The Basketball Tournament Schedule
Watch The Basketball Tournament
EASTON, Mass. (July 14, 2022)- Stonehill men's basketball assistant coach, Jason Karys and alum, Ivan Almeida'11 are set to participate in The Basketball Tournament (TBT) starting on July 16 on ESPN. Karys will be coaching "The CRU" in the tournament, a team that will feature Almeida as a team member. The CRU is a team comprised of former Valparaiso University men's basketball alumni including current Houston Rockets Summer League member, Eron Gordon (brother of Houston Rockets shooting guard, Eric Gordon). This year's appearance in the tournament marks the first ever for The CRU who is slated as an eight seed taking on number one seed, Gutter Cats as members in the Omaha Region.
Last season with Stonehill, Karys helped the Skyhawks cap its NCAA Division II era with a 15-12 overall record, including a 10-9 mark in its final Northeast-10 Conference season. The Skyhawks won four of their final six games, including an NE10 Tournament victory over Le Moyne in the first round while making their 34th tournament appearance. Prior to joining Stonehill, Karys spent four years on the coaching staff at Division I Valparaiso University in Indiana, his alma mater, with head coach Matt Lottich. During his first season as a full-time member of the Valpo basketball staff in 2019-20, the team finished with the program's highest conference win total, highest overall win total, and highest finish in the league standings since joining the Missouri Valley Conference. The season culminated with a run to the MVC title game that saw Valpo become the first team in the 30-year history of March Madness to reach the final after playing in the opening round.
Almeida was a three-year member of the Skyhawks from 2008-2011 where he finished with 652 points (10.8 points per game) on 44.2 percent (251/567) shooting in 60 games played. Defensively, Almedia grabbed 214 rebounds (5.4 rebounds per game), swiped 60 steals (1.0 steals per game), and swatted 68 blocks (1.1 blocks per game). In each of his three seasons, Almeida helped the Skyhawks post 20+ win seasons with his best season coming in 2009-10 where Stonehill finished 24-6 and 20-2 in the NE10, winning the NE10 regular season title and earning a spot in the NCAA II Tournament. After Stonehill, Almeida has played professionally overseas in eight different countries including most recently in the Liga Professional League in Portugal where his squad (SL Benfica), took home the Portuguese 1st Division Championship. He also has played for the Cape Verde National Team as well in many different events. For his career overseas, Almeida has scored 3,975 points (11.1 points per game) on 45.3 percent shooting (1,294/2,857). On the defensive side, he has grabbed 1,531 rebounds (4.5 rebounds per game), grabbed 467 steals (1.5 steals per game), and blocked 204 shots (0.5 blocks per game).
About The Basketball Tournament
The Basketball Tournament is an open-application, single-elimination tournament played each summer in the United States. The 2022 edition features 64 teams with a $1 million winner-take-all prize, broadcast by ESPN. TBT was founded in 2014 by Jonathan Mugar. Teams in TBT are arranged by the general manager, sometimes based on which college basketball program the players competed for. The tournament has had as many as 97 teams, in 2015, and as few as 24 teams, in 2020. Since 2016, the tournament has most often used a 64-team field. In 2019, the 64 teams were divided into eight regions, with each regional winner advancing to the championship venue. Games are played in four nine-minute quarters per game/stopped time with the last four minutes of the fourth quarter being un-timed. At this juncture, a target score shall be set, equal to the leading team's score plus eight (Elam Ending).
Stonehill, which has begun its four-year transition to NCAA Division I status as a member of the Northeast Conference on July 1, capped its NCAA Division II era with a 15-12 overall record during the 2021-22 season, including a 10-9 mark in its final Northeast-10 Conference season. The Skyhawks won four of their final six games, including an NE10 Tournament victory over Le Moyne in the first round while making their 34th tournament appearance. Seniors Andrew Sims and Owen Chose were both named to the All-NE10 third team.
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