Carmen's Crew falls to Fail Harder in The Basketball Tournament third round
Carmen's Crew's attempt to repeat as The Basketball Tournament (TBT) champions came to a halt in the third round Tuesday night, as they fell to Fail Harder 68-62.
Missing the injured William Buford, this was likely the worst game an Ohio State-derived team (either Scarlet and Gray or Carmen's Crew) has played in TBT. The team just never quite got out of the gate in this one. Carmen's Crew led 2-0, and cut the lead to one late in the fourth quarter, but other than that this was pretty much a blowout. Fail Harder led by 19 at halftime, and while Carmen's Crew did play better (especially on defense) in the second half, Fail Harder still led by 14 when the Elam Ending began.
Of course, the Elam Ending can make for crazy things, and Fail Harder was unable to find the last bucket for a while. Five straight empty possessions during the Elam Ending meant that Carmen's Crew--playing their best offense of the game in that same time span--cut the lead to 66-62 and were within two possessions of stealing the victory themselves. It couldn't last, though, and a baseline jump shot from Darius Adams sealed it.
Carmen's Crew was the top seed in the Indianapolis regional, and is the sixth top regional seed eliminated in this year's TBT. No No. 1 seed has won its region yet, and only two are still alive in regional finals.
This year's Carmen's Crew team had the fewest direct Ohio State affiliations of any Carmen's Crew roster so far (only four players attended Ohio State). The team has had fewer direct affiliations as the years have gone on, though William Buford was still a leader of this year's team until he got hurt. Maybe next year's roster will be more Buckeye-centric. Either way, let's hope 2026 is more like 2024 than 2025.
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