Blue Collar U

Blue Collar U
Leagues	The Basketball Tournament
Founded	2021
History	Blue Collar U (2021–present)
Team colors	Blue and white
General manager	Bryan Hodgson
Head coach	Adam Bauman
Assistant(s)	Tom Fox, Wes Schier
Championships	1 (2022)
Website	Team page

Blue Collar U is an American basketball team that participates in The Basketball Tournament (TBT), an annual winner-take-all single-elimination tournament. The team consists of professional basketball players, most of whom played college basketball for the Buffalo Bulls men's basketball team. The team began participating in TBT in 2021, reaching the semi-finals. Blue Collar U won its first TBT championship in its second year of participation in 2022, winning the $1 million grand prize.

History

2021

In TBT 2021, Blue Collar U played in the Columbus regional and was seeded 6th out of a field of 16 teams.

Date	Round	Location	Score	Opponent	Ref.
July 24	First round	Columbus, Ohio	88–82	The Nerd Team	[1]
July 25	Second round		93–83	Zip 'Em Up	[2]
July 27	Regional semi-finals		78–61	Category 5	[3]
July 31	Regional finals	Dayton, Ohio	84–81	The Money Team	[4]
August 1	Semi-finals		62–78	Team 23	[5]

2022

In TBT 2022, Blue Collar U played in the Syracuse regional and was seeded 2nd out of a field of 8 teams. Players wore the names of the victims of the 2022 Buffalo shooting on the backs of their jerseys in place of their own names. ^{[6] [7]} They won the Syracuse regional with victories over NG Saints, an alumni team for Neumann Goretti High School in Philadelphia, Friday Beers, and The Nerd Team, an alumni team of Ivy League and other highly prestigious schools. After defeating Heartfire in the quarterfinals, Blue Collar U won a true road game against Red Scare, an alumni team of Dayton Flyers men's basketball. They defeated Americana for Autism in the finals to win the $1 million grand prize. ^{[8] [9]}

Date	Round	Location	Score	Opponent	Ref.
July 22	First round	Syracuse, New York	91–64	NG Saints	[10]
July 23	Second round		78–75	Friday Beers	[11]
July 25	Third round		83–62	The Nerd Team	[12]
July 29	Quarter-finals	Dayton, Ohio	74–66	Heartfire	[13]
July 30	Semi-finals		74–69	Red Scare	[14]
August 2	Finals		89–67	Americana for Autism	[15]

2023

In TBT 2023, Blue Collar U played in the Syracuse regional and was seeded 1st out of a field of 8 teams. ^[16] In the first round, Blue Collar U defeated Big 5, an alumni team composed mostly of Philadelphia Big 5 schools with the largest comeback in the history of the Elam Ending. ^[17] After defeating Virginia Dream in the second round, they lost in the regional finals to Boeheim's Army, a team of primarily Syracuse Orange Basketball alumni.

Date	Round	Location	Score	Opponent	Ref.
July 24	First round	Syracuse, New York	78–77	Big 5	[18]
July 26	Second round		107–86	Virginia Dream	[19]
July 28	Regional finals		54–69	Boeheim's Army	[20]

Roster

Blue Collar U roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. DOB (YYYY-MM-DD) SF 0 Hamilton, Blake 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1994-10-26 PG 1 Bearden, Lamonte 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1995-10-30 SF 2 Harris, Jeremy 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1996-09-10 PG 3 Johnson, Antwain 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 197 lb (89 kg) 1997-02-22 PG 4 Jordan, Davonta 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 187 lb (85 kg) 1997-05-12 SG 5 Massinburg, C. J. 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 202 lb (92 kg) 1997-04-14 SG 11 Lillard, Antwon 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1995-11-06 PG 15 Clark, Wes 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 183 lb (83 kg) 1994-12-12 PG 22 Caruthers, Dontay 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1995-06-23 C 33 Perkins, Nick 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 249 lb (113 kg) 1996-10-15 SF 43 Ford, Xavier 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1993-01-20 C 93 McRae, Montell 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 198 lb (90 kg) 1996-01-25	Head coach Adam Bauman Assistant coach(es) Wes Scheier Tom Fox Edric Dennis Jr. Team manager Bryan Hodgson Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: July 23, 2023

