Heartfire (TBT)

Heartfire
Leagues	The Basketball Tournament
Founded	2015
History	Team 23 (2015–2019, 2021) Heartfire (2022–present)
Location	Phoenix, Arizona
Team colors	Crimson, Black, and Grey
Main sponsor	Choreo Advisors
General manager	Michael Illiano
Head coach	LaPhonso Ellis
Championships	1 (2023)
Website	Team page

Heartfire (formerly known as Team 23) is an American basketball team that competes in The Basketball Tournament (TBT), an annual winner-take-all competition. The team has competed in each tournament since 2015, except for 2020. The team is composed of players from Arizona. As of 2021 ^[update] , the team's general manager is Rutgers alumnus Michael Illiano, and the head coach is Marc Hughes, who previously coached Overseas Elite. ^[1] The team were the tournament runners-up in 2015 and 2021, and won the championship in 2023.

History

The team was originally named after Michael Jordan's primary uniform number during his professional career—Team 23's general manager Michael Illiano wrote that his "basketball passion started with MJ". ^[1]

2015

After being accepted into TBT 2015 with 165 registered fans, Team 23 opened its tournament run by defeating the West Coast Ronin, 91–67. The team notched another win in the second round, against Richard Roby and Team Colorado, behind 28 points from Davin White, by a score of 78–72. White was effective once more as Team 23 bested Team B-Ball Breakdown in the following game, 86–72, pushing them to the Super 17 round in Chicago. ^[2]

At the Super 17, Team 23 defeated 7outz, 105–64, in their first game, allowing only two of their opponents' players to score over 10 points. ^[3] Team 23 made the semifinal round of the tournament after they won their fifth straight game by double figures. The losing team, LA Unified, missed one of their players, Ekene Ibekwe, and allowed Team 23 to score 11 straight points to begin the second half, en route to a 77–56 win. ^[4]

Team 23 entered the semifinals as the most efficient team of the tournament. ^[5] In New York City on August 1, they defeated Ants Alumni, 87–76, to advance to the championship game. ^[6] In the finals on August 2, Team 23 narrowly fell to Overseas Elite, 67–65. ^[7]

Games

Date	Round	Location	Score	Opponent		Ref.
				Team	Seed
July 10	Regional	Los Angeles, CA	91–67	West Coast Ronin	West No. 19	[8]
July 11			78–72	Team Colorado	West No. 4
July 12			86–72	Team B-Ball Breakdown	West No. 11
July 17	Super 17	Chicago, IL	105–64	7outz	West No. 9
July 23	Quarterfinals		77–56	LA Unified	West No. 2	[9]
August 1	Semifinals	New York, NY	87–76	Ants Alumni	Midwest No. 2	[6]
August 2	Finals		65–67	Overseas Elite	South No. 3	[7]

Roster

Zach Andrews Travis Gabbidon Andrew Kelly Augustine Okosun Larry Owens

Dwight Pederson Gabriel Sandoval Alex Scales Marcus Wells Davin White

Source: ^[10]

2016–2019

In TBT 2016, Team 23 was the top seed in the West Region, played in Los Angeles. After winning their first two games, they fell to Team Colorado, the eventual tournament runner-up, by a score of 78–73. ^[11]

Games

Date	Round	Location	Score	Opponent		Ref.
				Team	Seed
July 9	Regional	Los Angeles, CA	121–81	Kimchi Express	West No.	[11]
July 10			101–88	New Mexico RH	West No.
July 11			73–78	Team Colorado	West No. 5

In TBT 2017, Team 23 was the fifth seed in the West Region, played in Las Vegas. They defeated 12th-seeded Pedro's Posse, 107–92, then lost to fourth-seeded Armored Athlete, 84–77.

Games

Date	Round	Location	Score	Opponent		Ref.
				Team	Seed
July 8	Regional	Las Vegas, NV	107–92	Pedro's Posse	West No. 12
July 9			77–84	Armored Athlete	West No. 4

In TBT 2018, Team 23 was the eighth seed in the West Region, played in Los Angeles. They lost in the first round to the ninth-seeded CitiTeam Blazers, 82–71.

Games

Date	Round	Location	Score	Opponent		Ref.
				Team	Seed
July 14	Regional	Los Angeles, CA	71–82	CitiTeam Blazers	West No. 9

Roster

Augustine Okosun Charlie Westbrook Dermaine Crockrell Larry Owens Davin White

David Bell Gabe Freeman Brandon Wood Anthony Stover Andrew Kelly

Source: ^[12]

In TBT 2019, Team 23 was the sixth seed in the Greensboro Regional. ^[13] They lost in the first round to third-seeded Power of the Paw (Clemson alumni), 82–78. ^[14]

Games

Date	Round	Location	Score	Opponent		Ref.
				Team	Seed
July 19	Regional	Los Angeles, CA	78–82	Power of the Paw	Greensboro No. 3	[14]

The team did not compete in the reduced-size (24 teams) TBT 2020.

