Every basketball fan’s dream as a small child is to play major college basketball in some of the loudest arenas in the country. For 12 students from the University of Kansas, that dream is about to come true.
Bill Self broke the news on Saturday that the annual basketball tournament played between students of KU will conclude under the bright lights of a packed Allen Fieldhouse during Late Night in the Phog.
Again, this tournament is only for KU students, and there will be both a men’s and women’s division. The opening rounds of the tourney will be played the week of Late Night (September 26-30), before the championship game of both divisions are held in front of a packed house on Saturday, October 1st.
Generally, this tournament is held during Fall Break, but Self has big plans in mind by moving it up a week. “We are moving it to a Saturday and have it when all the students are here because we’ve had it on Fall Break so many years. Hopefully, we’ll get about 1,000 teams to play 3-on-3 and all the money will go to Coaches vs. Cancer. The winners will perform at Late Night, both men and women. It’s a good time. If you haven’t experienced it yet, you need to come. Because when you come, you’ll want to come back. I think it will be jumping this year.”
In addition to the once-in-a-lifetime chance of playing at college basketball’s greatest venue, winners will be recognized by none other than Bill Self, as he presents a trophy to the winning squads.
Students who want to play have plenty of time to sign up. The deadline to register a team is September 11th, and it costs $25 dollars for each team to play. With that $25, each player gets a free T-Shirt and a reserved ticket to Late Night.
While this is a 3-on-3 tourney, a team can have up to 5 members on a team, so it appears that substitutions will be allowed in some capacity.
In addition to the tournament, two lucky fans (one male, one female) will once again get the chance to sink a half-court shot to win $10,000 dollars at Late Night. This will be the 2nd year in a row that the half-court shot has occurred.
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