Green Bay-TBT waiver, explained: Why Phoenix coach Doug Gottlieb petitioned NCAA to allow team in summer tournament

The Basketball Tournament (TBT) has gained popularity in recent years. The open invitation tournament is played over the summer and features a $1 million winner-take-all cash prize for the college basketball or NBA alumni who participate.

The teams in the tournament tend to be made up of alumni from one school, but Green Bay University men's basketball head coach Doug Gottlieb has asked the NCAA to grant a waiver allowing current players from his school to play in the TBT. 

To be clear, not a team of Green Bay alumni, the actual men's college basketball team. It's a single-elimination tournament, so the Phoenix could be bounced after just one game. Still, Green Bay has to get approval from the NCAA, and Gottlieb is pushing hard for it. 

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Here's more on Gottlieb and Green Bay petitioning to join TBT. 

Green Bay-TBT waiver, explained

The NCAA has strict rules on which competitions its teams can play in. There is a set of exceptions in which a waiver isn't required, but TBT isn't included in that. Teams are allowed to do a foreign tour once every four years, and Gottlieb's main point is that he thinks this competition is equitable. 

"When you play overseas, these teams that go to France, Spain, Belgium, whatever, those aren't NCAA-sanctioned games. 

So the NCAA's argument is, 'Hey, in summer competition, you can't play these games in the United States. They're not NCAA-sanctioned.' So if I played this exact same game three hours north of here in Canada, it'd be OK. It doesn't make sense."

Green Bay also doesn't have the funding to send its team on an international tour, so it thinks this is a reasonable trade-off. When thinking about the problem that if the Phoenix wins, they would earn $1 million, Green Bay AD Josh Moon brushed it off, saying, "Let's not worry about the prize money right now, but that could go to a charity, just let us play." 

Both TBT and the Horizon League conference commissioner support the move. TBT CEO Jon Mugar agreed, saying, "The idea of undergraduate teams or student-athletes participating and competing against retired players or current professionals overseas or any number of other types of teams that we get is really appealing to us. We have a long track record of working with and partnering with universities through alumni teams, and now it makes a lot of sense to do that through their actual teams."

Green Bay filed a similar waiver request last year, but it got denied late and didn't have time to appeal to still make TBT's field. 

Green Bay's record under Doug Gottlieb

It could all be a relatively moot point. TBT is a single-elimination tournament, and Green Bay isn't exactly made up of Wooden Award winners. Gottlieb, a long-time analyst for Fox Sports Radio, took over as the head coach in 2024. He led the Phoenix to a 4-28 overall record and 2-18 in Horizon League conference play. 

Despite how poorly his team was playing, Gottlieb had a tough time avoiding the news cycle. He was in a press conference early in the season and scoffed at an upcoming Division-II opponent, calling Michigan Tech "Nobody U" before the game.

Michigan Tech then beat Green Bay 72-70. 

Gottlieb also decided not to mince words when talking about Bronny James during and after the 2025 NBA Draft. He said that the younger James wasn't guaranteed to start at Green Bay and that the Lakers treated him "like he's a Make-a-Wish kid." 

Bronny's father LeBron was likely not very high on Gottlieb already, but he couldn't hold back when Green Bay started the season 2-24. 

Earned 2 Not Given! Gotta give him credit though! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. 💩 💩 💩 💩 💩 https://t.co/khxpnlvUY1

Gottlieb then got annoyed that James responded to him. He said, "He's just punching down. It's just sad and petty. Here's someone who has hundreds of millions of dollars living a luxurious life in L.A. tweeting about me on his off day."

Once again, Gottlieb can't avoid the off-court spotlight, but with this TBT petition, something might actually come from his latest attention-grabbing move.