THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Cal Lutheran alumnus and Kingsmen basketball standout Arik Smith has been selected to participate in this year's The Basketball Tournament (TBT) as part of "We Are D3".
The TBT is a winner-take-all basketball tournament that is a who's who of current professional (not in the NBA) competing for a grand prize of two million dollars. The is the second year that We Are D3 is participating in the tournament. There are 64 teams looking to take home a regional championship, advancing to Chicago and ultimately being crowned TBT champions.
Smith and We Are D3 start the tournament at the Syracuse Regional which is from July 26-28. We Are D3 is the No. 8 seed and will take on the host of the regional Boeheim's Army (Syracuse Orange alumni). The matchup will take place on Friday the 26th at 7 p.m. EST on ESPN2. All the information for the tournament can be found on thetournament.com.
While competing at CLU for just two seasons, Smith made himself known around the SCIAC and Division III basketball.
"The goal of We Are D3 is to bring awareness to how great Division III basketball is," said We Are D3 head coach Michael Rejniak. "We want to promote the D3 level and all of the teams as a whole to show that we can compete with anyone."
Most of the teams, including We Are D3, are all self-funded. The team has created a GoFundMe page to pay for the initial costs of entering the tournament. We Are D3's GoFundMe page can be found here.
"The goal is to have the players pay no money to participate in the TBT," said Rejniak. "After the first weekend, TBT picks up the tab for all the travel. The money raised takes care of the players living expenses arrangements, training camp and meals."
The Basketball Tournament: TBT website
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Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director
