The Golden Eagles are an American basketball team that participates in The Basketball Tournament (TBT), an annual winner-take-all single-elimination tournament. The team first played in the tournament in 2016, was the runner-up in 2019, and won the championship (and $1 million prize) in 2020. The Golden Eagles' roster consists of professional basketball players who compete outside of the NBA, most of whom played college basketball for the Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball team. The TBT team is an independent entity that was named after the college team.
History
2016: First tournament
The "Golden Eagles Alumni" were the No. 6 seed in the Midwest region.
Games Date Round Location Score Opponent Ref. Team Seed July 16 Regional Chicago, IL 95–92 Hoopville Warriors Midwest No. 11 July 17 97–70 Spartan Heroes Midwest No. 3 July 22 Super 16 Philadelphia, PA 82–71 Armored Athlete Midwest No. 7 July 23 Quarterfinals 81–89 Always a Brave Midwest No. 9
Players
Maurice Acker Dwight Burke Dwight Buycks Joe Chapman Davante Gardner Marcus Jackson Darius Johnson-Odom
Trent Lockett Jerel McNeal Derrick Wilson Jamil Wilson Wesley Matthews (coach) Travis Diener (asst. coach)
Source:
2017: Second tournament
The Golden Eagles were the No. 1 seed in the Midwest region.
Games Date Round Location Score Opponent Stats Team Seed July 8 Regional Peoria, IL 103–89 Midwest Dream Squad Midwest No. 16 July 9 81–70 Majerus SLU Crew Midwest No. 8 July 22 Super 16 Brooklyn, NY 84–77 Purple and Black Midwest No. 4 July 23 Quarterfinals 56–81 Scarlet & Gray Midwest No. 2
Players
Maurice Acker Juan Anderson Lawrence Blackledge Dwight Burke Dwight Buycks Joe Chapman
Davante Gardner Darius Johnson-Odom Trent Lockett Jerel McNeal Jamil Wilson Wesley Matthews (coach) Travis Diener (asst. coach)
Source:
2018: Final four appearance
The Golden Eagles were the No. 3 seed in the Northeast region.
Games Date Round Location Score Opponent Stats Team Seed July 21 Regional Milwaukee, WI 78–67 Johnnies Northeast No. 14 July 22 Brooklyn, NY 96–76 Hall In Northeast No. 11 July 28 Super 16 Atlanta, GA 73–66 Talladega Knights Northeast No. 15 July 29 Quarterfinals 90–86 Boeheim's Army Northeast No. 1 August 2 Semifinals Baltimore, MD 60–85 Overseas Elite South No. 1
Players
Maurice Acker Willie Atwood Lawrence Blackledge Cinmeon Bowers Elgin Cook Travis Diener
Jerel McNeal Brett Prahl Jake Thomas Derrick Wilson Jamil Wilson Joe Chapman (coach)
Source:
2019: Title game appearance
The Golden Eagles were the No. 1 seed in the Wichita regional. By winning their region, the team received 25% of the region's ticket sales as a prize, which was $96,439.
Games Date Round Location Score Opponent Stats Team Seed July 26 Regional Wichita, KS 89–72 Fort Hood Wounded Warriors Wichita No. 8 July 27 83–81 Team Colorado Wichita No. 4 July 28 88–80 Sideline Cancer Wichita No. 6 August 1 Quarterfinals Chicago, IL 79–62 Jackson TN Underdawgs Memphis No. 8 August 4 Semifinals 68–62 Team Hines Greensboro No. 1 August 6 Final 60–66 Carmen's Crew Columbus No. 1
Players
Maurice Acker Juan Anderson Lawrence Blackledge Cinmeon Bowers Dwight Buycks Mo Charlo Elgin Cook
Travis Diener Jerel McNeal Andrew Rowsey Jake Thomas Jarvis Williams Derrick Wilson Jamil Wilson Joe Chapman (coach)
Source:
2020: Championship
The Golden Eagles were the No. 4 overall seed, in a field reduced to 24 teams due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Games The team received a first-round bye.
Date Round Location Score Opponent Stats Team Seed July 6 Super 16 Nationwide Arena,Columbus, Ohio 76–67 Team CP3 13th overall July 10 Quarterfinals 83–76 Brotherly Love 12th overall July 12 Semifinals 79–70 Red Scare 8th overall July 14 Final 78–73 Sideline Cancer 22nd overall
Players
Maurice Acker Dwight Buycks Mo Charlo Elgin Cook Travis Diener Luke Fischer
Darius Johnson-Odom Andrew Rowsey Jarvis Williams Derrick Wilson Jamil Wilson Joe Chapman (coach)
Source:
2021: Championship defense
The Golden Eagles were placed in the 16-team Illinois Regional as the top seed.
Games
Date Round Location Score Opponent Stats Team Seed July 25 First round Peoria Civic Center,Peoria, Illinois 94–66 B1 Ballers Illinois No. 16 July 26 Second round 71–64 Playing for Jimmy V Illinois No. 9 July 28 Regional semifinals 88–75 Autism Army Illinois No. 5 July 31 Regional final UD Arena,Dayton, Ohio 69–73 Boeheim's Army Illinois No. 3
Players
Maurice Acker Sacar Anim Vander Blue Dwight Buycks Elgin Cook Travis Diener
Luke Fischer Matt Lojeski Andrew Rowsey Jarvis Williams Derrick Wilson Jamil Wilson Joe Chapman (coach)
Source:
2022
For TBT 2022, the team was seeded no. 2 in the Dayton Regional.
Date Round Location Score Opponent Ref. Team Seed July 24 First round UD ArenaDayton, Ohio 77–72 Ohio 1804 Dayton No. 7 box July 26 Second round 56–62 Red Scare Dayton No. 3 box
Players
Maurice Acker Sacar Anim Vander Blue Dwight Buycks Elgin Cook Travis Diener
Luke Fischer Darius Johnson-Odom Diamond Stone Jarvis Williams Derrick Wilson Jamil Wilson Joe Chapman (coach)
Source:
Record by years
Through the 2020 tournament, Golden Eagles recorded the second-most number of victories of any team competing in TBT, after four-time champion Overseas Elite.
YearSeedWonLostNotes 2016 6th Midwest 3 1 lost in Quarterfinals 2017 1st Midwest 3 1 lost in Quarterfinals 2018 3rd Northeast 4 1 lost in Semifinals 2019 1st Wichita 5 1 lost in Final 2020 4th overall 4 0 Champions 2021 1st Illinois 3 1 lost in Quarterfinals 2022 2nd Dayton 1 1 lost in second roundTotal 23 6
Awards
Year Player Award Ref. 2016 Dwight Buycks All-Tournament 2018 Jamil Wilson All-Tournament 2019 Dwight Buycks All-Tournament Daniel Fitzgerald (GM) All-Tournament2020 Darius Johnson-Odom All-Tournament & MVP Jamil Wilson All-Tournament Joe Chapman (Coach) All-Tournament
References
Further reading
External links Team page