Awards

Year	Player	Award	Ref
2021	Nick Perkins	All-Tournament Team	[21]
2022	Nick Perkins	All-Tournament Team	[22]
	Wes Clark	All-Tournament Team
	Adam Bauman	All-Tournament Team (coach)
	C. J. Massinburg	All-Tournament Team & MVP	[23]

References

1. "Wes Clark's game-winning shot caps off Elam ending for UB's Blue Collar U". Buffalo News. July 24, 2021. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
2. "6 BLUE COLLAR U 93, 3 ZIP 'EM UP 83". TBT. July 26, 2021. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
3. "DAYTON BOUND: Blue Collar U Halfway To $1 Million Prize". UBBulls.com. July 28, 2021. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
4. "6 BLUE COLLAR U 84, 5 THE MONEY TEAM 81". TBT. August 1, 2021. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
5. Goldberg, Rob (August 1, 2021). "Boeheim's Army vs. Team 23 Set for The Basketball Tournament 2021 Final; Full Results". Bleacher Report. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
6. Slaughter, Marquel (July 27, 2022). "Led by Rochester native, their jerseys honor Buffalo shooting victims in $1M tournament". Democrat & Chronicle. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
7. Lenzi, Rachel (July 21, 2022). "Blue Collar U team to honor Tops shooting victims, families at TBT". Buffalo News. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
8. Lenzi, Rachel (August 2, 2022). "Money in the bank: UB's Blue Collar U wins $1 million TBT prize". Buffalo News. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
9. Borzello, Jeff (August 2, 2022). "Blue Collar U downs Americana for Autism, takes home $1 million The Basketball Tournament title". ESPN. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
10. Lenzi, Rachel (July 22, 2022). "The shoes fit for UB's Blue Collar U in a 91–64 win in TBT opener". Buffalo News. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
11. Lenzi, Rachel (July 23, 2022). "Fourth-quarter comeback lifts UB's Blue Collar U to TBT Syracuse regional final". Buffalo News. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
12. Lenzi, Rachel (July 29, 2022). "No. 2 Blue Collar U to face No. 1 Heartfire in TBT Quarterfinals". Buffalo News. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
13. "Blue Collar U douses Heartfire, reaches TBT semifinals". Buffalo News. July 29, 2022. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
14. Jablonski, David (July 30, 2022). "The Basketball Tournament: Red Scare's run ends with loss to Blue Collar U in semifinals". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
15. Bronstein, Jonah (August 2, 2022). "Blue Collar U cruises to TBT title, $1 million prize". Niagara Gazette. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
16. Bronstein, Jonah (June 21, 2023). "UB alumni team Blue Collar U open title defense as No. 1 seed July 24 in Syracuse". Localsyr.com. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
17. Bambi, Cole (July 24, 2023). "Blue Collar U comes back to win 78-77 in first game of 2023 TBT". Buffalo News. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
18. Bronstein, Jonah (July 24, 2023). "Blue Collar U displays brute Buffalo strength in largest Elam Ending comeback ever at TBT". WIVB. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
19. Bambini, Cole (July 26, 2023). "Blue Collar U uses 20-0 run to beat Virginia Dream". Buffalo News. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
20. Bronstein, Jonah (July 28, 2023). "Blue Collar U bounced from TBT by Boeheim's Army". WIVB. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
21. @thetournament (August 3, 2021). "These guys were amazing all summer Introducing your TBT 2021 All-Tournament Team!" (Tweet). Retrieved August 3, 2021– via Twitter.
22. @thetournament (August 2, 2022). "Introducing your TBT 2022 All-Tournament Team!" (Tweet). Retrieved August 2, 2022– via Twitter.
23. @thetournament (August 2, 2022). "Your TBT 2022 MVP is CJ Massinburg!" (Tweet). Retrieved August 2, 2022– via Twitter.