2021

In TBT 2021, Team 23 was seeded sixth in the West Virginia Regional. ^[15] They defeated Georgia Kingz in the first round, 91–64, ^[16] Herd That in the second round, 74–71, ^{[17] [18]} and second-seeded Best Virginia in the regional semifinals, 75–67. ^{[19] [20]}

Team 23 next faced top-seeded Sideline Cancer in the regional final, registering a 78–71 win. ^{[21] [22]} Team 23 then met Blue Collar U—who advanced from the Columbus Regional—in a tournament semifinal game on August 1; Team 23 won, 78–62. ^{[23] [24]}

Team 23 met Boeheim's Army—who advanced from the Illinois Regional—in the championship game on August 78th; the game was won by Boeheim's Army, 69–67. ^[25]

Games

Date	Round	Location	Score	Opponent		Ref.
				Team	Seed
July 17	First round	Charleston, WV	91–64	Georgia Kingz	West Virginia No. 11	[16]
July 19	Second round		74–71	Herd That	West Virginia No. 3	[17]
July 21	Regional semifinals		75–67	Best Virginia	West Virginia No. 2	[19]
July 31	Regional finals	Dayton, OH	78–71	Sideline Cancer	West Virginia No. 1	[21]
August 1	Semifinals		78–62	Blue Collar U	Ohio No. 6	[23]
August 3	Championship		67–69	Boeheim's Army	Illinois No. 3	[25]

Roster

Daniel Ochefu Marcus Hall Victor Nickerson Charles Mitchell Ashaun Dixon-Tatum Dakarai Tucker

Craig Sword Michale Kyser Walter Lemon Jr. Terrell Smith Eric Washington

Source: ^[26]

2022

In TBT 2022, The newly branded Heartfire was the first seed in the New Mexico regional. In the first round, they played Competitive Choice and won 84-75. In the 2nd round they played The Enchantment, (New Mexico alumni team) and won 79-74. In the third round, they played the LA Cheaters from the Drew League and won 86-72. In the fourth round, they played Blue Collar U (Buffalo alumni team) and lost 74-66

Games

Date	Round	Location	Score	Opponent		Ref.
				Team	Seed
July 18	First round	Albuquerque, NM	84–75	Competitive Choice	New Mexico No. 8
July 19	Second round		79–74	The Enchantment	New Mexico No. 4
July 21	Third round		86–72	LA Cheaters	New Mexico No. 3
July 29	Quarterfinals	Dayton, OH	66–74	Blue Collar U	Syracuse No. 2

2023

TBT 2023, Heartfire was the second seed in the Witchita 1 regional. In their first matchup they played Juco Products, (junior college alumni) and won 69-66. In their second matchup they played the LA Cheaters, (from the Drew league) and won 62-57. In their third matchup they played Mass Street, (Kansas alumni) and won 73-60. In their fourth matchup they played the Aftershocks, (Wichita State alumni) and won 76-53. In the semi-finals they played Herd That, (Marshall alumni) and won 73-68. In the Championship, they played Bleed Green, (North Texas alumni) and won 78-73.

Games

Date	Round	Location	Score	Opponent		Ref.
				Team	Seed
July 19	First round	Wichita, KS	69–66	JUCO Products	Wichita 1 No. 7
July 22	Second round		62–57	LA Cheaters	Wichita 1 No. 3
July 23	Third round		73–60	Mass Street	Wichita 1 No. 1
July 25	Quarterfinals		76–53	Aftershocks	Wichita 2 No. 1
August 2	Semifinals	Philadelphia, PA	73–68	Herd That	West Virginia No. 4
August 3	Championship		78–73	Bleed Green	Lubbock No. 2

Roster

Eric Griffin Larry Owens Tevin Mack Marcus Hall Davin White Richard Solomon

Raphiael Putney Craig Sword Walter Ellis Justin Tuoyo TreVion Crews John Gillon

Source: ^[27]

2024

Games

Date	Round	Location	Score	Opponent		Ref.
				Team	Seed
July 20	First round	Dayton, OH	68–64	Rise and Grind	Dayton No. 8
July 22	Second round		70–68	We Are D3	Dayton No. 4
July 24	Third round		70–74	Carmen's Crew	Dayton No. 3

Roster

Tevin Mack Marcus Hall Jordan Bell Richard Solomon Larry Owens Craig Sword

Raphiael Putney Bryan Griffin D. J. Kennedy Eric Washington Davin White Walter Ellis

Source: ^[28]

Record by years

Year	Seed	Won	Lost	Notes
2015	13th West	6	1	lost in final to Overseas Elite
2016	1st West	2	1	lost to Team Colorado
2017	5th West	1	1	lost to Armored Athlete
2018	8th West	0	1	lost to CitiTeam Blazers
2019	6th Greensboro	0	1	lost to Power of the Paw
2020	—	0	0	did not enter
2021	6th West Virginia	5	1	lost in final to Boeheim's Army
2022	1st New Mexico	3	1	lost in quarterfinals to Blue Collar U
2023	2nd Witchita 1	6	0	won in final over Bleed Green
2024	1st Dayton	2	1	lost in third round to Carmen's Crew
Total		23	7

Awards

All-Tournament teams have been named since 2016; MVPs since 2014.

