Finally, the hashtag TBT, or "Taking Back Thursday," is being put to good use (rather than for drumming up old photos). As a play on the TBT acronym, "The Basketball Tournament" will be played in Philadelphia this June featuring 32 teams chosen by a fan vote. Though anyone can sign up (including current professionals, some of which have), the most talented rosters with the most votes consist largely of ex-college players playing overseas or on the fringes of the NBA -- and thus work within the sentimental theme. This makes sense. Since the grand prize is $500,000, high school and college players might feel squeamish about compromising future eligibility. Plus, those players haven't built up the fan bases necessary to make the 32-team cut. The grand prize of the tournament is also enough to appeal to former college stars making good but not great money on foreign land, while the center stage is enough for well-compensated but headline-neglected current professionals.

With one day left in the voting (appropriately, it ends this Thursday), Team Barstool (sponsored by the sports website) leads over 1,000 other registered teams with 1,716 fans. Their roster has a host of former eastern college stars, including Rutgers guard Quincy Douby, Connecticut forward Josh Boone, Seton Hall guard Andre Barret, Providence forward Ryan Gomes, and Duke guard (and current pro) Dahntay Jones. Barstool's talent score of 87 far exceeds the next highest ranked team, Big Apple Basketball (61, led by Smush Parker and former UNC Tarheel Rashan McCants).

Given my well-documented Villanova fanhood, I put my support behind Team ROBY: Nova '09 Final Four. Pretty much every player returns from that magical team, even current professional Dante Cunningham and past floor-leader Scottie Reynolds (playing overseas in Israel). Who knows? Their talent score is only a 47 (which seems ridiculously low to me), but they're the highest ranked team that was also once an actual team. That could make up for their so called talent deficiencies.

If I had two votes, the second would go to BMORE, short for Baltimore (ROBY, by the way, stands for Rock Out Be You, or Villanova's accidental theme in '09). Their roster includes one of my favorite all time players, former St. John's star Marcus Hatten. In his two seasons for the Red Storm, Hatten led what has become a typically rugged roster in scoring with averages of 20.1 and 22.2 points per game. He also was the MVP of the 2003 N.I.T. Championship game, which St. John's won, 70-67 over Georgetown. He autographed my ticket one day when I approached him in the team weight room.

Disappointingly, this year's tournament won't be played on TV, but it might next year if it is a success, according to organizers Vin Martelli and Jonathan Mugar.

For more information on the tournament, check their website and this article on Grantland.