SALT LAKE CITY — The Basketball Tournament, the annual summer hoops showcase featuring players from around the country, has historically had some notable local flair. Teams comprised of alums from local schools have played in it, some former Utah Jazz players have appeared and the Maverik Center in West Valley City hosted some tournament games in 2019.
There are fewer local ties this year as the tournament is being played in a bubble in Columbus, Ohio, because of the coronavirus pandemic, but one squad remaining in the field has multiple players with Utah connections.
Overseas Elite, which has won four of the six tournaments in TBT history (four in a row from 2015-2018) and advanced to the 2020 semifinals Saturday with a 93-76 win over Herd That (Marshall University alums), has three players who have spent part of their basketball lives in the Beehive State.
Former Utah Jazz forward Joe Johnson, a seven-time NBA All-Star, leads the group, while former University of Utah wing Dakarai Tucker and former Weber State guard Frank Session also started on Saturday.
Johnson scored 35 points, added seven rebounds and five assists and made the win-clinching shot as TBT employs the “Elam Ending.” Session was second on the team with 19 points and added five rebounds and four assists. Tucker scored six points and grabbed seven rebounds.
In the semifinals, Overseas Elite will play the winner of a game between Boeheim’s Army (Syracuse alums) and Sideline Cancer, with that game scheduled for Sunday at 4 p.m. MT. It can be viewed on ESPN.