (-110/-110)
Boeheim’s Army, which is Syracuse alumni, has a star-studded group which is heavily favored on Tuesday night at Walsh Gymnasium at Seton Hall in Jersey City, New Jersey at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Buddy and Jimmy Boeheim are on the Syracuse team, as are Eric Devendorf, Elijah Hughes, Chris McCullough, Cole Swider, and Tyson Walker, as well as former NBA Draft lottery pick, Wes Johnson. Syracuse is 27-10 all-time in this tournament. That includes a run to the $1 million purse in the 2021 championship.
Meanwhile, Seton Hall is a relative newbie in this event. It is just 1-1 in two games, playing in the previous format. This is a team with some talent, like Pirates alumni Darnell Brodie, Myles Cale, Al-Amir Dawes, Romaro Gill, KC Ndefo, and Ant Nelson look to make some waves. The team will likely go only as far as Isaiah Whitehead can take it. He last played overseas in Poland with King Szczecin.
The ‘Cuse side is favored in this matchup because of its guard play, and expected sharpshooting. The Hall has plenty of size inside, as Gill stands 7-foot-2, and he is likely to be a huge obstacle for Syracuse trying to score along the interior.
The best play in this matchup is going low in Game 1, and we’ll take Hall In catching more than three buckets, since it is playing on its home court at Walsh Gym.
Picks: Hall In +6.5 (-112) & Under 147.5 Points (-110)
JHX Hoops (-125) at Purple Reign (+105) | O/U 147.5 (-110/-110)
It’s Kansas and Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kansas on Tuesday night at 9:00 p.m. ET. In fact, the state of Kansas makes up three of the eight alumni teams, as Wichita State’s Aftershockers team spanked the New Mexico Lobos alumni side on Monday night. The Sunflower State doesn’t take its basketball lightly.
The JHX Hoops team is about to take off with a tremendously deep roster looking to improve upon its all-time 6-3 tournament record. College basketball fans will remember many of these names, particularly Frank Mason III, who last played with Limoges CSP in France. The biggest name might be NBA veteran Mario Chalmers, who will be leading the backcourt. Marcus Garrett and Zeke Mayo are ready to make some noise, too.
For Kansas State’s Purple Reign team, it will unfortunately have to make due without Jacob Pullen due to an undisclosed reason and/or injury, and it is uncertain if he’ll be ready for Game 2. If he cannot play in this best-of-three series, that’s a huge loss for K-State.
Michael Beasley will be wearing purple, and the former NBA star will be joined by Xavier Sneed, Martavious Irving, Noah Jacobson, Jonathan Hoard Martinez, Jordan Henriquez-Roberts, and Clent Stewart, giving Purple Reign some strong depth. The Jayhawks have a little more depth and frontcourt supremacy to win this series. However, we’ll back Beasley and Purple Reign on the moneyline in Game 1, while going Over in this series opener.
Picks: Purple Reign Moneyline (+105) & Over 147.5 Points (-110)
