Buffs Alums Set For Another Shot at TBT Title
May 31, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Alumni C Club, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Last summer, an interesting phenomenon began to unfold as Team Colorado — a group of CU Buffs alumni — made its way through the The Basketball Tournament's bracket.
Buffs hoops was hot in the summer. At a time when college basketball is by no means top of mind for most sports fans, CU followers were tuned in and turned on by Team Colorado's march to the TBT championship game. Buffs fans followed closely on social media, engaged team members and talked basketball as the tournament progressed.
(For the uninitiated, the TBT is a 64-team tournament that offers a $2 million, winner-take-all prize. It's spread over four regionals in July, followed by a "Super 16" in Brooklyn and a final four championship round in Brooklyn, with the final three rounds broadcast by ESPN and ESPN2. The field is peppered with alumni teams from some of the nation's traditional college powerhouses, and the rosters are loaded with former college stars, overseas standouts and even a few former NBA players. It is, quite simply, the midsummer answer to a hoop junkie's dream.)
Now, one year later, Team Colorado is back, boasting an improved roster and anxious to take another shot at TBT's $2 million payday.
"It was a great experience," said Team Colorado general manager and former Buff Beau Gamble. "In today's world, social media allows fans to be interactive and tune in and be excited about something and really engage with it. To have people excited about Colorado basketball and talking about it in June, July and August is neat. We couldn't ask for anything else. It's great publicity for CU and it's helping build the brand of Colorado basketball."
Indeed, while the $2 million prize is obviously the main goal — at least for the players and coaches — the formation of Team Colorado is also accomplishing something on a much larger scale: helping build and strengthen the "Colorado basketball family."
"The TBT and the $2 million prize allows us to have a goal and unite toward something," Gamble said. "But at the end of the day, it's a way for us to bring former guys back to campus, build the brand of Colorado basketball and be part of something special. We really think there's a bigger purpose here that will serve Colorado basketball in a much bigger way in the long run."
For the second year in a row (this will be Team Colorado's third foray into the TBT), Team Colorado will participate in a three-day training camp June 29-July 2 in Boulder. CU's Alumni C-Club will host a social hour on the first day of the camp, and Gamble expects as many as 30 former players will be on hand to play in the training camp, with more stopping in just for the "reunion" aspect.
"It's an opportunity to get as many former Colorado players involved as we can," Gamble said. "The TBT is just a great reason to bring all these guys back, get them into the gym if they want to play and have the chance to play some pickup with former and current players. The idea is to build the Colorado basketball family, connect those eras and maybe help some of the younger guys get some advice from the guys who have been doing it for a few years."
And that connection can also work the other way.
Last summer, Team Colorado member Marcus Hall — who ended up on the TBT All-Tournament team — struck up a friendship with a current Buff who was anxious to finally get on the floor after sitting out a transfer year.
"Marcus and Derrick White hit it off," Gamble said. "Marcus watched every game this year and texted feedback to Derrick all year. They ended up building a relationship that never would have happened without this."
Meanwhile, former Buff Dominique Coleman, who now lives in Florida, reacquainted himself with the program — and even took the time to travel to the Buffs' NIT game at UCF.
The result is that players from a variety of eras get to know each other, reconnect with the program and strengthen that "family" bond.
"Richard Roby and Josh Scott should know each other," Gamble said. "Guys who played at different times should know about those other eras and be able to make that connection."
Gamble even envisions Team Colorado and the annual training camp as another recruiting tool for CU head coach Tad Boyle.
"What Tad's success with the program has done is definitely create more buzz around it," Gamble said. "That makes it more appealing for guys to come back. But what we hope is that this helps Coach Boyle and his staff in recruiting. We hope they can go out and say, 'Hey, look at the family we have here. Look at what we do after you graduate. When you come to Colorado, you are always part of that family.'"
Of course, the Team Colorado family would be a very happy family this year if it can claim the $2 million prize. After falling to Overseas Elite in the title game last year, Team Colorado has added some players they hope can get them over the hump.
"We've had a lot more interest from people wanting to play this year," Gamble said. "Instead of basically begging 12 guys to come in and play, we've had guys calling us and wanting to be part of it. It's a little more difficult now just to get the roster down to 12 guys."
Players returning this year include Hall, Coleman, Roby, Shannon Sharpe, Marcus Relphorde, Austin Dufault and Calvin Williams. New to the team will be Scott, Michel Morandais, Chris Copeland, Xavier Silas and James Wright.
All will be in Boulder for the training camp, where they will likely engage in a pickup game or two with current Buffs. Gamble is also hoping to get former Buff Jay Humphries to serve as an assistant to head coach Dwight Thorne.
"Is the goal to win it? Of course," Gamble said. "We'd love to win it. We're putting together as competitive of a roster as there is in this thing. No doubt we want to win. That's the goal. But there's also a bigger purpose here that we hope will serve Colorado basketball in a much bigger way for a long time."
Regionals for the 64-team tournament will be held in Charlotte, N.C., Philadelphia, Las Vegas and Peoria, Ill., with Team Colorado scheduled to open play the weekend of July 15-16 in Las Vegas.
The "Super 16" will be contested July 20-23 in Brooklyn and will be televised by ESPN and ESPN2; with the semifinals and championship game set for Aug. 1 and Aug. 3 in Baltimore. The semifinals and finals will be televised by ESPN.
"The TBT people deserve a lot of credit," Gamble said. "They've done a good job of building this tournament up, making it very professional, getting deals done with ESPN, building social media hype. They've done a great job of building a product."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
