The Basketball Tournament is back for the summer of 2026 with a new format and a new iteration of Kansas alumni team JHX Hoops.
Frank Mason III, the KU legend and former national college player of the year, will be back wearing the crimson and blue as JHX Hoops competes for a prize that has been increased back to $2 million (as it was from 2016 to 2019) in a field that now features just 16 teams (it had 61 last year).
Mason, who has recently played for Limoges CSP in the French league, spent last summer’s TBT on a Syracuse alumni team. He previously averaged 18 points and five assists for the KU alumni in 2024.
“Playing for Kansas is a privilege, and facing off against Kansas State always adds an edge,” Mason said in a TBT press release. “I didn’t lose often to them during my time in college, and I have no plans to let that happen this summer. Fans can expect a high-energy series, and we’re ready to compete for that $2 million prize. JHX Hoops is here to show that Kansas basketball reigns supreme.”
The new format includes eight alumni teams (who are each allowed four non-alumni players) and eight non-alumni teams. The first round will be contested as a best-of-three series, and each successive round consists of a single game.
JHX Hoops’ initial opponent, perhaps unsurprisingly, is Kansas State alumni team Purple Reign, this year led by former Wildcat star Michael Beasley. The rivals, whose matchup last year was an improbable 59-57 win for JHX at Municipal Auditorium, will square off at Bramlage Coliseum on July 21 at 8 p.m. and at Lee Arena in Topeka on July 22 at 7 p.m. If they split those results, the rubber match will be at Bramlage on July 24 at 8 p.m.
“We have wanted to see Frank Mason III and Mike Beasley face off for a number of years,” TBT founder and CEO Jon Mugar said in the release. “This $2,000,000 matchup is going to be electrifying, and exactly what fans will want to see out of summer basketball. We can’t wait to play in Bramlage.”
The winner of the alumni edition of the Sunflower Showdown will take on the winner of a series between Wichita State and New Mexico’s alumni teams. That second-round matchup will take place on July 27, and the alumni bracket championship is on July 29, ahead of the $2 million game to decide it all on Aug. 2.
Where the second- and third-round games take place will be determined by “rankings” among the alumni teams, a TBT spokesperson said. (The non-alumni bracket takes place entirely in Las Vegas.) The Wichita State alumni team AfterShocks won the 2025 TBT, and if it wins it would host the winner between JHX and Purple Reign. If the New Mexico alumni win, they would play in either Topeka or Manhattan.
The spokesperson said that if JHX Hoops makes the third round, it would host at Lee Arena unless it is playing against the Kentucky or Louisville alumni teams, in which case it would have to travel.
In recent years, the KU alumni have had little trouble winning two TBT games, but they have lost in the third round three straight times, most recently in a 71-68 heartbreaker against Heartfire in 2025.
The 2026 group will be the fifth KU alumni team to take part in TBT overall.