Year	Player	Award	Ref.
2021	Raphiael Putney	All-Tournament	[29]
	Marc Hughes	All-Tournament (Coach)

Logo and uniforms

• 
  Logo, 2015–2021
• 
  Uniforms, 2015–2021

Roster

2024 Heartfire roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age F 0 Mack, Tevin 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 27 – (1997-05-01)1 May 1997 G 1 Hall, Marcus 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 39 – (1985-08-06)6 August 1985 F 5 Bell, Jordan 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 30 – (1995-01-07)7 January 1995 C 6 Solomon, Richard 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 32 – (1992-06-18)18 June 1992 F 15 Owens, Larry 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 42 – (1983-01-08)8 January 1983 SG 22 Sword, Craig 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 31 – (1994-01-16)16 January 1994 F/C 24 Putney, Raphiael 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 34 – (1990-04-21)21 April 1990 C 25 Griffin, Bryan 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 26 – (1998-04-30)30 April 1998 F 31 Kennedy, D. J. 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 35 – (1989-11-05)5 November 1989 PG 33 Washington, Eric 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 31 – (1993-06-23)23 June 1993 PG 34 White, Davin 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 43 – (1981-12-31)31 December 1981 G 55 Ellis, Walter 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 25 – (1999-11-29)29 November 1999	Head coach LaPhonso Ellis Assistant coach(es) David Rocha Ron Katich Stephen Dyer Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: March 13, 2025

References

1. "Team 23". thetournament.com. 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
2. "Results from The Basketball Tournament". thetournament.com. 2015. Archived from the original on September 1, 2015 – via Wayback Machine.
3. "Official Basketball Box Score: Team 23 vs 7outz". Imageshack . Retrieved 31 July 2015.^{[ dead link ‍]}
4. "2015 Bracket". The Basketball Tournament . Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
5. "The Basketball Tournament Rosters: Meet The Final 4 Teams". Heavy.com . 30 July 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
6. "Overseas Elite's Semifinal Win Over Team City Of Gods (Photos)". thetournament.com. August 2015. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
7. Connor, Desmond (August 3, 2015). "Overseas Elite Brings It Home". Hartford Courant . Hartford, Connecticut. p. C3. Retrieved July 29, 2018– via newspapers.com.
8. Fitzgerald, Matt (July 12, 2015). "The Basketball Tournament 2015 Scores: Sunday, July 12". Bleacher Report . Retrieved March 13, 2025.
9. "Meet The Four Teams Playing For $1,000,000". thetournament.com. 2015. Archived from the original on July 30, 2015. Retrieved March 13, 2025– via Wayback Machine.
10. "The Basketball Tournament Rosters: Meet The Final 4 Teams". heavy.com. 2015. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
11. Ronan, Patrick (2017). "TBT SPOTLIGHT: TEAM 23" . Retrieved June 27, 2019.
12. "Team 23 Basketball Roster 2018". usbasket.com. 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
13. "TBT Releases 2019 Teams and Bracket" (Press release). The Basketball Tournament. June 11, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
14. "#3 POWER OF THE PAW 82, #6 TEAM 23 78". thetournament.com. July 19, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
15. "Bracket". thetournament.com. Retrieved July 31, 2021.
16. "Scores".
17. "Scores".
18. "Herd That Come Up Short Against Team 23 At TBT". WVOW-FM . July 20, 2021. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
19. "Scores".
20. "Best Virginia falls in regional final in TBT". WSAZ-TV . July 21, 2021. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
21. "Scores".
22. "Sideline Cancer vs. Team 23". WWCP-TV . August 1, 2021. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
23. "Scores".
24. Burtnett, Peter (August 1, 2021). "Sibert falls just short of 33-point contest final, TBT Championship Game set". flyernews.com. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
25. McAllister, Mike (August 3, 2021). "Boeheim's Army Wins The Basketball Tournament". All Syracuse FN. Retrieved August 3, 2021– via MSN.com.
26. "Team 23 Basketball Roster 2021". usbasket.com. 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
27. "Heartfire Basketball Roster 2023". usbasket.com. 2023. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
28. "Heartfire Basketball Roster 2024". usbasket.com. 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
29. @thetournament (August 3, 2021). "These guys were amazing all summer Introducing your TBT 2021 All-Tournament Team!" (Tweet). Retrieved August 3, 2021– via Twitter.

External links

• Official team page
• Heartfire on Twitter
• TBT Flashback - 2015 Championship Game via YouTube