The Basketball Tournament is bringing the Sunflower Showdown into the summer, and this week’s opening round gives fans a Kansas State-Kansas matchup right away.
Purple Reign, the Kansas State alumni team, and JHX Hoops, the Kansas alumni squad, will play a three-game series to open TBT. The first game is set for Tuesday, July 21, with an 8 p.m. tip at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan.
The series continues Wednesday, July 22, at 7 p.m. CT at Lee Arena in Topeka, and if needed, the teams will meet again Friday, July 24, at 8 p.m.
CT back at Bramlage Coliseum.
This is the second time the two programs have met in the event. Last season in Kansas City, Kansas State rallied for a 59-57 win. The tournament is in its 13th year, and this year’s format guarantees rivalry matchups by starting with the K-State-Kansas series.
The winner moves on to a single-game quarterfinal against the winner of the Wichita State-New Mexico series on Monday, July 27. From there, a semifinal matchup could come against alumni from Louisville, Kentucky, Syracuse or Seton Hall.
TBT will feature a $2 million prize for the champion in 2026. The field includes 16 teams total, split into eight alumni teams and eight non-alumni teams on separate sides of the bracket.
The non-alumni side will be decided in Las Vegas, with the winner earning a trip to face the alumni bracket champion at that team’s home venue on Aug. 2.
For Kansas State, the biggest name is Michael Beasley, who is making his TBT debut for Purple Reign. Beasley played the 2007-08 season at K-State before going second overall in the 2008 NBA Draft. That year, the Wildcats split their series with Kansas, advanced to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament, and Beasley earned Big 12 Player of the Year and consensus All-American honors after averaging 26.2 points and 12.7 rebounds.
Beasley’s pro career stretched on for years, though it never quite matched the early expectations around him. He was a first-team NBA All-Rookie selection and later played internationally, with his most recent professional stint coming in 2022 with the Shanghai Sharks in the Chinese Basketball Association.
Purple Reign’s roster also includes Jacob Pullen, Xavier Sneed, Cartier Diarra, DaJuan Gordon, Austin Trice, Shaun Williams, John Florveus, Tyonte Robertson and Brandon Childress. The team’s coaching and support group features Martavious Irving, Jordan Henriquez-Roberts, Lance Harris, Clent Stewart, Tyler Adams, Noah Jacobson, Jonathan Hoard Martinez, Ashleigh Sharp and Jamar L Samuels.
JHX Hoops brings plenty of recognizable names too. Mario Chalmers, Frank Mason III, Zeke Mayo, Marcus Garrett, Tyshawn Taylor, Kevin Young, Darnell Jackson and Carlton Bragg Jr. are all on the roster, along with Andrew Orr, Tra-Deon Hollins, DJ Burns and Jacob Hanna.
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Now the conversation around Johnson has shifted from what he could become to what Kansas State should reasonably expect from him next. Another coaching change before his junior season added a fresh layer of uncertainty, and after a year that did not go as planned, the gap between early promise and finished product is hard to ignore. For a fan base that has spent years waiting for the right quarterback to settle things, the next step may be less about chasing the ceiling and more about figuring out where the floor really is. [Read more 🡒]
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Indianapolis coach Shane Steichen remains upbeat about where Giddens is headed, pointing to the possibility of more growth as camp gets into full gear. For K-State fans, it is the familiar next-step question for a player who flashed enough in college to get drafted, then spent his first NFL season learning how hard it can be to carve out a role when the depth chart is already crowded. [Read more 🡒]