On any given Sunday, you can play ball. But how often can you say you’re playing for $20,000? Yesterday 13 teams from across the country ascended upon Jose Marti’s dope gymnasium in Miami to do just that. If Saturday was Blood, Sweat & Tears, yesterday was The War of the Worlds.

After talking with some of the players, you could understand the gravity of what $20,000 means. Hell, even one team called themselves “$20k Richer.” In the player intros, you could see it in their eyes. This is business. With Young Jeezy‘s “Put On” blaring in the background, it was more than reppin’ your zip code. This was about some serious cash. While a free trip to Miami and some Jordan swag is nice, being able to say you’re the national champion (in anything) is something you relish.

Saturday night they drew for the first round matchups, with one squad out of the 13 getting a first-round bye. Like Olympic-style pool play, each team played three games in the first round, and then the top eight teams advaned to a single elimination bracket.

Observations from pool play:

- All the teams that made it this far have the same makeup. Quick guards who can finish around the basket and shoot, as well as athletic big men. It appears this is the recipe for a successful 3-on-3 team.
- Birmingham was scrappy! These guys travel around the country and play in tournaments all the time for money.
- Chicago was a team of all white dudes with nasty jumpers and handles. Turns out they all played D-3 college ball together at Loras College. Their star was Brian “The Magician” Centella, who after finding out I wrote for Dime came up and told me he was a huge fan.
- Detroit had a guy, Pierre Autry, with ridiculous handles and an even nastier three-point shot.
- Miami was a true underdog squad. After surviving the pack of 41 teams yesterday, these guys added a big guy with hops out the building. These guys are a tough, quick team and could scare some people.

So entering the Elite 8, this is how it shook out: (1) Houston vs. (8) Baltimore; (2) New Orleans vs. (7) Miami; (3) Memphis vs. (6) DC; and (4) Chicago vs. (5) Raleigh.

Despite the seedings, DC had to be the favorites. And let me tell you why. Their team name was “Hard 2 Guard” and they were the two-time defending champions of the BK B-BALL BATTLE. And last year, without the tourney running, they took their game to the Hoop It Up National Tournament in Miami and won that too. It wouldn’t be that far a stretch to say they’re the best 3-on-3 team in the country.

With Tyrone “Redz” Hill as their captain and leader, Redz is the heart and soul of his squad. Standing 6-1 and 240 pounds, it all starts with him. The rest of the squad is made up of Joseph “Showtime” Newton, Jarett “6-7, 265″ Kearse and newcome Anthony “The Promised Land” Frazier – because if they were going to win it again, he was going to take them there.

While Hard 2 Guard was reppin’ DC in the tournament, they made sure that everyone knew they were reppin’ Philly. Without a regional tournament, it’s not their fault that they had to travel two and a half hours to the nation’s capital to get their bid to MIA.

The Elite 8 was full of upsets. Baltimore over Houston, Miami over New Orleans and DC over Memphis, while Chicago took care of business and outlasted Raleigh in OT.

The Final Four was more of the same. DC came out gunning against Miami, as the hometown heroes 24-hour run finally came to a close. They would have had to play a perfect game to beat DC, but they just simply ran out of gas. The next game, between Chicago and Baltimore, was a thriller. Despite “The Magician” doing everything he could to get the W (which garnered him the innagural Swag Award), Baltimore won in a triple OT battle.

So that was it, a metro area finals between DC and B-More. The table was set to see either a monumental upset or a Bulls-esque three-peat. And I’m sure you already know what happened. With DC’s big guy making threes from the hashmark, and “Redz” being unstoppable on the block, there was nothing Baltimore could do to stop the inevitable. Sealing the victory was “The Promised Land,” as he lived up to the hype and not only got the W but MVP honors as well.