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NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 24 teams in 2020 “The Basketball Tournament”

By Max Marmitt

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 30: D.J. Kennedy #1 of the St. John's Red Storm celebrates the win against the Duke Blue Devils at Madison Square Garden on January 30, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 30: D.J. Kennedy #1 of the St. John's Red Storm celebrates the win against the Duke Blue Devils at Madison Square Garden on January 30, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images) /
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COLLEGE PARK, MD – DECEMBER 27: Malcolm Hill #21 of the Illinois Fighting Illini (Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images)
COLLEGE PARK, MD – DECEMBER 27: Malcolm Hill #21 of the Illinois Fighting Illini (Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images) /

16. The Basketball Tournament power rankings – House of Paign

Actual Ranking: #16 – First Round Matchup: #17 War Tampa on July 4th

This is definitely another one of the most intriguing teams in the field, and I believe this team also has a very ceiling in TBT 2020. Malcolm Hill, the third all-time leading scorer in Illinois history with 1,846 career points, is a fantastic leader who can be the spark plug to the Illinois alumni team. I think all six Illinois alums on the roster could be valid contributors and play to their role effectively in the same way they did in college.

‘House of Paign draws many similarities to War Tampa, especially considering this is a young team but key veterans help balance this roster. The oldest veteran Cory Bradford played as early as 1997 for the Fighting Illini. Andres Feliz graduated this year for Illinois and is a tough-minded guard and is a guy any TBT team/coach would be grateful to have. Illinois did an amazing job recruiting talent from other schools, and that’s what gives them a huge talent boost to the existing team chemistry.

Former Texas Tech star Matt Mooney was the catalyst for the 2019 Texas Tech team that made the national championship (and lost in overtime). The Illinois native shined in the Final Four leading Texas Tech in scoring and had a very successful college career as it was highlighted as an All-Big 12 player. In his only year at Texas Tech as a 5th-year senior, he also named apart of Big 12 All-Defense.

Another player who could have made themselves a bigger name in March that year was former South Dakota star Mike Daum. He is 7th on the all-time NCAA scoring list, dropping an unbelievable 3,067 points during his college career. This team has two big flaws that it doesn’t really have control over, which is no TBT experience and an overall young roster. However, just like War Tampa, this is a very dangerous team that could inflict some serious damage in the tournament.

The first-round matchup between the two teams will be must-watch T.V. It’s unfortunate that a limited field this year would indicate the winner plays Ohio State’s Carmen’s Crew (#1 seed this year) in the next round, but I could see both teams making deep runs in the TBT in the near future.

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