What to know about TBT, the $1 million, winner-takes-all hoops tournament that will be decided at Drexel

What’s better than watching former Big 5 hoopers relive some of their former glory in front of a nationwide audience?

How about doing so for a chance at a $1 million payday awarded right here in Philly?

This is TBT, the 64-team March Madness-style tournament that has continued to garner mass appeal since its inception a decade ago. What’s special about this year is that the tournament’s championship game makes a return to the place where it began — right here in Philadelphia. This year, the championship will be held inside Drexel’s Daskalakis Athletic Center.

First-round action tipped off Wednesday. Here’s more on the local teams, the players to know, who they’ll be facing, and where you can watch it all unfold leading up to the championship game on Aug. 3.

In 2014, TBT, or The Basketball Tournament, was introduced in front of just 17 fans, according to TBT’s website. It started with a game that took place at 8:30 a.m. inside the gym at Jefferson University (formerly Philadelphia University, or Philadelphia Textile for those who want to go way back).

Fast forward to today, and the group that created the tournament has dished out more than $10 million in prizes and recently spawned a $1 million, winner-take-all soccer tournament called TST — yes, The Soccer Tournament.

This will be the first time since 2014 that the tournament will be held in Philly as games and tournament finals have taken place nationwide.

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If you’re familiar with March Madness, then you’re familiar with how this tournament is formatted, except instead of a 68-team field with four play-in games, it’s a 64-team field with no play-in. Each team is split into eight regions with two regions in Wichita, Kan., one in Cincinnati on the campus of Xavier, one in Dayton, Ohio, Syracuse, N.Y., Lubbock, Texas, Louisville, Ky., and West Virginia. Winners will continue to advance in their regions until the Final Four, which begins Aug. 2 in Philadelphia.

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Two. There’s the Broad Street Birds, a team primarily comprised primarily of ex-Temple players, and then there’s a Big 5 team with former players from the six schools that make up the current Big 5 with the addition of Drexel.

According to the team site, there are 14 players on the Broad Street Birds roster who will play in the Wichita 1 region. The Birds open first-round play against the Beale Street Boys on Thursday (4 p.m., ESPN2), a collective of former players from Memphis, which, like Temple, competes in the American Athletic Conference. Headlining the Birds is former Owls guard Shizz Alston, who led the Owls to their last appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the 2018-19 season.

The Big 5 squad is making another appearance in the tournament featuring a who’s who of players from the heyday of Philly college hoops. Remember Ramon Galloway? What about Temple’s Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson? C.J. Aiken from St. Joseph’s? You can find all three and more on a Big 5 team that will tip off on Monday when it takes on the defending champions of the tournament in Blue Collar U, featuring former players from the Mid-American Conference in the Syracuse bracket on Monday (2 p.m., ESPN+).

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It’s Philly basketball, so of course. It’s a pretty extensive list of Philly natives or former Philly players scattered across the 64 teams taking part in the tournament.

John Harrar from Wallingford, who’s Penn State’s all-time leader in games played, along with Philly native Sam Sessoms are part of the Happy Valley Hoopers with former Nittany Lions players.

Also, former Lower Merion, La Salle, and Syracuse forward B.J. Johnson and former North Catholic player Rakeem Christmas are on the roster of Boeheim’s Army, the collective of former Syracuse players named after former longtime head coach Jim Boeheim.

Former Prep Charter standouts Marcus and Markieff Morris are the co-head coaches of Mass Street, the alumni contingent for Kansas.

Looking for more locals and want to know when they play? The team roster and daily schedule page on TBT’s website can become quite the rabbit hole really fast.

Tickets are still available to watch the semifinal round Aug. 2 and Thursday’s championship game Aug. 3 at the DAC. The first semifinal will take place at 7 p.m. followed by the second semifinal at 9 p.m.

Thursday’s TBT championship game will tip off at 7 p.m.

Doors open at 5:45 for the semifinals and 6 p.m. for the final, with prices starting at $35 for the semifinals and $40 for the final. For more information, visit thetournament.com/tbt/champ2023-tickets/.

Every game is on ESPN’s family of networks.